S-Bahn

German and Swiss S-Bahn logo

Austrian S-Bahn logo

Copenhagen S-tog logo

S-Bahn is a city center and suburban metro-like railway system in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. The Copenhagen S-tog (English: S-trains) refers to trains rather than tracks, but is otherwise the same.

Name and some history

The name is an abbreviation for the German "Stadtschnellbahn" (meaning "city rapid railway") and was introduced in December 1930 in Berlin. The label was introduced along with the reconstruction of the suburban commuter train tracks - the first section to be electrified was a section of the Berlin–Szczecin railway from Berlin Nordbahnhof to Bernau bei Berlin station in 1924, leading to the formation of the Berlin S-Bahn; the main line Berlin Stadtbahn (English: City rail of Berlin) was electrified with a 750 volt third rail in 1928 (some steam trains ran until 1929) and the circle line Berlin 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 per line where a number of lines did overlap on the main line. The system peaked during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin to a train schedule below 2 minutes.

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 (however it originally used overhead lines and later changed to third rail) and in 1934 the system adopted the S-Bahn label from Berlin. The same year Copenhagen's S-tog opened its first line. Vienna had its "Stadtbahn" main line electrified in 1908 and also introduced the term "Schnellbahn" (rapid railway") in 1954 for its then planned commuter railway network (which eventually started operations in 1962) - the S-Bahn label was sometimes used as well, but officially the name only switched to S-Bahn Wien in 2005. During the 1930s a number of S-Bahns were opened in Germany, but often this was just a name change of previously electrified local train lines.

Train and station logotypes

The symbol for the S-Bahn in Germany is a white "S" on a green circle. In Hamburg the logo was red for some years, but has now adapted the green logo again. In Copenhagen, Denmark, the equivalent symbol is a red hexagram with a white "S". (However in Copenhagen the "S" originally just stood for "Station").

In Austria, S-Bahn lines and stations are displayed by a blue circle with a white "S" in it. There are proper S-Bahn systems in Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg. The Viennese system is very large, old and well-known. In Switzerland, S-Linien (S-lines) is displayed in black letters on a white background. The term S-Bahn has spawned many similar notations, like the name R-Bahn for regional trains, which do not meet S-Bahn criteria.

The term S-Bahn was until March 14, 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. Prior to the said event Deutsche Bahn collected a royalty of 0.4 cents per train kilometer for the usage of the said term.

Definition: S-Bahn and heavy rail

The S-Bahn is a railway that serves city centre traffic as well as suburbs and nearby towns. Its standard is different for every city, but a common characteristic is high efficiency and a synchronised timetable (usually not less than 20 minutes for each S-Bahn line) that allows for denser rail traffic on the railway lines. This is achieved by electric locomotives and train doors at platform level and in the largest cities by the complete use of separate tracks. In the city centres tracks are almost always either underground or elevated. Depending primarily by the size of the city the standard of the S-Bahn system is better "by city size".

Criteria for heavy rail is dual tracks, electrified trains, complete separation from other trains and common traffic (except for temporary maintenance vehicles), city centre service, suburban service (optional), grips for standing passengers, walking distance between stations (in city centre), minimum 20 minutes between trains of the same line (in city centre), same timetable from opening until closing time, ticket machines (or manual ticket sale). Absence of level crossings (specially in city centres), tunnels and elevations are optional but very hard to avoid. While almost all metro systems are up to this standard, only a few S-Bahn systems fulfil all criteria.

In the largest cities the S-Bahn standard is quite similar to the metro system (in Germany known as U-Bahn). Fully separated traffic (also from other kinds of trains), lack of level road crossings, high density timetables, long trains which adapted for standing passengers, tunnels or elevated tracks in city centres and rather short distances between stations (in city centres around half a mile or 800 metres). In slightly smaller cities standards tend to be lower, such that part of the S-Bahn system in such a city may also be used by other commuter trains or regional trains, as well as having fewer stations and lines etc. In "mid-size" cities there may be no special tracks for the S-Bahn and trains becomes more like commuter trains, with timetables that only runs with high density at rush hours and so on. The smallest cities which may have a S-Bahn "of their own" ( that is not a part of a nearby larger city) have a population of about 250,000 inhabitants, but not all such cities have any kind of S-Bahn.

