Hamburg S-Bahn
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| S-Bahn Hamburg | |
|---|---|
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| Transport Authority | Hamburger Verkehrsverbund |
| Number of lines | 4 (plus 2 part-time lines using the same tracks) |
| System length | 147 km |
| Total no. of stations | 67 |
| No. of underground stations | 9 |
| No. of national railway stations | 4 |
| Rolling stock | BR 472/473, BR 474/874 |
| Power supply | 1200 V DC third rail power supply. Overhead lines (15 kV, 16.7 Hz) for the extension to Stade. |
Hamburg S-Bahn is a railway network for public rapid transit in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Together the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn, the AKN railway and the regional railway form the backbone of railway public transport in the city and surrounding area. The network has operated since 1907 as an electric rapid transit system, under the direction of the contemporary state railway company and is part of the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund.
The S-Bahn network consists of three lines (plus three part-time lines using the same tracks) and has a total length of 115.2 kilometres with 59 stations. Electric traction is powered by direct current supplied by a third rail running parallel to the tracks. The network is completely separate from the mainline railway. The network is operated by S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH, an independent subsidiary of DB Regio Nord.
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[edit] Route network
The route network now comprises six lines, covering 115 km. The operator is S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH, a subsidiary of DB Regio. The Hamburg S-Bahn is part of the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund HVV.
Lines with single-digit numbers go through the inner-city tunnel ("City-S-Bahn"), lines with two-digit numbers use the Verbindungsbahn via Hamburg-Dammtor.
| Line | Route | Stations |
|---|---|---|
| S1 | Wedel – Altona – City-S-Bahn – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof – Poppenbüttel | Wedel – Rissen – Sülldorf – Iserbrook – Blankenese – Hochkamp – Klein Flottbek (Botanischer Garten) – Othmarschen – Bahrenfeld – Altona (S2, S3, S31, regional rail) – Königstraße – Reeperbahn – Landungsbrücken (U3, Hamburg harbor) – Stadthausbrücke – Jungfernstieg (U1, U2, U3, S2, S3) – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, S1, S11, S2, S21, S31, regional rail) – Berliner Tor – Landwehr – Hasselbrook – Wandsbeker Chaussee – Friedrichsberg – Barmbek (U2, U3) – Alte Wöhr – Rübenkamp (City Nord) – Ohlsdorf (U1, S11, Hamburg Airport bus service) – Kornweg (Klein Borstel) – Hoheneichen – Wellingsbüttel – Poppenbüttel |
| S11 | Blankenese – Altona – Verbindungsbahn – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof – Ohlsdorf (only in rush hours) |
Blankenese – Hochkamp – Klein Flottbek (Botanischer Garten) – Othmarschen – Bahrenfeld – Altona – Holstenstraße – Sternschanze (U3) – Hamburg Dammtor – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, S1, S11, S2, S21, S31, regional rail) – Berliner Tor – Landwehr – Hasselbrook – Wandsbeker Chaussee – Friedrichsberg – Barmbek (U2, U3) – Alte Wöhr – Rübenkamp (City Nord) – Ohlsdorf |
| S2 | Altona – City-S-Bahn – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof – Bergedorf (only in rush hours) |
Altona (S1, S3, S31, regional rail) – Königstraße – Reeperbahn – Landungsbrücken (U3, Hamburg harbor) – Stadthausbrücke – Jungfernstieg – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, S1, S11, S2, S21, S31, regional rail) – Berliner Tor (S31, U2, U3) – Rothenburgsort – Tiefstack – Billwerder-Moorfleet – Mittlerer Landweg – Allermöhe – Nettelnburg – Bergedorf |
| S21 | Elbgaustraße – Verbindungsbahn – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof – Aumühle | Elbgaustraße – Eidelstedt (A1) – Stellingen (Arena) – Langenfelde – Diebsteich – Holstenstraße – Sternschanze (U3) – Hamburg Dammtor – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, S1, S11, S2, S21, S31, regional rail) – Berliner Tor – Rothenburgsort – Tiefstack – Billwerder-Moorfleet – Mittlerer Landweg – Allermöhe – Nettelnburg – Bergedorf – Reinbek – Wohltorf – Aumühle |
