S-train

For other uses, see S Train (disambiguation).

Schema comparing rapid transit (left) with S-Bahn (Right). Note the dual role of S-Trains with many branches from the suburbs combining to serve a busy corridor in the central area comparable with a rapid-transit system. The actual layouts vary by city, and several have rapid transit like the right image

Part of Berlin Stadtbahn. The tracks on the right belong to the S-train system and the trains stop at the Hackescher Markt station, while the other two tracks are for other train types, which do not stop at this station. Compare with photo of Vesterport station in Copenhagen below. The concept is the same.

The S-train is a type of hybrid urban-suburban rail serving a metropolitan region. Some of the larger S-train systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble commuter or even regional rail. They are especially common in Germany and Austria, where they are known as S-Bahn, which in the 1930s was an abbreviation of either Schnellbahn, Stadtbahn or Stadtschnellbahn, depending on the city, but they must not be confused with U-Stadtbahnen. ^[1] Similar S-train systems exist also in Switzerland known as S-Bahn as well. In Denmark, they are known as S-tog [ˈesˌtsʰɔˀw] , in the Czech Republic as Esko or S-lines, and northern Italy as Servizio ferroviario followed by either the word "metropolitano" (in Turin) or "suburbano" (in Milan).

Characteristics

There is no complete definition of an S-train system. S-trains are, where they exist, the most local type of railway stopping at all existing stations inside and around a city, while other mainline trains only call at major stations. They are slower than mainline railways but usually serve as fast crosstown services within the city. The Copenhagen S-tog for example goes up to 75 miles per hour (121 km/h), faster than most urban heavy rail and mass transit. S-trains generally service the hinterland of a certain city, rather than connecting different cities, although in high population density areas a few exceptions from this exist. A good example of such an exception is the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn, which interconnects the cities, towns and suburbs of the Ruhr, a large urban agglomeration, not unlike the large network of regional trains which also serve the area. Most S-train systems are entirely built on older local railways, or in some cases parallel to an existing dual track railway. Most use existing local mainline railway trackage, but a few branches and lines can be purpose-built S-train lines. ^{[2] [3]} S-trains typically use overhead lines or a third rail for traction power. In Hamburg the S-trains use both the methods, depending on which line is powered. ^[4]

In smaller S-train systems and suburban sections of larger ones, S-trains typically share tracks with other rail traffic, with the Berlin S-Bahn, Hamburg S-Bahn and Copenhagen S-train being notable exceptions. Busy S-train corridors sometimes have sections of exclusive trackage of their own but parallel to mainline railways. Many of the larger S-train systems will also have central corridors of exclusive trackage that individual suburban branches feed into, creating a high frequency trunk corridor. In many cases, the central corridor is a dedicated underground line in the city centre with close stop spacing and a high frequency, similar to metro systems, created from the combined interlining of the multiple branches. A good example of this is the Berliner Stadtbahn in the Berlin's S-Bahn, which is regarded as a tourist attraction. ^[5] However, in more lightly used sections outside the city centre, S-trains commonly share tracks with other train types.

Further out from the central parts of a city the individual services branch off into lines where the distances between stations can exceed 5 km, similar to commuter rail. This allows the S-train to serve a dual transport purpose: local transport within a city centre and suburban transport between central boroughs of larger cities, and to suburbs. Frequencies vary wildly between systems with short headways in the core sections of large networks to headways of over 20 minutes in remote sections of the network, late at night and/or on Sundays and in smaller systems. The rolling stock typically used in S-trains reflect its hybrid purpose. The interior is designed for short journeys with provision for standing passengers but may have more space allocated to larger and more numerous seats. Integration with other local transport for ticketing, connectivity and easy interchange between lines or other system like metros is typical for S-trains. Where both S-train and metro exist, the number of interchange stations between the two systems is substantial with metro tickets being valid on S-trains, and vice versa. The S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland constitutes the main local railway system for Leipzig but also connects to Halle, where a few stations are located. The Rostock S-Bahn is an example of a smaller S-Bahn system.