Comparison with metro – in large cities

Comparing the track network of most S-Bahn rails with common U-Bahn metros

Similarities

In the larger cities like Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg and Copenhagen the S-Bahn track system is separated from other traffic, both concerning other kinds of trains but also from cars, trucks and buses etc. In these cities the S-Bahn is classified as heavy rail and do not differ much from the metro systems in these cities. The S-Bahn also often compete with the metros, such as having common ticket machines and fare zones, interchange stations often acting as junctions between other types of transport and new lines being located in areas where the metro system is absent. Station distances are usually of similar lengths. S-Bahns do also use tunnels, especially in city centers. The Berlin "Ringbahn" is a part of the Berlin S-Bahn system and runs mostly elevated from other traffic; this line is otherwise rather similar to the Circle Line of the London Underground. Also in Copenhagen a kind of circle line (Ringbanen) exists, but to complete a full run a passenger needs to make two changes due to the layout of the lines. A certain rail can be used by more than one line - and a line can use several tracks, just as long as the traffic is separated from non-S-Bahn trains. Every line usually runs no less often then every 10th minute (only in the most distant suburbs less often).

Differences

A Bombardier Double-deck Coach train on the Dresden S-Bahn

But a major difference between metro systems and some S-Bahn systems, is that several different S-Bahn lines share a single route through the city center. But this occurs also in the sub-surface lines of the London Underground (where the Circle Line share tracks with either the Metropolitan Line or the District Line). On networks such as those in Munich and Frankfurt, individual S-Bahn lines may only receive one train every half an hour in each direction, while the central tunnels has services so frequent that it acts as a metro line, along with the city's U-Bahn network. However in the case of Hamburg and Berlin all lines with 30 minutes between departures always use the same tracks (several lines for the tracks), so every station is served 4-6 times each hour (daytime). In contrast, U-Bahn tunnels rarely have more than two routes using them, and the lines will always have a frequent service across its whole length.

Other differences compared with metro systems are for instance that S-Bahn do not only serve the city center but also suburbs and nearby towns, like Potsdam in the case of Berlin. However this is also the case between London and Watford of the Metropolitan Line of London Underground, which indeed is a metro system. Furthermore, S-Bahn trains often run along the same railway routes as mainline trains, though they rarely share tracks and platforms - in such cases at least four tracks are needed, two for the S-Bahn and two for other types of trains. On the other hand, U-Bahn trains run mostly in tunnels, and although they sometimes have overground track sections, these are isolated from the mainline rail network.

An easier explanation is that S-Bahn often runs on "common" (but separated) railroads, which is particularly notable at major railway stations, while U-Bahn never have their platforms "side by side" with Inter City- and Express- train platforms. A difference in power supply is also common. And some S-Bahn lines do connect suburban areas as well (but this is also the case at some metro systems as well).

S-Bahn in "mid-size" cities

In German "mid-size" cities including Frankfurt and within the Ruhr area S-Bahn usually do not have fully separated tracks. Here it is more a train network than a railway network. In even smaller towns also the timetables for each line may exceed 10 minutes. For instance one of the two S-Bahn lines in Rostock runs only every 30th minute. And level crossings with roads can also appear. In other words the term "S-Bahn" is not standardized, but may vary from city to city. However, in at least Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg and Copenhagen the S-Bahn are very "metro like".

Other similar systems

The term "RER" (Réseau express régional), used in France and western Switzerland, Servizio Ferroviario Suburbano (linee S) in Italy, SKM (Szybka Kolej Miejska) in Warsaw and Tricity in Poland are very similar to the S-Bahn. In the United Kingdom, Merseyrail (Liverpool) and the Tyne and Wear Metro are roughly equivalent to S-Bahns (see below for more details on suburban rail networks in the UK).

By contrast, U-Bahn systems are mostly underground and primary serve urban city centers (although some closer suburbs are covered, for instance Spandau in Berlin, and is legally considered as a kind of tramway in Germany, while the S-Bahn is legally considered as a type of railway.

Development

Early steam services

In 1882, the growing number of steam-powered trains around Berlin prompted the Prussian State Railway to construct separate railtracks for suburban traffic. The Berliner Stadtbahn connected Berlin's eight intercity rail stations which were spread throughout the city. A lower rate 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.

