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. The network has operated since 1907 as an electric rapid transit system, under the direction of the contemporary state railway company and is member of Hamburger Verkehrsverbund, Hamburg's transport association. On an average working day the S-Bahn transports about 590,000 passengers; in 2010 a total of about 221 million people used the S-Bahn.

The Hamburg S-Bahn is the only rapid transit railway in Germany that uses both direct current (1,200 Volts) supplied by a third rail running parallel to the tracks and alternating current (15 kV / 16,7 Hz) supplied by conventional overhead lines. Most of the tracks are separated from other rail services. The Hamburg S-Bahn is operated by S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH, an independent subsidiary of DB Stadtverkehr.

Similar to Berlin and unlike Hanover the S-Bahn in Hamburg is an important part of public transport within the city of Hamburg due to its dense schedule and its good coverage of the city's metropolitan region. Unlike both Berlin and Hanover, the S-Bahn in Hamburg is of little importance for regional traffic, since the S-Bahn network lies mostly within the city boundaries though the S3 line in the southwest in 2007 was extended about 32 km into the state of Niedersachsen (the part Neugraben - Stade with seven new stations).