U-Bahn

U-Bahn or Untergrundbahn is German for underground rapid transit or metro. Five systems take its name, with only four of them being metro systems:

• Berlin U-Bahn
• Hamburg U-Bahn
• Munich U-Bahn
• Nuremberg U-Bahn

The Vienna U-Bahn in Austria is also a metro system.

Stadtbahn

Stadtbahn (Premetro, Light Rail)

One "U-Bahn" system is in fact a light rail or premetro due to its partly integration in street traffic:

• Frankfurt U-Bahn

Further German light rail or premetro systems are therefore called U-Stadtbahn where running underground ("U") or only Stadtbahn is the German term for light rail):

• Bielefeld Stadtbahn
• Bonn Stadtbahn
• Cologne Stadtbahn
• Hanover Stadtbahn
• Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn and its subnetworks
• Stuttgart Stadtbahn

Stadtbahn (Tram-Train)

German tram-train systems are generally called Stadtbahn; only two among them feature premetro sections, although a metro (U-Bahn) has never been planned there:

• For the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn serving tram sections in Heilbronn, Karlsruhe, Bad Wildbad, Wörth am Rhein and further suburbs of Karlsruhe, a tunnel is being built along the main shopping street in the city centre of Karlsruhe.
• The Kassel tram-train system is called RegioTram including tram section in Kassel and its suburbs. It includes a short tunnel next to Kassel Hauptbahnhof RegioTram platforms which are on the ramp replacing former main railway platforms.

U-Straßenbahn (Sub-Surface Tram)

Sub-surface tram systems are called U-Straßenbahn in Germany where running underground ("U").

See also

• Rapid transit in Germany
• S-Bahn