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.

Electricity

Electric multiple unit of Berlin S-Bahn

The Hamburg S-Bahn uses a third rail system

The beginning of the 20th century saw the first electric trains, which operated at 15.000 V on overhead lines. As the steam powered trains came to be nuisances to more and more people, the Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahn switched to 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.

To set it apart from its competitor, the subterranean U-Bahn, the term S-Bahn replaced Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahn in 1930.

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 remains 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.

Classification

S-Bahn lines are different from U-Bahn lines in that they have developed from conventional railways long time ago. Some German S-Bahn systems are separate systems of their own, whereas others (such as in Munich and Frankfurt) share some trackage with mainline trains. In the major German cities S-Bahn often is a complement to U-Bahn (or Stadtbahn which exists in the Rhein-Ruhr conglomerate and in some other German cities). While a U-Bahn (usually) keeps its dual and electrified tracks inside the official city limits. Exceptions do however exists, for instance in the Ruhr area where Gelsenkirchen and Essen have a common Stadtbahn (de:Stadtbahn Essen), and the rather small metro in Copenhagen reaches the Kastrup Airport about a mile beyond its city limit.

But S-Bahn does generally lack a specific geographical limit. In Hamburg, Berlin and other large cities new S-Bahn tracks have been built, which never have had any common rail traffic. In the city centre S-Bahn very often runs as underground — and there is a strong symbiosis when using the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, with common ticket system, fare zones and interchange junction stations. To this day the German and Austrian S-Bahn lines are operated by subsidiaries of Deutsche Bahn and ÖBB respectively — the national railway organisations. Copenhagen S-Train is run by DSB, also in Denmark the national railway owner.

Stuttgart S-Bahn

S-Bahn networks are typified by many or all of the following characteristics:

• Specifically numbered, dedicated routes (S1, S2, etc. or A, B, C etc.), each coloured separately on the official network map
• Equivalents in other countries sometimes use names instead of numbers
• High frequency fixed interval services on each line (usually every 5–10 minutes in city centre, up to 20 minutes outside the central parts of the lines)
• Joint sections providing a higher frequency, standing possibilities
• Dedicated tracks when running alongside main lines
• An underground section under the city centre, (elevated tracks may be an alternative) usually the core section where most lines converge
• Dedicated rolling stock, often consistent throughout the network (metro standard on trains, usually no toilets)
• Integration with other local transport, in terms of ticketing, connectivity and easy interchange between lines or other system like metros
• Same name on all parts of a station which is shared with for instance Light Rail, like junction stations for travelling interchange
• Symbols at every station (in Germany usually a green S)
• Good possibility for inner city urban transport, not only a suburban train with 1-3 stops in central part of the city
• Not regional trains nor commuter train, same time distances throughout the whole day
• Service if not 24 hours so from 5 am until well after midnight
• Preferably some kind of central circle line or (depending on the city geographical structure) a central part of a circle line (at seaside cities railway circle lines do not need to go out to the sea or lake)

List of S-Bahn networks

Germany

Classic X-Wagen coaches of S-Bahn

S-Bahn networks in Germany, along with other metro systems

map of the Munich S-Bahn system

A line 10 regional suburban train of the Leipzig-Halle S-Bahn Systems

The trains of the Berlin and Hamburg S-Bahns 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 ail tracks.

The central intercity stations of Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart are terminal stations, so all three 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. The S-Bahn of Hanover, however, operates under five different rates due to its large expanse.

List of German S-Bahn systems

• Berlin S-Bahn
• Bremen S-Bahn
• Dresden S-Bahn
• Hamburg S-Bahn
• Hanover S-Bahn
• Leipzig-Halle S-Bahn (will be renamed as S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland from December 8, 2013)
• Magdeburg S-Bahn (not up to full standard, common rails with other trains)
• Munich S-Bahn
• Nuremberg S-Bahn
• Rhine-Main S-Bahn (Frankfurt/Mainz/Wiesbaden)
• Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn (Ludwigshafen / Mannheim / Heidelberg / Karlsruhe)
• Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (Ruhr Area / Cologne)
• Rostock S-Bahn
• Stuttgart S-Bahn

One S-Bahn system is no longer in operation; it is 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.

