S-Bahn - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

and Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. 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

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. The label was introduced along with the reconstruction of the suburban commuter train tracks - 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 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 per line where a number of lines did overlap on the main line. The system did peak during the 1936 Summer Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

in Berlin to a train schedule below 2 minutes.

The idea of heavy rail rapid transit was not unique to Berlin. Hamburg had electrical railway between the central station ("Hauptbahnhof") and Altona was opened already 1908 (however it was using overhead lines changing to third rail later) and in 1934 the system was adopting the S-Bahn label from Berlin. The same year Copenhagen S-tog opened its first line. Vienna had its "Stadtbahn" main line electrifed in 1908 as well using the term "Schnellbahn" (rapid railway") since 1954 - the label S-Bahn was sometimes used as well but the official name switched to S-Bahn Wien not until 2005. During the 1930s a number of S-Bahns were opened in Germany, but often this was just a change of name from already electrical 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

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark

Denmark

, the equivalent symbol is a red hexagram with a white "S". (However in Copenhagen the "S" originally just stands for "Station").

In Austria

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

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

, and Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

. The Viennese system is very large, old and well-known. In Switzerland

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.

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 locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s 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 either underground or elevated. Depending primary 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

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...

). 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. Part of the S-Bahn system may also be used by commuter trains or regional trains. 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

Similarities

In the larger cities like Berlin

Berlin

, Vienna

Vienna

, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

and Copenhagen

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 metrosystem in these cities. The S-Bahn also often competes with the metros. Such as common ticket machines and fare zones, interchange stations often as junctions and new lines are located to areas where the other system is absent. Station distances are usually of similar lengths. S-Bahns do also use tunnels, specially 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 London Underground. Also in Copenhagen a kind of circle line 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

But a major difference between metro systems and S-Bahn lines is that several different S-Bahn lines share a single route through the city center. On networks such as Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, individual S-Bahn lines may only receive one train every half an hour in each direction, but the central tunnel has a service so frequent that it acts as a metro line, along with the city's U-Bahn

U-Bahn

network. In contrast, U-Bahn tunnels rarely have more than two routes using them, and the lines will always have a very 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). Further, 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, this will be isolated from the mainline rail network.

S-Bahn in "mid-size" cities

In German "mid-size" cities including Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

and within the Ruhr area

Ruhr Area

The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...

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

Rostock

Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...

runs only every 30th minute. And level crossings with roads can also appear. In other words the term "S-Bahn" is not standardizated, 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 system

The term "RER

RER

The RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...

" (Réseau express régional), used in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and western Switzerland, Servizio Ferroviario Suburbano (linee S) in Italy, SKM (Szybka Kolej Miejska) in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

and Tricity in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

are very similar to the S-Bahn. In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Merseyrail

Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...

(Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

) and the Tyne and Wear Metro

Tyne and Wear Metro

The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...

are roughly equivalent to S-Bahns (see below for more details on suburban rail networks in the UK).

By contrast, U-Bahn trains are mainly underground and serve primary urban city centers (although some closer suburbs is covered, for instance Spandau

Spandau

Spandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...

in Berlin, and count legally as a kind of tramway in Germany, while the S-Bahn legally are a type of railway.

Early steam services

In 1882, the growing number of steam-powered

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

trains around Berlin

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
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

-Altonaer Stadt- und Vorortbahn connecting Hamburg with Altona

Altona, Hamburg

Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...

and Blankenese

Blankenese

Blankenese is a former independent town, now a suburban quarter in the borough Altona in the western part of Hamburg . It is located on right bank of the Elbe river...

. The Altona office of the Prussian State Railway established the electric powered railway in 1906.

Electricity

The beginning of the 20th century saw the first electric trains, which operated at 15.000 V

Volt

The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...

on overhead lines

Overhead lines

Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...

.
As the steam powered trains came to be nuisances to more and more people, the Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahn switched to direct current

Direct current

Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...

multiple unit

Multiple unit

The term multiple unit or MU is used to describe a self-propelled carriages capable of coupling with other units of the same or similar type and still being controlled from one driving cab. The term is commonly used to denote passenger trainsets consisting of more than one carriage...

s running on 750 V from a third rail

Third rail

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...