Etymology

Germany, Austria and Switzerland

The name S-Bahn (S-train) is an abbreviation for the German "Stadtschnellbahn" (meaning "city rapid railway") and was introduced in December 1930 in Berlin. The name was introduced at the time of the reconstruction of the suburban commuter train tracks— the first section to be electrified was a section of the Berlin–Stettin railway from Berlin Nordbahnhof to Bernau bei Berlin station in 1924, leading to the formation of the Berlin S-Bahn. ^[6]

The main line Berliner Stadtbahn (English: City railway of Berlin) was electrified with a 750 volt third rail in 1928 (some steam trains ran until 1929) and the circle line Berliner Ringbahn was electrified in 1929. The electrification continued on the radial suburban railway tracks along with changing the timetable of the train system into a rapid transit model with no more than 20 minutes headway per line where a number of lines overlapped on the main line. The system peaked during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin to a train schedule below 2 minutes. ^[6]

The idea of heavy rail rapid transit was not unique to Berlin. Hamburg had an electric railway between the central station ("Hauptbahnhof") and Altona which opened in 1906 and in 1934 the system adopted the S-Bahn label from Berlin.^{[ citation needed ]} The same year in Denmark, Copenhagen's S-tog opened its first line. In Austria, Vienna had its Stadtbahn main line electrified in 1908 and also introduced the term Schnellbahn ("rapid railway") in 1954 for its planned commuter railway network (which started operations in 1962). The S-Bahn label was sometimes used as well, but the name was only switched to S-Bahn Wien in 2005.^{[ citation needed ]} As for Munich, a first breaking ground for an S-train-like rapid transport system, executed by the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler, took place in 1938 in Lindwurmstrasse near what is now Goetheplatz underground station (line U6). Said system was supposed to run through tunnels in downtown areas. The planning process mainly consisted of the bundling and interconnecting of existing suburban and local railways, plus the construction of a few new lines. Plans and construction work - including the building shell of Goetheplatz station - came to a very early halt during World War II and were not pursued in its aftermath. Very extensive nowadays, Munich's existing S-Bahn-System, together with the first two U-Bahn lines, began to operate prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics only.

The term S-Bahn was until 14 March 2012 a registered wordmark of Deutsche Bahn, where at the request of a transportation association the Federal Patent Court of Germany ordered the wordmark to be removed from the records of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. ^[7] Prior to the said event Deutsche Bahn collected a royalty of 0.4 cents per train kilometer for the usage of the said term.

Denmark

Vesterport S-train station has three entrances. This is the main one.

Vesterport station is located below street level, but is not under ground. Other trains do not stop here, solely S-trains. Compare with picture of Berlin's S-train above. Same concept.

Svanemøllen Station, main entrance

The "S" stood for "station". Just before the opening of the first line in the Copenhagen S-train network, the newspaper Politiken on 17 February 1934 held a competition about the name, which in Danish became known as Den elektriske enquete or "The electrical survey" (as the Copenhagen S-trains would become the first electrical railways in Denmark). But since an "S" already was put up at all the stations, weeks before the survey, the result became S-tog which means "S-train". ^[8] This was also just a few years after the S-trains had opened in Berlin and Hamburg. Today the Copenhagen S-trains uses six lines and serves 85 stations, 32 of them are located inside the (quite tiny) municipality borders. Each line uses 6 t.p.h (trains per hour) in each direction, with exception of the (yellow) F-line. The F-line has departures in each direction every five minutes, or 12 t.p.h. service . ^[9]

History

Germany

Early steam services

In 1882, the growing number of steam-powered trains around Berlin prompted the Prussian State Railway to construct separate rail tracks for suburban traffic.^{[ citation needed ]} The Berliner Stadtbahn connected Berlin's eight intercity rail stations which were spread throughout the city (all but the Stettiner Bahnhof which today is a pure S-train station known as Berlin Nordbahnhof; as the city Stettin today is Polish city Szczecin). A lower rate^{[ clarification needed ]} for the newly founded Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahn (Berlin City, Circular and Suburban Rail) was introduced on 1 October 1891. This rate and the growing succession of trains made the short-distance service stand out from other railways.^{[ citation needed ]}

The second suburban railway was the Hamburg-Altonaer Stadt- und Vorortbahn connecting Hamburg with Altona and Blankenese. The Altona office of the Prussian State Railway established the electric powered railway in 1906. ^[10]

Electricity

The Hamburg S-Bahn third rail system

The beginning of the 20th century saw the first electric trains, which in Germany operated at 15,000 V on overhead lines. The Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahn instead implemented direct current multiple units running on 750 V from a third rail. In 1924, the first electrified route went into service. The third rail was chosen because it made both the modifications of the rail tracks (especially in tunnels and under bridges) and the side-by-side use of electric and steam trains easier. ^[10]