Future S-Bahn systems are the Ulm S-Bahn which is expected to enter service in December 2013, and the Augsburg S-Bahn which was originally planned to go into service in 2011 but has now been delayed to 2015. The S-Bahn system in Lübeck is under discussion (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 Breisgau S-Bahn (Freiburg) and the Ortenau S-Bahn (Offenburg) are both RegionalBahn services.

Austria

Vienna S-Bahn, S45 line

The oldest S-Bahn system in Austria is the Vienna S-Bahn, which uses intercity rails predominantly. It was established in 1962, although it was usually referred to as Schnellbahn until 2005. The angular white "S" on a blue circle used as the logo reflects the layout of the central railway lines. However, since it is also similar to the SS runes, a curved S (shown above) is becoming more common. The rolling stock was blue for a long time, reflecting the logo colour, but red is used uniformly for nearly all local traffic today.

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 serviced by three corporations: the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), the Salzburger Lokalbahn (SLB) and the Berchtesgadener Land Bahn (BLB). The Salzburg S-Bahn logo is a white S on a light blue circle.

The S-Bahn network in Graz is in its first phase (Network plan). Currently the following lines are active: S1, S11, S5, S51, S6, S7 while S3, S31 and S32 are still under construction. Extension works shall be finished by 2012.

On December 9, 2007 the Tyrol S-Bahn opened, running from Telfs in the west to Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof and Hall in Tirol in the east and from Innsbruck to Steinach am Brenner.

Desiro

The rolling stock used on the Tyrol S-Bahn are Desiro and Talent trains. It shall be finally upgraded till 2012.

The regional train line in the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley is a nominal S-Bahn. The S-Bahn network in Linz is under discussion.

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).

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), St. Gallen (S-Bahn St. Gallen) and Ticino (Rete celere del Canton Ticino).

The Regio S-Bahn Basel services the whole Euroregion "Regio TriRhena", thus providing cross-border transportation into both France and Germany. A tunnel connecting two of the large intercity railway stations of Basel (Badischer Bahnhof and Basel SBB) is planned as Herzstück Regio-S-Bahn Basel (lit. heart-piece Regio-S-Bahn Basel).

The Réseau Express Vaudois of Lausanne will be incorporated in the planned S-Bahn Léman (called RER Léman in French-speaking areas) around Lake Geneva (fr. Lac Léman). Geneva will be the second centre of this network. 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.

Similar systems in other countries

Suburban railways are known all over the world. However, most of them differ from the German S-Bahn in structure and name.

Australia

Similar to a German S-Bahn, Sydney's CityRail combines an extensive suburban rail system with frequent-service underground sections in the central urban core (City Circle and Eastern Suburbs Line). Melbourne's Metro Trains Melbourne similarly includes an underground section in the city centre (the City Loop), with a major planned new 17 km rail tunnel (the Melbourne Metro) in the planning stage. At present, Melbourne's system is predominately a suburban rail system not useful for travel within the inner city due to the operation of the city loop and falls short of S-Bahn standards by sharing tracks within regional trains. However, inner-metropolitan Melbourne also possess the largest tram network in the world (see Trams in Melbourne). The Transperth Trains system in Perth, Citytrain in Brisbane and Adelaide Metro in Adelaide (see Railways in Adelaide) also possess features similar to a S-Bahn.

Belarus

Elektrichkas runs in large cities. Also gorodskaya elektrichka exist in Minsk.

Brazil

CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos) is the commuter rail system of São Paulo, integrated with it's metro system. Supervia is the commuter rail system of Rio de Janeiro city.

Canada

Ottawa's O-Train is almost a ground-level S-Bahn but is more like an urban metro system.

China

Beijing Suburban Railway, Jinshan Railway in Shanghai, East Rail Line in Hong Kong.

Czech Republic

The Esko - Spojení pro město (literally "S—Connection for City) system in Prague region was established in December 2007.