. In 1924, the first electrified route went into service. The third rail was chosen because it made both the modifications of the railtracks (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

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

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 unit

Electric multiple unit

An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

s with sliding door

Sliding door

A sliding door is a type of door which opens horizontally by sliding, whereby the door is either mounted on or suspended from a track. Types of sliding doors include pocket doors, Arcadia doors, and bypass doors...

s 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

Munich S-Bahn

The Munich S-Bahn is an electric rail transit system in Munich, Germany. "S-Bahn" is the German abbreviation for stadtschnellbahn , and the Munich S-Bahn exhibits characteristics of both rapid transit and commuter rail systems.The Munich S-Bahn network is operated by S-Bahn München, a subsidiary...

and Frankfurt) share some trackage with mainline trains. In the major German cities S-Bahn often is a complement to U-Bahn (or U-S-Bahn which now exist in the Rhein-Ruhr conglomerate). 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

Gelsenkirchen

Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....

and Essen

Essen

- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...

has a common U-Bahn. 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

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

and ÖBB

ÖBB

The Austrian Federal Railways is the national railway system of Austria, and the administrators of Liechtenstein's railways...

respectively — the national railway organisations. Copenhagen S-Train is run by DSB

DSB

-Science, technology and devices:* Disulphide bridge , a protein found in prokaryotes. Equivalent to eukaryotic PDI* Double Strand Break, a break in DNA which may be a precursor to Genetic recombination* in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission...

, also in Denmark the national railway owner.
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
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

, 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 train circles do not need to go out on the sea or lake)

S-Bahn networks in Germany

The trains of Berlin and Hamburg S-Bahn systems run on separate tracks from the beginning. When other cities started implementing their systems in the 1960s, they mostly had to use the existing intercity railtracks.

The central intercity stations of Frankfurt

Frankfurt

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

and Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

are terminal station

Terminal Station

Terminal Station is a 1953 film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of the love affair between an Italian man and an American woman. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:...

s, 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

Ruhr Area

promotes a polycentric network connecting all cities and suburbs. The S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn
The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn is a polycentric S-Bahn network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr , the Berg cities of Wuppertal and Solingen and parts of the Rhineland...

, 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

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
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

rates, instead connected to the city ticket system. The S-Bahn of Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

, however, operates under five different rates due to its large expanse.

List of German S-Bahn systems

Berlin S-Bahn
Berlin S-Bahn
The Berlin S-Bahn is a rapid transit system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It consists of 15 lines and is integrated with the mostly underground U-Bahn to form the backbone of Berlin's rapid transport system...
Bremen S-Bahn
Bremen S-Bahn
The Bremen S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network in Germany, covering the Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region, from Bremerhaven in the north to Twistringen in the south and Bad Zwischenahn and Oldenburg in the west. It has been in operation since 2010...
Dresden S-Bahn
Dresden S-Bahn
The Dresden S-Bahn provides commuter train services in Dresden and the surrounding area. It was established in 1973 and comprises three lines...
Hamburg S-Bahn
Hamburg S-Bahn
The Hamburg S-Bahn is a railway network for public rapid mass transit in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Together the S-Bahn, the Hamburg U-Bahn, the AKN railway and the regional railway form the backbone of railway public transport in the city and the surrounding area...
Hanover S-Bahn
Hanover S-Bahn
The Hanover S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network operated by DB Regio in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony...
Leipzig-Halle S-Bahn
Magdeburg S-Bahn (not up to full standard, common rails with other trains)
Munich S-Bahn
Munich S-Bahn
The Munich S-Bahn is an electric rail transit system in Munich, Germany. "S-Bahn" is the German abbreviation for stadtschnellbahn , and the Munich S-Bahn exhibits characteristics of both rapid transit and commuter rail systems.The Munich S-Bahn network is operated by S-Bahn München, a subsidiary...
Nuremberg S-Bahn
Nürnberg S-Bahn
The Nuremberg S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network covering the region of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen which was founded in 1987 and is now integrated in the Transport Association Region Nuremberg . The full length of the four current lines is about 229 kilometres...
Rhine-Main S-Bahn
Rhine-Main S-Bahn
The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter transport system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt...

(Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

/Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

/Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

)
Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn (Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Ludwigshafen am Rhein is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Ludwigshafen is located on the Rhine opposite Mannheim. Together with Mannheim, Heidelberg and the surrounding region, it forms the Rhine Neckar Area....

/ Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

/ Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

/ Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

)
Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (Ruhr Area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...

/ Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

)
Rostock S-Bahn
Rostock S-Bahn
The Rostock S-Bahn is an S-Bahn in Rostock, Germany. Opened in 1970, it links Rostock Hauptbahnhof with the coastal suburb of Warnemünde....
Stuttgart S-Bahn
Stuttgart S-Bahn
The Stuttgart S-Bahn is a suburban railway system serving the Stuttgart Region, an agglomeration of around 2.6 million people, consisting of the city of Stuttgart and the adjacent districts of Esslingen, Böblingen, Ludwigsburg and Rems-Murr. It consists of seven lines numbered S1 through S6 and...

The Augsburg S-Bahn is planned to go into service in 2011.

The Stadtbahn Karlsruhe

Stadtbahn Karlsruhe

The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connections to neighbouring regions...

(a tram-train

Tram-train

A tram-train is a light-rail public transport system where trams run both on an urban tramway network and on main-line railways to combine the tram's flexibility and availability and the train's greater speed...

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
Breisgau S-Bahn
The Breisgau S-Bahn is a regional railway operator in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is a subsidiary of Freiburger Verkehrs AG , the municipal transport operator of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, and the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft , a transport company owned by the...

(Freiburg

Freiburg

Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...

) and the Ortenau S-Bahn
Ortenau S-Bahn
The Ortenau S-Bahn is a regional railway operator in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is a subsidiary of the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft , a transport company owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg....

(Offenburg

Offenburg

Offenburg is a city located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With about 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest city and the capital of the Ortenaukreis.Offenburg also houses University of Applied Sciences Offenburg...

) are both RegionalBahn

RegionalBahn

The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...

services.

S-Bahn networks in Austria

The oldest S-Bahn system in Austria is the Vienna S-Bahn

Vienna S-Bahn

The Vienna S-Bahn is a suburban metro railway network in Vienna, Austria. As opposed to the city-run urban metro network, the Vienna U-Bahn, it extends beyond the borders of the city, is operated by the ÖBB , and consists of many branch lines...

, which uses intercity rails predominantly. It was established in the 1960s, although it was usually referred to as Schnellbahn until 2005. The angular white "S" on a blue circle used as logo reflects the layout of the central railway lines. However, since it is also similar to the SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

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

Salzburg

S-Bahn went into service as the first Euroregion

Euroregion

In European politics, the term Euroregion usually refers to a transnational co-operation structure between two contiguous territories located in different European countries. Euroregions represent a specific type of cross-border region.-Scope:...

S-Bahn, crossing the border to the neighbouring towns of Freilassing

Freilassing

Freilassing is a municipality of some 16,000 inhabitants situated in the southeastern corner of Bavaria, Germany. It belongs to the "Regierungsbezirk" Oberbayern and the "Landkreis" of Berchtesgadener Land...

and Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...

in Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. 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 networks in Graz

Graz

is in its first phase. (The network) 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 9 December 2007 the Innsbruck S-Bahn

Innsbruck S-Bahn

The Tyrol S-Bahn provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands. At present, it is only a nominally an S-Bahn in that it only operates on the lines of the Austrian Federal Railways...

opened, running from Telfs

Telfs

Telfs is an Austrian market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land and is located 27 km west of Innsbruck. It is the third largest location of Tyrol and received its status in 1908. Telfs possesses an own district court. In the last years Telfs has frequently been increasing in the number of...

in the west to Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof

Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof

is the Hauptbahnhof at Innsbruck, the capital city of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. Opened in 1853, it is one of the country's busiest railway stations, with around 25,000 passenger movements daily....

and Hall in Tirol

Hall in Tirol

Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 12,700 .-History:...

in the east and from Innsbruck to Steinach am Brenner.