To set it apart from the subterranean U-Bahn , the term S-Bahn replaced Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahn in 1930.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Hamburg service had established an alternating current line in 1907 with the use of multiple units with slam doors. In 1940 a new system with 1200 V DC third rail and modern electric multiple units with sliding doors was integrated on this line (on the same tracks). The old system with overhead wire remained up to 1955. The other lines of the network still used steam and later Diesel power. In 1934, the Hamburg-Altonaer Stadt- und Vorortbahn was renamed as S-Bahn.^{[ citation needed ]}

Comparable systems

A Siemens Desiro Mainline EMU of the Vienna S-Bahn

A class 4020 EMU on Vienna S-Bahn line S40

A Siemens Desiro Mainline EMU on Brussels S-train line S2

Schematic map of Copenhagen S-train

Map of the Nuremberg S-Bahn network

Map of the Munich S-Bahn network

Map of S-Bahn networks in Germany

A map of the Transperth railway network

Map of São Paulo's CPTM network

Austria

Austrian S-Bahn logo

The oldest and largest S-Bahn system in Austria is the Vienna S-Bahn, which predominantly uses non exclusive rails tracks outside of Vienna. It was established in 1962, although it was usually referred to as Schnellbahn until 2005. The white "S" on a blue circle used as the logo is said to reflect the layout of the central railway line in Vienna. However, it has now been changed for a more stylized version that is used all through Austria, except Salzburg. The rolling stock was blue for a long time, reflecting the logo colour, but red is used uniformly for nearly all local traffic today.

Salzburg S-Bahn logo

In 2004, the Salzburg S-Bahn went into service as the first Euroregion S-Bahn, crossing the border to the neighbouring towns of Freilassing and Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. The network is served by three corporations: the Berchtesgadener Land Bahn (BLB)(S4), the Austrian Federal Railways (German: Österreichischen Bundesbahn / ÖBB)(S2 and S3) and the Salzburger Lokalbahn (SLB)(S1 and S11) and . The Salzburg S-Bahn logo is only different one, it is a white S on a light blue circle.

In 2006 the regional train line in the Rhine Valley in the state of Vorarlberg has been renamed to S-Bahn Vorarlberg . It is a three lines network, operated by the Montafonerbahn and the ÖBB.

The S-Bahn Steiermark has been inaugurated in December 2007 in Styria, built to connect its capital city Graz with the rest of the metropolitan area, currently the following lines are active: S1, S11, S3, S31, S5, S51, S6, S61, S7, S8 and S9. The network is operated by three railway companies: the Graz-Köflacher Bahn (GKB) (lines: S6, S61 and S7), the ÖBB (lines: S1, S3, S5, S51, S8 and S9) and the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen (StB) (lines: S11 and S31).

In December 2007 as well the Tyrol S-Bahn opened, running from Hall in Tirol in the east to Innsbruck Central Station and Telfs in the west and from Innsbruck to Steinach am Brenner. Class 4024 EMUs are used as rolling stock on this network.

In 2010 the S-Bahn Kärnten was opened in the state of Carinthia and currently consists of 4 lines operated by ÖBB.

The youngest network is the S-Bahn Oberösterreich in the Greater Linz area of the state of Upper Austria, which was inaugurated in December 2016. It is a 5 line system operated by Stern und Hafferl and the ÖBB.

Belgium

Brussels S train logo

The suburban railways of Brussels are currently being integrated into the Brussels Regional Express Network (French: Réseau Express Régional Bruxellois, RER; Dutch: Gewestelijk ExpresNet, GEN), which is identified by the letter S across both languages. ^[11] In 2018, the S-train was also introduced in Antwerp, Ghent, Liège and Charleroi. ^[12]

Czech Republic

Czech Esko logo

In the Czech Republic, integrated commuter rail systems exist in Prague ^[13] and Moravian-Silesian Region. Both systems are called Esko, which is how S letter is usually called in Czech. Esko Prague has been operating since 9 December 2007 as a part of the Prague Integrated Transport system. Esko Moravian-Silesian Region began operating on 14 December 2008 as a part of the ODIS Integrated Transport system serving the Moravian-Silesian Region. Both systems are primarily operated by České dráhy. Several shorter lines are operated by other companies.

Denmark

Copenhagen S-tog logo

Copenhagen S-train connects the city centre, other inner and outer boroughs and suburbs with each other. The average distance between stations is 2.0 km, shorter in the city core and inner boroughs, longer at the end of lines that serve suburbs. Of the 85 stations, 32 are located within the central parts of the city. Some stations are located around 40 km from Copenhagen city centre. For this reason the fares vary depending on distances. One-day-passes which tourist buy are valid only in the most central parts of the S-train system. Weekdays each line have departures every 10th minute with exception for the F-line, which departures every fifth minute. Where several lines use the same branches, up to around 30 trains per hour (in each direction) service exists. On Sundays the seven lines are reduced to four lines, but all stations are served at least every 10th minute. The three railway stations at Amager have a local service that equals the S-trains'.