Denmark

The S-tog system in Greater Copenhagen started service in 1934. Today it has developed into what essentially could be referred to as a metro system with 6 major line branches and 84 stations along 170 km of track separated from all other trains. In the city centre (zones 1 and 2) 30 S-stations exist, of which 6 are interchange junctions between the lines or to the metro. Only about 2 km is underground, the remainder runs mostly at surface level. It has 5 and 10 minute traffic at end stations and 2-3 minute intervals in the city centre. By administration it is classified as part of the Danish railway network, and operated by DSB. The S-tog system has plenty of interchange stations with both regional trains (of which some crosses the bridge to Skåne county, Sweden) and the new Copenhagen Metro, which is under fast development. The regional line Helsingør-Kastrup is similar to an S-Bahn, having dense stops and down to 10 min traffic. In the Copenhagen area there is also a fourth kind of train system in the outer-suburban areas, known as "L-tog" or "local trains", using diesel trains on single track railways with road level crossings. One of them is Nærumbanen, located inside Greater Copenhagen, and others are located further away.

The Copenhagen S-train is similar to the S-bahn in Hamburg and Berlin, although electrified from above.

Around the city Aarhus there are two local railways with a dense stopping pattern, going to suburbs and subcities near the city, using diesel trains. These are Grenaabanen (where the trains count as regional trains) and Odderbanen (where the trains count as local trains).

Estonia

Tallinn's Elektriraudtee

Finland

Helsinki region has a regional commuter rail system run by the national railway company VR (Finnish / Swedish name: Lähijuna / Närtåg). Compared to systems in German cities, the Helsinki system is a combination of S-Bahn and Regionalbahn systems, which means it's not up to S-Bahn standard. Physically the network forks into four directions from Helsinki central station, and 15 services run on these four lines. These differ by their stopping behavior and are indicated by letters. The shorter-distance services run on their exclusive tracks with short, fixed intervals and are comparable to S-bahn. R, H, Z and Y-trains are regional services in the similar manner as German Regional Bahn or Regional Express. They use intercity tracks, stop only at major stations and reach as far as Lahti (Z-train, distance 104 km).

France

The French Réseau Express Régional (lit. Regional Express Network) originally meant the Paris system, but is now used for other French and Swiss networks as well. However, only the Paris RER has S-Bahn-like tunnel stations.

Because it is serviced with SNCF trains, the C line of the Métro de Toulouse is sometimes called RER toulousain. The planned Lyon network will consist in tram-train and train system.

Greece

Proastiakos is the brand of the suburban and regional railway lines in and around Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and Patras. In 2004, when Proastiakos was founded, it was a different company. Today, it is a brand for the suburban and regional services of TrainOSE.

Hungary

HÉV is the system of four suburban railway lines in and around Budapest. The HÉV lines were originally constructed as branch lines of the Hungarian State Railways. Today, the four HÉV lines are operated by the public transport company of Budapest, yet are not part of the Budapest Metro.

India

Major cities in India have commuter rail systems which are similar to German S-Bahn systems. Mumbai Suburban Railway, the oldest suburban rail system in Asia, carries more than 6.9 million commuters on a daily basis which constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the Indian Railways itself. Kolkata Suburban Railway is huge and extensive and covers large areas in Kolkata's hinterland. The Chennai Suburban Railway along with Chennai MRTS is another railway of comparison where almost 2 million people travel daily to different areas in Chennai. In Hyderabad, the MMTS mainly transports people from the city centre to HI-TEC city, the city's IT hub. Other commuter railways in India include Delhi Suburban Railway, Pune Suburban Railway and Lucknow-Kanpur Suburban Railway.

Ireland

The electrified Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) started service in 1984 and is one of the two components of the Dublin Suburban Rail system, the other being the diesel-powered Commuter, which also operate in a few other Irish cities.

Italy

The Milan suburban railway service, started in 2004, uses the symbol "S". They are operated by Trenord, the regional railway company of Lombardy.

A system like in Milan exists for Bologna and Turin.

Veneto's Metropolitan Regional Rail System (SFMR) is modeled on the German S-Bahn systems, but on a regional basis. It will provide an S-Bahn-like transport system to the main urban zones of Veneto, like Venice and Padua, and to the surrounding towns. Actually Central Veneto is sometime considered to be a unique metropolitan area (Patreve).

Rome's Ferrovie Regionali (regional railways) is more like a Regionalbahn, apart from the FR1 route from Orte to Fiumicino Airport, the FR2 route from Roma Tiburtina to Tivoli and the FR3 route from Roma Ostiense to Viterbo.