| S3 | Pinneberg – Altona – City-S-Bahn – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof – Neugraben – Stade | Pinneberg – Thesdorf – Halstenbek – Krupunder – Elbgaustraße – Eidelstedt (A1) – Stellingen (Arena) – Langenfelde – Diebsteich – Altona – Königstraße – Reeperbahn – Landungsbrücken (U3, Hamburg harbor) – Stadthausbrücke – Jungfernstieg – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, S1, S11, S2, S21, S31, regional rail) – Hammerbrook – Veddel – Wilhelmsburg – Hamburg-Harburg (regional rail)– Harburg Rathaus – Heimfeld – Neuwiedenthal – Neugraben – Fischbek – Neu Wulmstorf – Buxtehude – Neukloster – Horneburg – Dollern – Agathenburg – Stade |
| S31 | Altona – Verbindungsbahn – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof – Berliner Tor / Neugraben | Altona – Holstenstraße – Sternschanze (U3) – Hamburg Dammtor – Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (U1, U2, U3, S1, S11, S2, S21, S31, regional rail) – (outside the rush hours: Berliner Tor (S1, U2, U3), otherwise:) Hammerbrook – Veddel – Wilhelmsburg – Hamburg-Harburg – Harburg Rathaus – Heimfeld – Neuwiedenthal – Neugraben |
[edit] History
[edit] 1906: Opening
On 5 December 1906, under the description Hamburg-Altonaer Stadt- und Vorortbahn the Prussian Eisenbahndirektion (Railway Directorate) Altona opened a passenger transit using steam trains between the towns of Blankenese, Altona (Elbe) and Hamburg.
The Stadt- und Vorortbahn (City and Suburban railway) included the Altona-Blankeneser Bahn (opened in 1867), the local tracks of the Hamburg-Altonaer Verbindungsbahn (opened in 1866) and a new section to Ohlsdorf.
The Verbindungsbahn had been extended from one track to four and its level crossing with streets eliminated between 1893 and 1903. The newbuilt double-track line adjoining it was completed in the summer of 1906 after an 8-year construction period. It runs alongside the tracks of the Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft until Hasselbrook and then in its own right-of-way until the new Ohlsdorf cemetery. A new main cemetery with good transit connections was necessary in part due to the extension of the central railway lines, which had reduced the existing and already strained cemetries in the areas near the city's medieval fortifications.
[edit] 1907/08: First electric operation
The line was electrified with overhead lines supplying alternating current with a voltage of 6.6 kV and frequency of 25 Hz. The electricity came from a coal fired power station in Leverkusenstraße in Bahrenfeld, which also provided power to the Altona harbour railway.
The first electric trains ran on 1 October 1907, and from 29 January 1908 the entire line from Blankenese to Ohlsdorf was serviced exclusively by electric trains. These dates are considered the birth dates of the Hamburg S-Bahn.
The basic unit of an AC train consisted of two connected compartment carriages on six axles with motorised two-axle bogies under each cab front end and a Jacobs bogie in the middle, upon which both carriages were connected. The compartment carriages with doors on each side of the compartments took their design and functionality from the Prussian compartment carriages.
[edit] 1924: Network expansion along the Alster valley railway
A railway line, constructed and operated by a local company in 1914 and taken over by the district of Stormarn after bancruptcy, led from the city districts Ohlsdorf to Poppenbüttel in Prussia with the goal of connecting neighbouring settlements along the Alster river. It was known as the Alster valley railway. The railway was opened in 1918 and originally served by benzene-powered trains. The county of Stormarn gave the line away to the German Imperial railway company, which electrified it and provided the extension of the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban railway to Poppenbüttel in 1924.
[edit] 1934: Designation as an S-Bahn
The aptly short description S-Bahn was invented and used in Berlin from 1930, where a similar system of urban rapid transit on the City, Ring and Suburban lines was operated since 1924. The term "S-Bahn" was used by the German Imperial railway to designate its Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban railway from 1934. The term was additionally used to describe non-electric services on lines within the local suburban tariff: the steam-powered lines from Blankenese to Wedel, from Altona to Elmshorn, from Hamburg to Friedrichsruh and to Harburg. Since 2002, the lines not served by electric trains within the railway network around Hamburg were designated "Regional railway lines".
