Stadtbahn (German pronunciation:[ˈʃtatˌbaːn]ⓘ;German for 'city railway'; pluralStadtbahnen) is a German word referring to various types of urbanrail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly inBerlin and followed byVienna, where rail routes were created that could be used independently from other traffic.
In the 1960s and 1970s,Stadtbahn networks were created again but now by upgradingtramways orlight rail lines. This process includes adding segments built torapid transit standards – usually as part of a process of conversion to ametro railway – mainly by the building of metro-gradetunnels in the central city area.[1] In the first years after the opening of the tunnel sections, often regular trams vehicles (but adapted for tunnel service) were used. These trams were followed by specially designed vehicles like theStadtbahn B series. By the 1980s virtually all cities had abandoned the long-term goal of establishing a full-scale metro system due to the excessive costs associated with converting the tramways. MostStadtbahn systems are now a mixture of tramway-like operations in suburban and peripheral areas and a more metro-like mode of operation in city centres, with underground stations. This 20th centuryStadtbahn concept eventually spread from Germany to other European countries,[2] where it became known aspre-metro.[3]
The termStadtbahn first arose in the first half of the 20th century as a name for the cross-city lines inBerlin andVienna. TheBerlin Stadtbahn line is an elevated heavy rail line linking the East and the West. Long distance, regional, suburban, and urban services (S-Bahn) are operated on it. In Berlin unqualified use of the termStadtbahn is still widely understood to refer to the Berlin Stadtbahn.
TheVienna Stadtbahn was in the beginning a system of heavy rail lines circling the city, free of level crossings, operated by steam trains. After World War I theWiental,Donaukanal andGürtel lines were converted into an electric light rail system with tram-like two-axle cars (which on line 18G until 1945 switched into the tram network at Gumpendorfer Strasse station). In the 1970s to 1990s the infrastructure was updated, and the lines were partially relocated: they are now part of theVienna U-Bahn services 'U4' and 'U6'. TheVorortelinie line remained heavy rail and is now part of theVienna S-Bahn.
Since the 1960s the termStadtbahn has become identified with a second, now dominant, meaning. HereStadtbahn is an underground urban rail network that is used by conventional trams but planned at the outset to be eventually converted into a metro system. A final metro system may or may not be implemented in the end. This concept has the benefit of being cheaper in comparison with constructing a metro from scratch.[4]
Post-World War II transport policies in West German cities aimed for a separation of public and private transport. The conflicts that arose between increasing car usage and the existing tramway systems led to the so-called 'second level' concept for future light rail schemes. This concept focused on the grade separation, i.e., elevation and/or tunneling of tram lines.
Munich andNuremberg decided to build pure, full-scaleU-Bahn (metro) systems.Berlin andHamburg planned expansions of their existing U-Bahn networks, while most West German cities decided to upgrade their tramway networks step by step, linking new 'second level' infrastructure to existing sections. While some cities regarded this solution as an interim step that would lead to a fully separatedU-Bahn (metro) network independent of other forms of transport, others planned for a lesser degree of separation, one that would accommodate additional tram-like sections in the long run. For both the interim and the long-term based concepts, the following terms came into useU-Straßenbahn orUntergrund-Straßenbahn ('underground tramway', abbreviated asU-Strab,Schnellstraßenbahn ('rapid tramway'), and finallyStadtbahn. An older term already used in the 1920s is "Unterpflasterbahn" ('sub-pavement train'); this term has fallen almost entirely out of use by the 21st century.[5] In French-speaking regions (particularlyWallonia and the bilingualBrussels Capital Region), these concepts were labelled "pre-metro", stressing their – then-planned and advertised – interim nature. All German cities that had a "true" U-Bahn network had plans to abandon their tramway network at one point or another. In the case of Hamburg, those plans resulted in the shutdown of theHamburg tramway by 1978. In the case of Berlin, the network inWest Berlin was shut down in 1967 while the plans to shut down the system in East Berlin were reversed and ultimately the tram network started expanding again in the last years of East Germany; it nowserves some portions of the former West again. In Nuremberg and Munich the plans to shut down the tram networks were slowed down – in part due to protests by citizens against losing tram service without adequate replacement – ultimately abandoned and there are now plans for new tram construction in both cities. However, as late as 2011 the tram line through Pirckheimer Straße in Nuremberg was shut down in the course of the opening of a new section of subway line U3 which runs slightly to the North.