The suburban railway lines of Naples are all integrated into the Naples Metro network. Genoa has two urban railways, that partly run underground.

Japan

Japan's largest cities have very extensive suburban networks and some cities have urban lines (Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway, Yamanote Line etc.) that complement the Japanese metro systems. Many urban commuter lines are operationally more like a typical metro system similar to the S-Bahn systems in Berlin and Hamburg (with very high operating frequencies, an emphasis on standing passengers, short station spacing, and dedicated rights-of-way) and tend to have reciprocal service with one or more subway lines and may also operate several levels of express trains to reduce the travel time to distant locations, often using station bypass tracks instead of dedicated express tracks. It is notable that the majority of Japanese commuter rail systems are owned and operated by private railway companies, without public subsidy.

Korea, South

Korail and Neotrans operate S-Bahn-like commuter services (in legal term, 광역철도) in the Seoul National Capital Area, which are all integrated into the Seoul Metropolitan Subway network.

Malaysia

In Kuala Lumpur and parts of the Klang Valley, two regional train services branded as KTM Komuter operate from Selangor's northern border to Seremban, Negeri Sembilan (Rawang-Sungai Gadut Route) and another from Port Klang in the west coast of Selangor to Batu Caves via central Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves-Port Klang Route). Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) has operated the regional service since 1995.

Mexico

Mexico City since 2008 has a suburban rail line that runs from Buenavista (the ex-northern train station, near the historical center and Cuautitlan in the State of Mexico Northmost of the Metropolitan area.

New Zealand

Auckland (MAXX Regional Transport) and Wellington (Tranz Metro) have urban-suburban networks.

Phillippines

The Philippine National Railways orange line has a Commuter Express (also known as Metro Commuter or commonly as Commex) service that runs from Tutuban railway station in Metro Manila to Calamba City, Laguna, using locomotive-hauled secondhand passenger cars procured from Japan as well as newly-built Korean DMU trains. Another commuter rail service exists in the Bicol Region; it is the Bicol Metro Rail Commuter service which runs from Tagkawayan, Quezon to Ligao City, Albay, with Naga City in Camarines Sur acting as the central terminus.

Poland

Warsaw metropolitan area

SKM Warsaw

Warsaw SKM

Szybka Kolej Miejska (English: Urban Rapid Railway) is a rail operator providing services in the Warsaw metropolitan area. It owns its rolling stock (nine 14WE, four 19WE and two out of 13 27WE EMUs ordered as of September 2011), but uses tracks belonging to Polish State Railways, sharing them with other rail operators.

Masovian Railways

Map of Warsaw Integrated Ticket Area

Masovian Railways operate all regional traffic in Warsaw and suburban area. The company owns its rolling stock (200+ EMUs of various classes and several DMUs, double-decker carriages with driving vans (to allow push-pull operation) and electric locomotives). It is possible to travel between specified stations on the trains operated by the Masovian Railways using many types of tickets for Warsaw public transport (Warsaw Integrated Ticket Area).

WKD line plan

Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa (Warsaw Suburban Railway, WKD) Another s-bahn type line in Warsaw is WKD (Warsaw Suburban Rarilway), with operations on the Warsaw–Grodzisk Maz./Milanówek line. From Warsaw Śródmieście (Downtown) to Opacz station you can go by Warsaw City Card.

WKD modern EMU EN-95on Podkowa Leśna station

Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia

SKR EMU on Tychy City station

Plan of Fast Regional Train in Silesia

Some features of S-Bahn system has Fast Regional Train (SKR) in Silesian Vivodership. It has only one line: Tychy–Katowice.

Tricity Metropolitan Area

Plan of Tricity SKM

Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity) It connects Gdansk with Sopot, Gdynia and other smaller towns north and south of Gdansk (Pruszcz Gdanski, Rumia, Reda, Wejherowo and others). It serves area of ca. 1 million people. The system consist of one line from Gdansk to Rumia, but SKM trains operate out of this section using Polish National Railway (PKP) lines. The second SKM line is planned to be built in years 2010-2014. It will connect centre of Gdansk with centre of Gdynia via Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport and several Gdansk and Gdynia districts currently serviced by bus lines.