The rolling stock are Desiro

Desiro

The Siemens Desiro is a family of diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, Desiro ML, Desiro UK and the future Desiro City and Desiro RUS. The trains are mostly used for commuter and regional services, and their rapid acceleration makes them...

and Talent

Talent (train)

The Talent is a multiple unit railcar manufactured by Bombardier that was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen shortly before the company was acquired by Bombardier in 1995...

trains. It shall be finally upgraded till 2012.

The regional train line in the Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...

Rhine Valley

The Rhine Valley is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine , i.e. the section of the Rhine River between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and its mouth at Lake Constance....

is a nominal S-Bahn. The S-Bahn networks in Linz

Linz

Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...

are under discussion.

S-Bahn networks in 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 Berne S-Bahn, established in 1987 It also is the only one in Switzerland to use a coloured "S" logo. In 1990, the Zürich S-Bahn

Zürich S-Bahn

The Zurich S-Bahn system is a network of rapid transit rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighboring cantons The Zurich S-Bahn system is a network of rapid transit rail lines that has been...

, which covers the largest area, went into service. S-Bahn services were set up in the course of the initiative Bahn 2000 in Central Switzerland

Central Switzerland

Central Switzerland is the region of the Alpine foothills geographically the heart and historically the origin of Switzerland, with the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug....

(a collaborative network of S-Bahn Luzern and Stadtbahn Zug), St. Gallen

St. Gallen

St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...

(S-Bahn St. Gallen) and Ticino

Ticino

Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...

(S-Bahn Tessin).

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

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

(Badischer
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

Bahnhof and Basel SBB
SBB-CFF-FFS
Swiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...

) is planned as Herzstück Regio-S-Bahn Basel (lit. heart-piece Regio-S-Bahn Basel).

The Réseau Express Vaudois of Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

will be incorporated in the planned S-Bahn Léman (called RER Léman in French-speaking areas) around Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...

(fr. Lac Léman). Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

will be the second centre of this network. Transborder networks for the Lake Constance

Lake Constance

Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...

-adjacent German states

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

and Bavaria

Bavaria

, the Austrian state

States of Austria

Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...

Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...

and the Swiss cantons

Cantons of Switzerland

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

St. Gallen

Canton of St. Gallen

The Canton of St. Gallen is a canton of Switzerland. St. Gallen is located in the north east of Switzerland. It covers an area of 2,026 km², and has a population of . , the population included 97,461 foreigners, or about 20.9% of the total population. The capital is St. Gallen. Spelling...

and Thurgau

Thurgau

Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...

are under discussion. Possible names are Bodensee-S-Bahn and Alpenrhein-Bahn.

Warsaw metropolitan area

SKM Warsaw

Szybka Kolej Miejska (Warsaw)

Szybka Kolej Miejska is a rail operator providing services in the Warsaw metropolitan area using the national rail network while constituting a part of the cities integrated public transport system organized by the Warsaw Transport Authority.- History :...

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
Koleje Mazowieckie
Koleje Mazowieckie is a regional rail operator in the Masovian Voivodeship of Poland.- History :The company was founded in 2004 as a joint venture of the Masovian Voivodeship, with 51% shares, and the, then government-owned, PKP Przewozy Regionalne, with 49% shares, to handle local passenger...

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).

Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa (Warsaw Suburban Railway, WKD)

Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa

Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa is a suburban light rail line in Poland's capital city of Warsaw. The line, together with its two branches, links Warsaw with the municipalities of Michałowice, Pruszków, Brwinów, Podkowa Leśna, Milanówek and Grodzisk Mazowiecki to the south-west of Warsaw.-History:The...

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.

Metropolitan Association of Upper 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

Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity)

It connects Gdansk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

with Sopot

Sopot

Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....

, Gdynia

Gdynia

Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...

and other smaller towns north and south of Gdansk (Pruszcz Gdanski

Pruszcz Gdanski

Pruszcz Gdański is a town in Gdańsk Pomerania, northwestern Poland with 26834 inhabitants . Pruszcz Gdański is an industrial town neighbouring Gdańsk, part of the Tricity agglomeration...