The Copenhagen Metro opened in 2002 as a complement to the already existing S-train system. Copenhagen's S-train system is the only one in the country. Outside Denmark, in cities where both exist, is it far from unusual that a metro system later has been complemented with S-trains. The branch towards Køge (the southernmost S-train station in Copenhagen's S-network) has a rather unique history, as it was built in the 1970s where no previous railway ever had existed.

Germany

German S-Bahn logo

The trains of the Berlin and Hamburg S-Bahn systems ran on separate tracks from the beginning. When other cities started implementing their systems in the 1960s, they mostly had to use the existing intercity rail tracks, and they still more or less use such tracks.

The central intercity stations of Frankfurt, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart are terminal stations, so all four cities have monocentric S-Bahn networks. The S-Bahn trains use a tunnel under the central station and the city centre.

The high number of large cities in the Ruhr area promotes a polycentric network connecting all cities and suburbs. The S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr , as it is called, features few tunnels, and its routes are longer than those of other networks. The Ruhr S-Bahn is the only S-Bahn network to be run by more than one corporation in Germany, and the Salzburg S-Bahn holds a similar distinction in Austria. Most Swiss S-Bahn systems are multi-corporation networks, however.

Most German S-Bahn networks have a unique ticket system, separated from the Deutsche Bahn rates, instead connected to the city ticket system used for U-bahns and local buses. The S-Bahn of Hanover, however, operates under five different rates due to its large expanse.

One S-Bahn system is no longer in operation: the Erfurt S-Bahn which operated from 1976 until 1993 and was an 8.6 km (5.3 mi) single-line system which consisted of four stations from Erfurt Central Station to Erfurt Berliner Straße station in the then newly built northern suburbs of Erfurt.

There are several S-Bahn or S-Bahn-like systems in planning, such as the Danube-Iller S-Bahn and the Augsburg S-Bahn. The S-Bahn system in Lübeck is under discussion (see network plan).

The Stadtbahn Karlsruhe (a tram-train network) uses the green "S" logo, but does not refer to itself as S-Bahn. The blue U-Bahn logo is not used either, due to the lack of subterranean lines.

Despite their names, the Ortenau S-Bahn (Offenburg) is a Regionalbahn service.

The following networks are currently in operation:

S-Bahn	Area of Responsibility	Authority	Opened	Lines	Kilometrage	Rolling Stock	Company	Expiry of contract
Berlin S-Bahn	Berlin, Potsdam	VBB	1924	16	331 km	480, 481/482, 483/484, 485	S-Bahn Berlin GmbH	2017
Breisgau-S-Bahn	Freiburg im Breisgau	RVF	1997 [upper-alpha 1]	7	050 km	Alstom Coradia Continental, Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1	DB Regio AG (electric), SWEG (diesel)
Bremen S-Bahn	Bremen, Bremerhaven, Oldenburg	VBN	2010	4	270 km	Alstom Coradia Continental	NordWestBahn	2021
Dresden S-Bahn	Dresden	VVO	1992	3	128 km	143 + Doppelstockwagen, 146.0 + Doppelstockwagen	DB Regio Südost	2027
Hamburg S-Bahn	Hamburg	HVV	1934	6	144 km	472, 474, 490	DB Regio AG	2033
Hannover S-Bahn	Hannover, Paderborn, Hildesheim, Minden	GVH, nph	2000	9 (+ 1)	385 km	424, 425	DB Regio Nord	2020
Mitteldeutschland S-Bahn	Leipzig, Halle (Saale) , Zwickau, Bitterfeld, Wurzen, Borna	MDV, VBB, VMS, VVO	2013	10	802 km	Bombardier Talent 2, 143 + Doppelstockwagen	DB Regio Südost	2025/2030
Mittelelbe S-Bahn	Magdeburg	marego	1974	1	130 km	425	DB Regio Südost	2028
Munich S-Bahn	Munich	MVV	1972	8	434 km	423, 420	DB Regio AG	2017
Nürnberg S-Bahn	Nürnberg, Ansbach, Bamberg, Erlangen, Fürth, Schwabach	VGN	1987	6	320 km	425, Coradia Continental, Talent 2	DB Regio Bayern	2030
Ortenau-S-Bahn	Offenburg, Straßburg	TGO	1998	4	170 km	Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1	SWEG
Rhine-Main S-Bahn	Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt, Offenbach am Main	RMV	1978	9	303 km	423, 430	DB Regio AG	2029, 2036
RheinNeckar S-Bahn	Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern	VRN, KVV, HNV, saarVV	2003	7	370 km	425	DB Regio Südwest	2017, 2033
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn (Ruhrschnellverkehr) S-Bahn Köln	Ruhrgebiet (esp. Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal) Rheinland (Köln, Bonn)	VRR VRS	1967 (1932) 1975	14	717 km	143 + x-Wagen, 420, 422, 423, Bombardier Talent, Alstom Coradia LINT, Alstom Coradia Continental	DB Regio NRW, Regiobahn, Abellio Rail NRW
Rostock S-Bahn	Rostock	VVW	1974	3	091 km	Bombardier Talent 2	DB Regio Nordost	2024
Stuttgart S-Bahn	Stuttgart, Waiblingen, Esslingen, Ludwigsburg, Böblingen	VVS	1978	7	215 km	423, 430	DB Regio AG	2028