Some operators and cities decided to identify the termStadtbahn with the eventual goal of installing anU-Bahn so that both the original U-Bahn logo (e.g.Frankfurt U-Bahn,Cologne Stadtbahn,Hanover Stadtbahn) and the derivedU-Stadtbahn logos (e.g.North Rhine-Westphalia,Stuttgart Stadtbahn; see example above) mark station entries and stops. The numbering scheme forStadtbahn services was prefixed with a 'U', except in theCologne Stadtbahn,Bielefeld Stadtbahn, andHanover Stadtbahn. In local parlance some of those systems are referred to as "U-Bahn", especially when talking about tunnel sections. However, this somewhat misleading terminology is only officially used in Frankfurt am Main which calls its Stadtbahn "Frankfurt U-Bahn". Official documents and specialist publications orrailfans and transit advocates maintain the distinction in terms while large parts of the general public and non-specialist press by and large do not.
By the 1980s conventional tramways had been seen by decision-makers as overloaded systems for more than two decades. However, public attention focused on them at this time for two reasons.
TheStadtbahn cities' second level plans faced unexpected complications in the form of lengthy construction work, budgetary problems for tunnel projects, and protests against elevated sections. At the same time, the smaller cities which had not started Stadtbahn plans reassessed their options in relation to their existing tram systems.[citation needed] Furthermore, relocating public transit or even pedestrians underground increasingly got a negative reputation and the concept of theautomotive city – all but dominating public discourse in the 1950s and 1960s[6] – was increasingly called into question.[7][8]
East German cities had no 1960s-style Stadtbahn plans in place, and the fleets and the infrastructure were in need of massive investment and improvement. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the use of theStadtbahn term became popular in the former East Germany as well, as inErfurt andDresden. However, neither theErfurt tramway nor theDresden tramway have any significant tunnel or elevated sections or plans to build any. In their case separation from road traffic is achieved by giving the trams their own right of way on the surface.
Stadtbahn in this wider meaning is thus not a clearly defined concept, but a vague one linked to a set of attributes, much in the same way thatStraßenbahn ('tram') is linked to very different, sometimes mutually incompatible attributes.[clarification needed] A system that is calledStadtbahn today may not have all of the Stadtbahn attributes: barrier-free access, higher cruising speed than tramways, doors on both sides of the train, driver's cabs on both ends, higher operating voltage, wider cars with comfortable seats, and so on.
In 1992Karlsruhe started an innovative new service, using both heavy and light rail infrastructure, to link the wider region to the city. The vehicles were designed to comply with technical specifications for the (federal) heavy railway and for light rail (communal tramways). Such vehicles are called Dual-System Light Rail Vehicles. The meaning of Stadtbahn was enlarged to encompass this new type of "tram-train" service. In other regions, stimulated by the Karlsruhe example and planning to copy it, other terms are in use: Stadt-Umland-Bahn (city-to-region railway, e.g.Erlangen, also in discussion to connect the nearer surroundings ofMunich, as far as not supplied with S-Bahn services so far, with the existing public transport there),Regional-Stadtbahn (regional light rail, e.g.Braunschweig). The difference of this system to other systems where light rail mixes with heavy rail, is that in systems like Cologne-Bonn's the tracks were converted for Stadtbahn use by changing the electrification, while in Karlsruhe the trains were equipped to run on both types of track.
Straßenbahn (tram) and Stadtbahn in theKarlsruhe region are differentiated more by the nature of their city-border crossings only, and not by the technical dimension (Dual-System Light Rail Vehicles). Only those services that extend into the suburbs are called Stadtbahn. They are represented by the 'S' logo that is used forS-Bahn (Stadtschnellbahn) in the rest of Germany and therefore partially conflict with it, as it has acquired a second meaning in Karlsruhe.
As part of the redevelopment of their main citystations, national railway companyDeutsche Bahn adopted a new logo to indicateStraßenbahn (tram) connections: a square containing the word 'Tram'. Although the design is the same nationwide, the colour varies from city to city to match local public transport operators' systems of colour-coding. The logo is part of the 'S logo scheme' initially developed byBerlin public transport operatorBVG, based on the established logos for urban metro ('U', forU-Bahn) and suburban metro ('S', forS-Bahn) and including bus ('Bus') and ferry ('F', forFähre) operations. The logo also helped spread the word "Tram" at the expense ofStraßenbahn andelektrische ("electric [railway/tramway]") the latter of which having become somewhat antiquated. The term "Bim" (short for "Bimmelbahn" in turn derived from the semi-onomatopoetic "bimmeln" for the sound of a bell) meanwhile has become limited to Austria, particularly the"Bim" in Vienna.[9]
As the new logos became part of the information systems at more and more main railway stations, an increasing number of cities and public transport operators came to accept and adopt the scheme. As far as theStadtbahn terminology problem is concerned, however, the scheme serves only to add further confusion to the matter, since there is no nationwide logo forStadtbahn services. The result appears to be a contraction in the use of the termStadtbahn, especially in cities where it has been used in its wider 1980s 'light-rail system' meaning.