, Rumia

Rumia

Rumia is a city in the Eastern Pomerania region of north-western Poland, with some 45,000 inhabitants. It is a part of the Kashubian Tricity and a suburb part of the metropolitan area of the Tricity...

, Reda

Reda

Reda may refer to:* Reda, Poland, a town in Poland* Reda , a river in Poland* Reda railway station, a railway station in Reda, Poland* Reza , can be spelled Reda*Gino Reda, sports journalist*Francesco Reda, Italian cyclist...

, Wejherowo

Wejherowo

Wejherowo is a town in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 47,435 inhabitants . It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999; previously, it was a town in Gdańsk Voivodeship .-History:...

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

Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport

-Cargo airlines:Wizz Air is the largest airline at the airport. It has 3 Airbus 320 aircraft based there and they serve 21 routes. Ryanair has a large presence at the airport as well.-Public transport:The following city bus lines connect the airport:...

and several Gdansk and Gdynia districts currently serviced by bus lines.

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

Similarly to a European S-Bahn, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

's CityRail

CityRail

CityRail is an operating brand of RailCorp, a corporation owned by the state government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for providing commuter rail services, and some coach services, in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities of New South Wales. It is...

combines an extensive suburban rail system with frequent-service underground sections in the central urban core (City Circle

City Circle

The City Circle is a system of largely underground passenger railway lines located in the central business district of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that make up the heart of the Sydney passenger railway network. The lines are owned by RailCorp, a New South Wales government agency, and...

and Eastern Suburbs Line). Melbourne's metropolitan trains similarly include 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.

Brazil

CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos
Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos
Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos is a commuter rail company owned by the São Paulo State Secretariat for Metropolitan Transports. It was created in 1992 from several railroads that already existed in Greater São Paulo, Brazil....

), São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

commuter rail, is a rail system integrated with metro system, to convert into surface metro system.

Czech Republic

The Esko - Spojení pro město
Esko Prague
Esko Prague is a commuter rail system in Prague, Czech Republic. It has been in operation under its current name since December 9, 2007. Esko is part of the Prague Integrated Transport system serving the city of Prague and the surrounding areas of the Central Bohemian Region...

(literally "S—Connection for City) system in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

region was established in December 2007.

Denmark

The S-tog
S-Train
The S-train network is a combined urban rapid transit and suburban rail network of Metropolitan Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects the city center with the inner suburbs of Copenhagen, and has close to half of the stations within the urban city. The first line was opened in 1934...

system in Greater Copenhagen

Copenhagen

has its beginnings in 1934.
Today it has developed into what essentially could be referred to as a metro system with 4 major line branches and 84 stations along 170 km of track separated from all other trains. In the city centre (zones 1 and 2) exists 30 S-stations, of which 6 are interchange junctions between the lines or to the metro. Only about 2 km is underground, it runs mostly as elevated rail. It has 5 and 10 minute traffic at end stations and in the city centre 2-3 minute intervals. By administration it is now classified as part of the Danish railway network. 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

Copenhagen Metro

Copenhagen Metro is a rapid transit system serving Copenhagen, Frederiksberg and Tårnby in Denmark. The system opened between 2002 and 2007, and has two lines, M1 and M2. The driverless light metro supplements the larger S-train rapid transit system, and is integrated with DSB local trains and...

, which is under fast development. In the Copenhagen area there is also
a fourth kind of train system in the suburban parts, known as "Lokalbaner" or "local trains". The Danish S-train is very alike the S-bahn in Hamburg and Berlin, although electrified from above.

Finland

Helsinki region has a regional commuter rail system

Helsinki commuter rail

Helsinki commuter rail is the commuter rail system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. The network is operated by VR, the Finnish national railway company. Together with the Helsinki Metro and trams, the network forms the heart of Helsinki's public transportation infrastructure.Trains run above...

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 "Regionalverkehr" 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
RER
The RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...

(lit. Regional Express Network) originally meant the Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

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

SNCF

The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...

trains, the C line of the Métro de Toulouse is sometimes called RER toulousain
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

.
The planned Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

network will consist in tram-train

Tram-train

and train system.