1. first electric services started 2019.

Switzerland

S-Bahn is also used in German-speaking Switzerland. While French publications of those networks translate it as RER, the line numbers are still prefixed with an S (e. g. S2).

Berne S-Bahn logo

The oldest network in Switzerland is the Bern S-Bahn, established in stages from 1974 and has adopted the term S-Bahn since 1995. It is also the only one in Switzerland to use a coloured "S" logo. In 1990, the Zürich S-Bahn, which covers the largest area, went into service. S-Bahn services were set up in the course of the Bahn 2000 initiative in Central Switzerland (a collaborative network of S-Bahn Luzern and Stadtbahn Zug ), and St. Gallen ( S-Bahn St. Gallen ).

The Basel trinational S-Bahn services the Basel metropolitan area, thus providing cross-border transportation into both France and Germany. A tunnel connecting Basel's two large intercity stations (Basel Badischer Bahnhof and Basel SBB) is planned as Herzstück Regio-S-Bahn Basel (lit. heart-piece Regio-S-Bahn Basel).

The RER Vaud of Lausanne and the Léman Express of Geneva serve the area around Lake Geneva (fr. Lac Léman). Transborder networks for the Lake Constance-adjacent German states Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the Austrian state Vorarlberg and the Swiss cantons St. Gallen and Thurgau are under discussion. Possible names are Bodensee-S-Bahn and Alpenrhein-Bahn.

Additionally, there are services designated "S" that are not part of any formal S-Bahn network. These include the S20, S21, and S22 operated by Swiss Federal Railways in Solothurn, and the services operated by Treni Regionali Ticino Lombardia (TILO) in Ticino.

See also

• Commuter rail
• U-Bahn
• Urban rail transit
• Train categories in Europe
• List of suburban and commuter rail systems

References

1. "See example of this for Stuttgart ("Warum Stuttgart trotz U keine U-Bahn hat"; literal translation: "Why does Stuttgart despite the U lack a U-Bahn (=Metro/Underground/Subway)". Stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
2. An example of this is the Køgebugt or Køge-Bay railway at Copenhagen, built 1971 to 1983 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 February 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2005.
3. "S-train tunnel at Hamburg between Central Station and Altona 1967-1979". S-bahn-galerie.de. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
4. ^[ dead link ]
5. "Geschichte und Geschichten rund um die Berliner S-Bahn". Stadtschnellbahn-berlin.de.
6. "Geschichte und Geschichten rund um die Berliner S-Bahn". Stadtschnellbahn-berlin.de. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
7. Beschluss Bundespatentgericht vom 14. März 2012. Juris.bundespatentgericht.de, Retrieved 14 April 2013.
8. John Poulsen: S-bane 1934-2009 side 47
9. "Siden blev desværre ikke fundet" (PDF). Dsb.dk. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
10. See picture of Berliner Stadtbahn by Hackescher Markt S-train station, the third rail is clearly seen between the two S-Train tracks. Original name of that station was "Börse", or "the Stock Market" (which now is located in Frankfurt am Main)
11. Alan Hope (15 September 2015). "NMBS releases details of S-train express network". Flanders Today.
12. "S-trein: Reis eenvoudig door de stad | NMBS". Belgiantrain.be. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
13. "Prague Train Map - Prague, Czech Republic". Expats.cz for Jobs in Prague - Prague Real Estate in the Czech Republic. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2019.

External links

• Media related to S-Bahn at Wikimedia Commons