In cities whereStadtbahn has the 1960s 'pre-metro' meaning, both the 'U' (forU-Bahn) and the 'Tram' logo are used on city maps (to indicate the location of stops) and on railway station signage (to indicate connections). The 'U' Logo is normally used both where stops or stations are underground and where they serve 'second-level' pre-metro type lines. In cities which prefix all theirStadtbahn line numbers with a 'U' (e.g.Stuttgart), the 'U' logo is used at stops on services that are essentially 'classic' tram lines, not 'second-level' at all.
The concept ofRegionalstadtbahnen (also known byRegioStadtbahn or other names) arose as a result of the harmonisation or integration of railway lines into Stadtbahn networks. In the area of Cologne–Bonn a single operational system (of so-called above ground lines orHochflurstrecken) was created by theCologne Stadtbahn and theBonn Stadtbahn, opened in 1974, from the conversion of two former railway lines (theRheinuferbahn andVorgebirgsbahn belonging to the oldKöln-Bonner Eisenbahnen).
Further developments elsewhere led totram-train networks that rather resembled anS-Bahn. This idea was first realised in 1992 in Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Stadtbahn), where as part of theKarlsruhe model even so-calleddual systemrailbuses were used, which in addition to thedirect current of Straßenbahn lines (750 V) could also draw power from the 15-kV-alternating current from normalDB catenary. In Karlsruhe this network reached as far asHeilbronn, 84 kilometres (52 mi) away, where a Stadtbahn network was created going out from this line. Both in Karlsruhe and in Heilbronn the Stadtbahn filled both the roles of a classic tramway system as well as an S-Bahn. The Karlsruhe mixed-operation concept was also adopted by theSaarbahn inSaarbrücken. This model is today referred to in France as thetram-train.
Other Stadtbahn networks in Germany without tunnels, but which incorporate railway lines, are found in:
Although a precise legal definition ofStadtbahn was planned in the 1970s, there is currently no such definition. By law, theBOStrab regulates allStadtbahn systems astram systems, as long as they are not mainline rail. However, all U-Bahn systems in Germany are likewise regulated by BOStrab. In some systems, the Stadtbahn also operates onEBO on parts of the route wheretrack is shared with mainline rail. All four German subway systems are regulated entirely by BOStrab while parts of some tram, light rail or Stadtbahn systems – most notablyKarlsruhe Stadtbahn – are regulated under EBO. Meanwhile all S-Bahn systems – including those usingthird rail electrification likeBerlin S-Bahn – are regulated entirely under EBO.
While the namesStadtbahn andS-Bahn share a common origin ('rapid urban train'), their meaning today is different.S-Bahn iscommuter rail, usually integrated into the railway network and mostly operated by the German national railway companyDeutsche Bahn.
Stadtbahn, on the other hand, generally uselight rail vehicles (eitherhigh-floor orlow-floor), and are usually integrated into the tram network, though the Stadtbahn portions do not operate withstreet running as much as trams do.
They also differ in legal status: S-Bahn systems are governed under the rail rules of theEisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsordnung (EBO) ('Ordinance on the Construction and Operation of Railways'), while Stadtbahn systems are usually tramways by law governed under the regulations ofVerordnung über den Bau und Betrieb der Straßenbahnen (BOStrab) ('Ordinance on the Construction and Operation of Trams').
When I talk about 'Stadtbahn' in this context, I mean those systems which from the late 1960s started to build underground sections to full metro standard, and with the final goal to converting these to full metro operation (like a pre-metro). As we know, none of them actually achieved this initial goal, but all gave up sooner or later.
But instead of building the entire expensive systems immediately, the Germans hit on the idea of building only the city centre tunnels at first. Intended in the long run to be extended to full undergrounds, in the short term they could be used by trams which would continue to run on the surface outside city centres.
Cities such as Frankfurt and Cologne in West Germany have further developed their tramway system by introducing a concept known as "premetro." In this system trams or light rail vehicles make extensive use of tunnels, reserve track and by utilizing folding steps these vehicles can operate through high or low stopping places.
| Baden-Württemberg | | |
|---|---|---|
| Bavaria | ||
| Berlin | ||
| Brandenburg | ||
| Bremen | ||
| Hesse | ||
| Lower Saxony | ||
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | ||
| North Rhine-Westphalia | ||
| Rhineland-Palatinate | ||
| Saarland | ||
| Saxony | ||
| Saxony-Anhalt | ||
| Thuringia | ||
1 Part of Strasbourg tramway network —2 Part of Basel tramway network —3 Partly in Berlin | ||
Authority control databases: National |
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