Portugal

CP runs Urban services in both Lisbon (CP Lisboa and private Fertagus) and Porto (CP Porto) metro areas. Until recently these were called suburbanos.

Russia

Elektrichkas run in most large cities. Also gorodskaya elektrichka and airport aeroexpress exists in a few cities.

Serbia

Serbian capital Belgrade has had a commuter suburban system Beovoz with some stations within the city for many years. Since 2010 the BG:Voz operates an urban line built underground with underground stations.

Spain

Main articles: Cercanías, Rodalies de Catalunya, and Rodalies Barcelona

There are systems other than the Cercanías in Asturias, the Basque Country and Cantabria. Their operating companies are EuskoTren and FEVE. Two subsystems of the Barcelona commuter rail network are run by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC).

Sweden

The Stockholm pendeltåg went into service in the 1960s. The pendeltåg is not comparable to the S-Bahn systems in Berlin or Hamburg; instead it is more like the S-Bahn train systems of Munich and Frankfurt. Pendeltåg is the technical term for a system, which mostly shares railways with inter-city trains and freight trains, but largely on its own tracks and which has only three stations in the inner city. These trains are commuter rail or suburban rail with its only purpose to transport passengers from nearby towns and other suburban areas into the city, they are not in use for transport between stations inside the city centre. The Stockholm T-bana (Underground) is used for transport inside the city centre. The Stockholm stations are marked with a J symbol, which just stands for the generic term "järnvägsstation" (i.e. railway station). The Gothenburg commuter rail system is similar to the Stockholm system, but does fully share tracks with long-distance trains. This system has two stations in the inner city.

In Stockholm there are two more train systems, fully separated from other rail systems, that go to outer suburbs. These are Roslagsbanan and Saltsjöbanan and they don't count as pendeltåg, but as odd local systems. Other Swedish commuter rail systems that are also not counted as pendeltåg include Upptåget in Uppsala County and Skåne Commuter Rail (Pågatågen) in Skåne County which also acts as a regional rail system, as it serves other cities over 100 km (62 miles) from the principal city of Malmö, and some trains may also cross the Øresund Bridge to reach the city of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Taiwan

EMU commuter rail services operate on the Western Line in Taipei-Taoyuan Metropolitan Area, Taichung Metropolitan Area, Tainan-Kaohsiung Metropolitan Area as well as Neiwan-Liujia Line in Hsinchu Area.

Ukraine

Main article: Kiev Urban Electric Train

Service routemap in Kiev

Interior view of an electrychka converted for use as a Kiev Urban Electric Train.

Elektrychkas runs in suburbans in most large cities. Also miska elektrychka exist now as Kiev Urban Electric Train and was in Lviv.

Kiev Urban Electric Train (Ukrainian: Київська міська електричка, Kyivska miska elektrychka) is a pioneering intracity passenger railway service in Kiev, Ukraine, provided by the Ukrzaliznytsia national railway company but sponsored by the municipality of Kiev. The project uses long-existing railroad ring in the city for peak hour circulation of electric multiple unit trains.

Opened in 2010, Kiev Urban Electric Train is the first instance of both a municipal railway service and an intracity passenger rail route in Ukraine, and arguably in the former Soviet Union as a whole.

All the railroad infrastructure the Kiev Urban Electric Train utilizes already existed in the city and is shared with other services of the Ukrzaliznytsia (both passenger and freight). However, not all of the Kiev's rail stations and halts are served by the project.

Kiev Urban Electric Train is designed as a mean of transporting passengers to- and from the Kiev Metro stations and major public transport routes. Thus, all stops for the moment are essentially multimodal transfer hubs.

United Kingdom

Main article: Urban rail in the United Kingdom

Many of the larger cities in the UK have suburban rail networks, which resemble S-Bahns to varying degrees. The distinctions between different kinds of rail are far more blurred in the UK, so it is often hard to categorise them.