Hungary

HÉV

Budapest HÉV is a system of four commuter rail and rapid transit lines in and around Budapest, Hungary. The HÉV lines were constructed as branch lines of the Hungarian State Railways...

is the system of four suburban railway lines in and around Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

. 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.

Italy

The suburban lines of Milan

Milan Suburban Railway Network

The Milan suburban railway network is a commuter rail system serving the metropolitan area of Milan, Italy.The system comprises 10 lines serving 100 stations, for a total length of 324 km....

were renamed Linee S in 2004. They are operated by Trenord

Trenord

Trenord is a railway company which is responsible for the operation of regional passenger trains in Lombardy. The company was established by the two main railway companies in Lombardy, Trenitalia and Ferrovie Nord Milano , to manage train operations in the region...

, the regional railway company of Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

.

A system like in Milan is being planned for Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

.

Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

's Ferrovia Metropolitana (city rail) is more like a Regionalbahn, apart from the FR1 route from Orte to Fiumicino

Fiumicino, Italy

Fiumicino is a town and comune in the province of Rome, Lazio, central Italy. It is famous for the presence of the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the fifth busiest in Europe.-History:...

and the FR3 route from Roma Ostiense to Viterbo.

The suburban railway lines of Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

are all integrated into the subterran metro network.
Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

's two S-Bahn like lines mainly run underground, so there are plans to incorporate them into the sub-surface.

Malaysia

Two regional train service from northern of Selangor

Selangor

Selangor also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity") is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to the west...

border to Seremban

Seremban

Seremban is the capital of the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, located within the district of Seremban, one of the seven districts of Negeri Sembilan. The town's administration is run by the Seremban Municipal Council or Majlis Perbandaran Seremban...

, Negeri Sembilan

Negeri Sembilan

Negeri Sembilan, one of the 13 states that constitutes Malaysia, lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia, just south of Kuala Lumpur and borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the south....

and westcoast of Selangor

Selangor

to heart of Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

. Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM Komuter

KTM Komuter

KTM Komuter is a commuter train service in Malaysia operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu . It was introduced in 1995 to provide local rail services in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Klang Valley suburban areas. It is popular with commuters into the city, who thus avoid being caught in road traffic...

) operate the regional service since 1995.

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n capital Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

has had commuter suburban system Beovoz

Beovoz

Beovoz is a commuter rail that provides mass-transit service within Belgrade metropolitan area in Serbia. The main usage of today's system is to connect the suburbs with downtown Belgrade...

with some stations within the city for many years. Since 2010 the BG:Voz operates a line built underground with underground stations.

Spain

see Cercanías
Cercanías
Cercanías is the name given to the commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas. In Catalonia and Valencia, however, the term is replaced by Rodalies , while the designation Aldirikoak is used in the Basque Country....

There are systems other than the Cercanías in Asturias

Asturias

The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...

, the Basque country

Basque Country (historical territory)

The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....

and Cantabria

Cantabria

Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...

. Their operating companies are EuskoTren

EuskoTren

EuskoTren is a commuter rail service which operates in the Basque Country provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa. It is one of the three commercial brands of the public society owned by the Basque Government, Eusko Trenbideak - Ferrocarriles Vascos...

and FEVE

FEVE

FEVE is a state-owned Spanish railway company, which operates most of Spain's of metre gauge railway.-History:...

.
Two subsystems of the Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

commuter rail network are run by FGC

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya , or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain....

Sweden

The Stockholm pendeltåg

Stockholm commuter rail

Stockholm Commuter Rail is the commuter rail system in Stockholm County, Sweden. The system is an important part of the public transport in Stockholm, and is controlled by Stockholm Transport; the trains are operated under contract by Stockholmståg...

went into service in the 1960s. The pendeltåg is not comparable to S-Bahn systems in Germany. Pendeltåg is the technical term for a system, which mostly shares railways with inter-city 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, they are not up to standard as S-Bahn. There is a large difference between the German S-Bahns. The Stockholm T-bana (Underground) is used for transport inside the city centre. The Gothenburg commuter rail

Gothenburg commuter rail

Gothenburg commuter rail or Göteborgs pendeltåg is the commuter rail system associated with Gothenburg, Sweden. The trains go on the main-line tracks, shared with long-distance trains and freight trains. They are operated with X11 electric multiple units....