[edit] 1939/40: Moving to the DC system
In the 1930s, after almost 30 years of service, the necessity to renew the trains and infrastructure of the Hamburg S-Bahn had become apparent. Since the DC system had proved itself over more than a decade with the Berlin S-Bahn, where the 750 volt DC power was supplied by a third rail next to the tracks, the German Imperial Railway decided to adopt the same system for Hamburg in 1937 and to abandon overhead AC lines. In order to allow improved acceleration, the Hamburg S-Bahn uses a 1200 volts system. As a consequence, the Berlin and Hamburg S-Bahn rolling stock are not compatible with each other. The first DC trains of the type ET 171 were delivered in 1939; daily service began in July 1940 alongside with the existing AC trains. Due to the second world war, this mixed usage lasted until 1955.
The basic DC train unit consisted of three connected four-axle carriages, each with four sliding double doors per side. The middle carriages had upholstered seats for the second class, while the motorised end carriages had third-class wooden seats.
[edit] Network extensions from 1950 to 1965
The DC S-Bahn system was extended along the single-track suburban line from Blankenese to Sülldorf in 1950 and once more to Wedel in 1954. A section of the mainline railway between Hamburg and Berlin, which, due to the division of Germany, had very little traffic, between Haupbahnhof and Bergedorf was added to the S-Bahn network in 1959 by addition of a third rail to the tracks. This was the first section where S-Bahn and mainline trains (the number of the latter remained small until 1990) shared tracks. It was the second S-Bahn line, running from Bergedorf via Berliner Tor to Altona. In 1962 a connecting curve was constructed, branching from the Verbindungsbahn at Holstenstraße station to the Altona-Kaltenkirchen railway, whose terminus was relocated to Langenfelde. The S-Bahn was extended in 1965 along the tracks of the AKN to Eidelstedt and from there along the mainline tracks towards Kiel as far as Elbgaustraße station.
[edit] HVV and a line numbering system
Also in 1965, the German Railway, along with two local transport companies, founded the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund. This was a common tariff system for U-Bahn and bus lines. The S-Bahn joined in December 1966. From January 1967 on, the S-Bahn lines were designated S1 through S6 (see Network). Line designations with a leading letter "S" have since been adopted for other S-Bahn systems in the German-speaking world. Analogically, U-Bahn lines got the leading letter "U".
[edit] Network extension after 1967
In the following years, further extensions were added: 1967 on separate tracks from Elbgaustraße to Pinneberg and 1969, this time on existing mainline tracks, from Bergedorf to Aumühle. To ease the strain on the central Verbindungsbahn ("connection railway"), a second main connection was constructed, the City S-Bahn, which traverses the city centre of Hamburg in a tunnel. The first section was opened in 1975 between Hauptbahnhof and Landungsbrücken, the extension to Altona in 1979 and completed in 1981 with the final connection, above ground, to Diebsteich. 1983 saw the opening of the S-Bahn line via Wilhelmsburg to Harburg Rathaus. A long stretch of it runs along the existing mainline route. Through Hammerbrook it runs on a concrete viaduct and in a tunnel under the centre of Harburg. The line was extended in 1984 along the Niederelbebahn to Neugraben.
The S-Bahn line to Bergedorf was placed on separate tracks due to increased traffic on the mainline tracks during the 1990s. For the same reason, S-Bahn service between Bergedorf and Aumühle was suspended for "a short time" in 1994. The section up to Reinbek was reopened not before 1997; completion up to Aumühle however was delayed until 2002 due to court challenges from local residents. In 1999, Allermöhe station (between Mittlerer Landweg and Nettelnburg) entered service in the new housing development of Neu-Allermöhe West.
Since December 2007, line S 3 also serves stations between Neugraben and Stade.
At that time, the Hamburg S-Bahn network reached its current size. The first ground-breaking for a 3.3km long stretch from Ohlsdorf to the airport was in 1991, the second in 2001, and the line is still under construction at the moment (2007).