• Birmingham has a network of four suburban routes, which are branded as Network West Midlands (formerly Centro), and are integrated with bus and tram services.
• Cardiff has eight lines of urban and suburban services radiating from the city, known as the Valley Lines.
• Glasgow's SPT Rail network fits the model of an S-Bahn, with a large network of differentiated lines, with frequent services, and purpose-built lines under the city centre.
• Liverpool has an urban-suburban network, called Merseyrail. The main part of Merseyrail (the Northern and Wirral lines), is a textbook S-Bahn, with regular, fixed interval services, lines under the city centre, and dedicated lines and stock. There is a third part, serving areas to the east of the area, nominally called the City Line, but is actually a virtual line, made up of sections of various longer distance lines out of Liverpool Lime Street. This, while part sponsored by Merseytravel, is operated by different (and differing) operating companies than the core of the Merseyrail network, and does not have the same consistency of branding or services.
• In London, Thameslink has some features in common with S-Bahn, such as the heavy rail rolling stock and the underground city centre section with Cut and Cover tunnels: in a few years' time, however, it will look far more like a mainline that just happens to make it all the way across London, though with an S-Bahn-like middle section and suburban services sharing tracks with the mainline trains. The future Crossrail also shares a number of features (segregated suburban services, cross-city connections), with S-Bahn. However, it will have deep level, bored, tunnels.
• Some S-bahn characteristics also appear in the London Overground network, currently operating mainly in West and North London with the extension to the East London Line. First Great Western, First Capital Connect, Greater Anglia, Southeastern, Southern, and South West Trains all operate a number of suburban services out of the many London Termini.
• The London Underground (which is treated as heavy rail, unlike German U-Bahn) has many parts that function like an S-Bahn, the Circle, Metropolitan and District lines, with their full-sized trains and their long length are especially S-Bahn-like. The Central, Northern and Piccadilly lines have also taken over suburban railways outside the centre and perform S-Bahn-like functions, though these are really just overgrown U-Bahn lines, with small trains and bored tubes. Originally, the Underground was conceived and used like an S-Bahn, with suburban trains diverting under their termini and heading across Central London.
• West Yorkshire has a network of sponsored local services, mainly radiating from Leeds.
• Other metro systems in Britain, such as the DLR and the Tyne and Wear Metro, are more comparable to a U-Bahn and/or a Light Railway (Stadtbahn).

United States

Comparable lines in the US include:

• Chicago — Metra Electric Line extending southward from the city, and NICTD's South Shore Line into northern Indiana, share several features with S-Bahn lines such as dedicated trackage, grade separation, high level platforms, and electrification. The rest of Metra's system is highly dissimilar to an S-Bahn.
• Los Angeles – Los Angeles County Metro features both at-grade and separated tracks, and connects inner-city Los Angeles to other suburbs and nearby urban centers such as Long Beach and Pasadena. Metro's predecessor, the Pacific Electric Railway, could be considered the very first S-Bahn.
• New York – Port Authority Trans-Hudson is a smaller variation on an S-Bahn-type system, connecting a small number of stations in Midtown and Downtown Manhattan with nearby suburbs in Hudson County and the city of Newark.
• Philadelphia — SEPTA Regional Rail features a tunnel through the city centre, through-routed trains, and electric locomotives. However, several of the lines extend well out from the city through less densely populated areas. On the whole, the system is more like a RegionalBahn.
• San Francisco Bay Area — BART is similar to an S-Bahn in that both are hybrids between a rapid transit system and a commuter rail system. BART has tunnels under the San Francisco and Oakland city centres and surface trackage in more outlying locations.

Other rapid transit lines such as the New York City Subway or Chicago 'L' are more akin to U-Bahn lines. Commuter rail systems such as Virginia Railway Express or New Mexico Rail Runner are more akin to RegionalBahn systems. Partially underground light rail lines such as Boston's Green Line and Philadelphia's Subway-Surface Lines are analogous to Stadtbahn lines.

Other countries

Systems comparable or having some attributes to an S-Bahn also exists in some other cities of some countries.

See also

• Urban rail transit
• Urban railway
• U-Bahn
• Commuter rail in the United Kingdom
• Train categories in Europe

External links

• Crossing the Berlin border on the S-Bahn (late '80s)—A tourist crosses from East Berlin to West Berlin via the S-Bahn.

Pages on German Wikipedia

• de:S-Bahnen in Deutschland
• de:S-Bahnen in Österreich
• de:S-Bahnen in der Schweiz
• de:Stadtschnellbahn