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.

None of the Swedish local train types are up to standard in comparison with German, Austrian and Danish systems. The trains mostly run on tracks shared with other kinds of trains. They have just one or very few stops in each inner city and have a time table with most departueras at peak hours. (Stockholm metro is though up to full underground standard, though only 30 of 100 stations are in the city centre. No other Swedish train type can be called for some kind of "urban standard".)

The stations are marked with a J symbol, which just stands for the generic term "järnvägsstation" (i.e. railway station).

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's often hard to categorise them.

Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

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
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

has eight lines of urban and suburban services radiating from the city, known as the Valley Lines
Valley Lines
Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes is the busy network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glamorgan and the South Wales Valleys....

.
Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

's SPT Rail
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport
The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is a public body which is responsible for planning and co-ordinating regional transport, and especially the public transport system, in the Strathclyde area of western Scotland...

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
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

has a suburban network, called Merseyrail
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...

. The main part of Merseyrail (the Northern
Northern Line (Merseyrail)
The Northern Line is one of the two commuter rail lines operated by Merseyrail in Merseyside, England. The other line is the Wirral Line. A third line of the Merseyrail Network, the City Line, is not owned or operated by Merseyrail, although funded by Merseytravel.The Northern Line passes...

and Wirral
Wirral Line
The Wirral Line is one of the two commuter railway lines operated by Merseyrail that are centred around Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern Line...

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
City Line (Merseyrail)
The City Line is the name given to local rail routes out of Liverpool Lime Street station, Liverpool, Merseyside. It appears on maps of the Merseyrail network as red, and covers the Liverpool-Wigan Line as well as the two routes of the Liverpool-Manchester Line...

, but is actually a virtual line, made up of sections of various longer distance lines out of Liverpool Lime Street
Liverpool Lime Street railway station
Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England. The station lies on a branch of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, and on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network...

. This, while part sponsored by Merseytravel
Merseytravel
Merseytravel Merseytravel Merseytravel (MPTE, or Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, is the Passenger Transport Executive responsible for the coordination of public transport in the metropolitan county of Merseyside, England...

, is operated by different (and differing) operating companies
Train operating company
The term train operating company is used in the United Kingdom to describe the various businesses operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand...

than the core of the Merseyrail network, and does not have the same consistency of branding or services.
In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Thameslink
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...

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
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...

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
London Overground
London Overground is a suburban rail network in London and Hertfordshire. It has been operated by London Overground Rail Operations since 2007 as part of the National Rail network, under the franchise control and branding of Transport for London...

network, currently operating mainly in West and North London with the extension to the East London Line
East London Line
The East London Line is a London Overground line which runs north to south through the East End, Docklands and South areas of London.Built in 1869 by the East London Railway Company, which reused the Thames Tunnel, originally intended for horse-drawn carriages, the line became part of the London...

. First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....

, First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

, National Express East Anglia, Southeastern
Southeastern (train operating company)
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

, Southern
Southern (train operating company)
Southern is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Officially named Southern Railway Ltd., it is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, and has operated the South Central rail franchise since October 2000 and the Gatwick Express service...

, and South West Trains
South West Trains
South West Trains is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight...

all operate a number of suburban services out of the many London Termini.
The London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

(which is treated as heavy rail, unlike German U-Bahn) has many parts that function like an S-Bahn — the Metropolitan and District lines, with their full-sized trains and their long length are especially S-Bahn like. The Central, Northern and Piccadilly lines also having taken over suburban railways outside the centre, performing S-Bahn-like functions, though 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
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

has a network of sponsored local services, mainly radiating from Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, and branded as MetroTrain
West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
The West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive is the Passenger Transport Executive for the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the executive arm of the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority and was originally formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport...

.
Other metro systems in Britain, such as the DLR
Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway is an automated light metro or light rail system opened on 31 August 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London...

and the Tyne and Wear Metro
Tyne and Wear Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...

, are more comparable to a U-Bahn and/or a Light Railway
Light railway
Light railway refers to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". This usually means the railway uses lighter weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to avoid civil engineering costs...