[edit] Operating Company
The Hamburg S-Bahn is operated by S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH, an independent subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. The company is directly answerable to DB Regio Nord and formed in 1997.
The S-Bahn as a mode of transport is represented in German cities with a logo consisting of a white "S" in a green circle. Only in Hamburg, the same logo with a red background has been used temporarily for a few years before November 2007.
The company currently employs approximately 1100 personnel in the driving, maintenance, train departure and resource management divisions. Another 300 employees are responsible for security and cleaning through subsidiaries.
[edit] Projected Extensions
| Line | Route | Stations | Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | Ohlsdorf – Airport [1] (Planned opening 2008) |
Ohlsdorf – Airport | The intention is to split trains at Ohlsdorf with one section continuing to the airport and the other to Poppenbüttel. |
| S3 | Neugraben – Stade [2] |
Neugraben – Fischbek – Neu Wulmstorf – Buxtehude – Neukloster – Horneburg – Dollern – Agathenburg – Stade | This is the current electrified (Overhead lines) regional railway line. Since no third rail or additional tracks are to be laid, dual system trains (alternating and direct current) will have to be deployed. |
Other plans, which are currently shelved, would have the S-Bahn network dramatically increased. S-Bahn trains would go as far as Kaltenkirchen (the private AKN Eisenbahn currently connects to Kaltenkirchen from Eidelstedt).
An expansion plan which has been discussed for some time is the opening (or reopening) of a line S4. Plans for this have been around since the 1960s. Whilst planning the city S-Bahn and network extensions of the 1960s, the German railway thought of building an S-Bahn line 4. This line should have left Altona in a north westerly direction towards Lurup. To the east of the city, the new line should have travelled with the current S1 and S11 to Hasselbrook and from there further to the east and finally in a northerly direction via Wandsbek to Ahrensburg along the existing regional train line R10.
In the end, only the eastern part of the line from Hauptbahnhof was implemented, and this was only in the from of a regional railway line, which was designated a S-Bahn line, since the HVV did not offer travel with regional railways at the time, but wanted its fare system to be valid on the new line. Neither is it the case that new stations were built along the regional line. This made sense, because the diesel-driven S-Bahn locomotives had poor acceleration and decreased distance between stations would have been uneconomical, since the trains would have had to brake, even before they had reached a high speed.
Since September 2000, a popular initiave in Stormarn is working for the improvement of the S4, today the R10. The initiave are currently basing their arguments on a feasibility study, which was ordered by S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH in the year 2002 and in principle dusted off the plans from the 1960s. According to the study, the extension involves improving the line to a proper S-Bahn line, served by electric trains and the addition of extra stations. The first step would be the improvement of the line as far as Ahrensburg with a further intended step being the continuation to Bad Oldesloe. Dual system trains would be necessary for the new line like those to be used on the extensions to Stade. A third rail would be built as far as Ahrensburg, from where the trains would use the overhead lines.
Despite large amounts of interest from the areas of Hamburg surrounding the proposed route, as well as neighbouring communities and the positive feasibility study, the Hamburg city council has yet to take any steps to put the realisation of this proposal in action.
[edit] Rolling stock
The Hamburg S-Bahn uses three-car electrical multiple units (EMUs). They are driven by direct current supplied via third rail. The rolling stock consists of 447 vehicles of the following types:
- Type 470 (built from 1959 until 1970, in service until 2002, central carriage of type 870)
- Type 471 (built from 1939 until 1958, in service until 2001, central carriage of type 871)
- Type 472 (built from 1974 until 1984, central carriage of type 473)
- Type 474 (built from 1996, central carriage of type 874)
Single three-carriage trains are designated short train in service. Several units can be combined to form a so-called full train with six carriages or a long train with nine carriages.
Until 2001, Hamburg's S-Bahn system used to be one of very few suburban railway systems to offer two classes of service. A quieter and cushier first class was available to passengers willing to pay a 50% supplement on the traditional (2nd) class fare.
Of the different train types, only type 472 and type 474 trains are found in current regular service. The last remaining type 470 and type 471 trains have been permanently removed from service in 2002 and 2001 respectively. The new type 474 trains primarily serve the lines S1, S11, S3 and S31, whereas type 472 trains are generally used for lines S2 and S21.
