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 (federal railways), and consists of many branch lines. S-Bahn is short for Schnellbahn, which means "fast train".
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The Vienna S-Bahn consists of a multitude of branch lines extending beyond the city boundary, most of which converge at a central route segment called the Stammstrecke ("core route"). While many of the individual lines run at half-hourly or hourly intervals, they are able to offer combined frequencies of only a few minutes or less along the Stammstrecke. Two lines, the S45 and S80, operate entirely within Vienna's boundaries.
Because of the enormous number of possible combinations of northbound and southbound branch lines, the lines along the Stammstrecke are named depending on their branch line on which they leave the Stammstrecke; thus, the same line northbound and southbound has different names. The table is as follows:
| Line name | Route |
|---|---|
| S1 | Stammstrecke – North railway |
| S2 | Stammstrecke – Laaer Ostbahn |
| S3 | Stammstrecke – Austrian Northwest Railway |
| S5 | Stammstrecke – Austrian Northwest Railway (unlike line S3, line S5 does not stop at Matzleinsdorfer Platz station) |
| S6 | Stammstrecke – Pottendorfer Linie |
| S7 | Stammstrecke – Vienna International Airport – Wolfsthal |
| S8 | Stammstrecke – East railway |
| S9 | Stammstrecke – South railway |
| S15 | Stammstrecke – Verbindungsbahn – West railway |
There are also lines that do not go along the Stammstrecke:
| Line name | Route |
|---|---|
| S40 | Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof – Franz Joseph Railway |
| S45 | Hütteldorf – Vorortelinie – Donauuferbahn – Handelskai |
| S50 | Wien Westbahnhof – West railway |
| S60 | Wien Südbahnhof – East railway |
| S80 | Wien Südbahnhof – Marchegger Ostbahn – Hausfeldstraße |
No lines except for S45 and S80 always have the same route and final station; most have trains that go further and ones that don't.
Planning for an S-Bahn network for Vienna was started in 1954, as a part of reconstruction of the Austrian Federal Railways. Concrete plans were completed by 1955, but financing was not secured until 1958. The collapse of the investment budget of the ÖBB led to a partial stop of construction in 1960, necessitating a postponing of the grand opening of the network by a little over a year.
The S-Bahn era in Austria began on January 17, 1962. After a day of testing the network with empty trains, passenger transport began at midnight the following day.
From 1962 until 2005, the term S-Bahn was rarely used, the full term Schnellbahn being preferred. Starting with the 2005/2006 timetable, however, S-Bahn has begun to appear in timetables and loudspeaker announcements. Announcements in Wiener Lokalbahn trains still use the Term Schnellbahn as of 2009.
The Stammstrecke ("core route") of the Vienna S-Bahn has a length of 13,3 km (8.3 mi). From the south to the north, the following stations are served:
All lines stop at all Stammstrecke stations except for S5 and S6 which do not stop at Matzleinsdorfer Platz.
The most highly frequented single line in Vienna is the S45 Wiener Vorortelinie, which translates to "Vienna Suburban Line". The localities along this line all lie within the city proper, although they were independent until the late nineteenth century, when they were annexed, six years before this line opened. Originally part of Otto Wagner's federally operated Stadtbahn, this line was not taken over by the city with the rest of the network in 1925. The line was subsequently closed in 1932. Although still used for freight traffic for several decades afterwards, the line would not see passenger traffic until 1987, when it was reopened as part of the S-Bahn after extensive renovation.
Many of the original Otto Wagner stations are still standing and still in use. However, two of the present stations, Breitensee and Oberdöbling were demolished after the original line's closure and rebuilt in a different style by architects Alois Machatschek and Wilfried Schermann. One new station, Krottenbachstraße was added to the refurbished line, and two of the original line's stations, Baumgarten and Unterdöbling, which had also been demolished, were not replaced. Rebuilding Unterdöbling station is proposed for the near future, as is extending the line south to the Reichsbrücke. The line was extended from Heiligenstadt to Handelskai in 1996, to allow for an easy connection to line U6 of the Vienna U-Bahn.
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