(Stadtbahn
Stadtbahn
A ' is a tramway or light railway that includes segments built to rapid transit standards, usually as part of a process of conversion to a metro railway, mainly by the building of tunnels in the central city area....

).

United States

Comparable lines in the US include:

Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

— Metra Electric Line
Metra Electric Line
The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs...

extending southward from the city, and NICTD's South Shore Line
South Shore Line (NICTD)
The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend Regional Airport in South Bend, Indiana...

into northern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, share several features with S-Bahn lines such as dedicated trackage, grade separation, high level platforms, and electrification. The rest of Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...

's system is highly dissimilar to an S-Bahn.
Philadelphia — SEPTA Regional Rail
SEPTA Regional Rail
The SEPTA Regional Rail system consists of commuter rail service on thirteen branches to over 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and its suburbs. Service on most lines runs from 5:30 AM to midnight...

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
RegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...

.
San Francisco Bay Area — BART is similar to an S-Bahn in that both are hybrids between a rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

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

Rapid transit

lines such as the New York City Subway

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

or Chicago 'L'

Chicago 'L'

The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...

are more akin to U-Bahn lines. Commuter rail systems such as Virginia Railway Express

Virginia Railway Express

The Virginia Railway Express is a regional/ commuter rail service that connects the Northern Virginia suburbs to Union Station in Washington, D.C., via two lines: the Fredericksburg Line from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the Manassas Line from Broad Run/Airport station in Bristow,...

or New Mexico Rail Runner are more akin to RegionalBahn

RegionalBahn

systems. Partially underground light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

lines such as Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

's Green Line

Green Line (MBTA)

The Green Line is a streetcar system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. It is the oldest line of Boston's subway, which is known locally as the 'T'. The Green Line runs underground downtown and on the surface in outlying...

and Philadelphia's Subway-Surface Lines are analogous to Stadtbahn

Stadtbahn

A ' is a tramway or light railway that includes segments built to rapid transit standards, usually as part of a process of conversion to a metro railway, mainly by the building of tunnels in the central city area....

lines.

Other countries

Systems comparable to an S-Bahn also include Dublin Area Rapid Transit

Dublin Area Rapid Transit

The Dublin Area Rapid Transit is part of the suburban railway network in Ireland, running mainly along the coastline of Dublin Bay on the Trans-Dublin route, from Greystones in County Wicklow, through Dublin to Howth and Malahide in County Dublin.Trains are powered via a 1500V DC overhead catenary...

, Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

's Elektriraudtee, the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Elektrichka
Elektrichka
Elektrichka is an informal word for elektropoyezd , a Soviet or post-Soviet regional electrical multiple unit passenger train. Elektrichkas are widespread in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union....

, the Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

MTR

Mass Transit Railway is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Originally opened in 1979, the system now includes 211.6 km of rail with 155 stations, including 86 railway stations and 69 light rail stops...

's suburban network, the Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

n Rýchlodráha, Szybka Kolej Miejska in the Polish

Poland

Tricity

Tricity is an urban area consisting of three Polish cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. They are situated adjacent to one other, in a row, on the coast of the Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea, in Pomerelia , northern Poland...

area and Korail

Korail

Korea Railroad Corporation , promoted as Korail , is the national railroad operator in South Korea.Korail operates passenger and freight trains throughout South Korea...

in the Greater Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

area. It is somehow like EMU in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, but only on rails that is already exists.

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

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Name and some history

Train and station logotypes

Definition S-Bahn and Heavy Rail

Comparison with metro – in large cities

Similarities

Differences

S-Bahn in "mid-size" cities

Other similar system

Early steam services

Electricity

Classification

S-Bahn networks in Germany

List of German S-Bahn systems

S-Bahn networks in Austria

S-Bahn networks in Switzerland

Warsaw metropolitan area

Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia

Tricity Metropolitan Area

Similar systems in other countries

Australia

Brazil

Czech Republic

Denmark

Finland

France

Hungary

Italy

Malaysia

Serbia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

United States

Other countries

See also

External links

Pages on German Wikipedia