With the expansion of the S-Bahn network to Stade, new dual-system trains will be deployed. These are identical to the type 474 units, with an additional pantograph on top of the central carriage to collect 15 kV alternate current from overhead lines.
With the introduction of type 474 trains, the colour scheme of beige and marine blue, which had been used previously on Hamburg's S-Bahn, has been replaced by a colour called "Transport Red" (RAL 3020). External advertising covering the entire bodies of trains was also abandoned at this time.
The implementation of a consistent corporate design led to type 472 trains also being updated with the new colour scheme. This has left the Berlin S-Bahn as the only German S-Bahn train types with an individual design.
Type 474 trains were initially provided with the very same colour scheme as the type DT4 trains of the Hamburg U-Bahn (white, grey, red). This early experiment was quickly given up, and all of Hamburg's S-Bahn trains now appear in the shiny "Transport Red".
[edit] Stations
The Hamburg S-Bahn network currently has 59 stations, of which nine are fully underground. These are the five stations along the so-called City-S-Bahn (Jungfernstieg, Stadthausbrücke, Landungsbrücken, Reeperbahn and Königstraße), the S-Bahn area of Altona station as well as the three stations in the centre of Harburg (Harburg, Harburg Rathaus and Heimfeld). At the Hauptbahnhof (Hamburg Central Station), the platforms heading west are also located in a tunnel. After completion of all current plans, the number of stations will increase to 68 by 2008. One of the new stations, the one at Hamburg Airport, will also be situated in a tunnel.
Most stations of the S-Bahn network consist of a single island platform. At the interchange stations Hauptbahnhof and Altona there are two island platforms: one for trains heading to the city centre and one for the other direction. At the terminal stations Neugraben and Pinneberg the two S-Bahn tracks are located between a side platform and an island platform, on the other side of which regional rail trains stop. Side platforms can also be found at the triple-track stations Bergedorf, Berliner Tor (lower level), Blankenese and Harburg Rathaus, the twin-track station Billwerder-Moorfleet and at the only single-track station, Iserbrook.
All stations have electronic passenger information systems, which inform passengers about the line, destination route, length and stopping position of the next train, missed connections and temporary disturbances to service. During the last hundred days before the opening of the World cup 2006, the systems also displayed a countdown of the remaining days.
Some stations, for example Landungsbrücken and Harburg Rathaus, are designed as civilian shelters. Observant passengers may notice the heavy protective entrance doors as the only sign of this dual use.
[edit] Service time and intervals
Trains run daily from about 0430 to 0100. There is a nightly service during the nights before Saturdays, Sundays public holidays.
The base interval for lines S1, S21, S3 and S31 during the day is 10 minutes. Before 0600, after 2300 and during weekend night service, the interval is 20 minutes. Multiple lines running on the same tracks through the city centre cause shorter intervals. Peak-time lines S2 und S11 further decrease intervals in the morning and afternoon.
[edit] See also
- Hamburg U-Bahn
- Bw Hamburg-Ohlsdorf
- AKN Eisenbahn
- List of rapid transit systems
[edit] Literature
- Erich Staisch: Die Hamburger S-Bahn. Chronik eines modernen Verkehrsmittels., Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-455-08874-0
- Erich Staisch (Hrsg.): Die Hamburger S-Bahn. Geschichte und Zukunft., Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-89234-694-1
- Wolfgang Pischek, Jan Borchers, Martin Heimann, Die Hamburger S-Bahn. Mit Gleichstrom durch die Hansestadt., München 2002, ISBN 3-7654-7191-7
- Michael Braun: "Hamburg lernt von Berlin. Punktsieg für Gleichstrom", in: LOK MAGAZIN Nr. 259, München 2003, S. 68-77, ISSN 0458-1822
[edit] External links
- Offizielle Homepage der S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH
- Die Hamburger S-Bahn von Martin Heimann
- S-Bahn Hamburg von Robert Schwandl
- Hamburg Network Visions by R. Arndt, L. Gilliard and C. Luschnat
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