Munich S Bahn

System

The system has seven branches in the west, which were originally numbered from north to south from the S 1 (to Freising) to the S 7 (Wolfratshausen). These are coupled with the five eastern branches. Operational requirements have changed several times, particularly due to line extensions, resulting in random numbering in the east. Two lines end at Munich East station (Ostbahnhof), these are currently S 1 and S 6. The first change was made in June 1991 when the branch to Ebersberg changed from S 4 to S 5 as a requirement to shorten the travel time to and from Herrsching. The line to Wolfratshausen was first called the S 10, but when it was connected to run over the trunk line it was changed to the S 7.

The S-Bahn branch in the east via Ismaning to the airport was designated as the S 8. Later this was combined with the original line S 3, which shared part the route of the S 8, and the new route is called the S 8. This eliminated route S 3. The old route S 5 was later largely replaced by the current S 3, so there is currently no line S 5.

In addition there are lines S 20 and S 27, which run from Munich Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) and Pasing to Deisenhofen. These two lines do not run through the trunk line tunnel. The numbers beginning with 2 comes from the time of the introduction of these lines, as the line to Holzkirchen via Deisenhofen still had the number S 2 (instead of the current S 3). These lines cross the Isar via Großhesselohe Bridge.

In the Deutsche Bahn time table, the S-Bahn lines are numbered from 999.1 to 999.8 and 999.20; line A is numbered as 999.30.

Frequency

The basic interval of the Munich S-Bahn is one train every 20 minutes. On parts of some branches during peak hours there is a 10-minute frequency produced by added trains. A special case is the line to Erding, where on weekdays a mix of express trains from Erding and normal S-Bahn trains from Markt Schwaben runs in the morning peaks, producing a 10-minute frequency west of Munich East station. There are also occasional additional trains on the western section of the S4 and on the S1 between Freising and Munich during the peak hour, which do not continue past the Hauptbahnhof (not run through the trunk line tunnel). On some branches, one of three trains does not run to the terminus station at off-peak times, so that on these outer sections trains run at 20 or 40 minutes alternatively.

(*) Terminus of extra services in peak. Up to here services in the peak run at 10-minute intervals.

(+) Occasional additional services to create 10 minute frequency.

Routes

The S-Bahn partly operates on its own routes (one or two tracks), parts of it are double-track lines where S-Bahn operations are mixed with other traffic (passengers and freight), and in some cases more than two tracks are available. In the latter case one-or two tracks are set aside for the S-Bahn operations only and the two other tracks are used for the remaining traffic.

In the following table, the route length is shown from Munich Hauptbahnhof or from Ostbahnhof (Munich East station) because it reflects the chainage officially applied to the lines. An exception is S27 where the chainage starts at Pasing.

Former Lines / Station Renamings

Here are some of the former train lines. Some of the stations are also renamed as well.

Intra-Urban Long-Distance Lines

The little known connection between the Ostbahnhof and the Hauptbahnhof, called the "Suedring" runs south from Ostbahnhof, bends westward, passing over Kolumbusplatz, the Isar river, Poccistraße and Heimeranplatz to arrive at the Hauptbahnhof without any stops in between. Trains travelling on this route (DB50) are included in the MVV tariff scheme and offer a view of the city in only slightly more time than in the Stammstrecke tunnel.

Additional regional lines make calls at stations also served by the S-Bahn, but provide an effective skip-stop/express functionality for MVV patrons. Examples include:

Expansion plans announced by the MVV include a series of "Express S-Bahns" dedicated skip-stop lines that would operate through the second planned "Stammstrecke."

History

An underground railway line for Munich was first proposed in 1928 in a report on the "relocation of traffic centres". An underground route would allow "direct long distance traffic to and through the city centre".

On 22 May 1938, the first tunnel, which was part of the north-south route, was started in the Lindwurmstraße, between the present-day underground stations Sendlinger Tor and Goetheplatz. In the speech of Julius Dorpmüller, the general director of Deutsche Reichsbahn, the project was called "S-Bahn" for the first time. Due to World War II the construction and plans for the Munich S-Bahn were set aside.

In 1965, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Free State of Bavaria, the state capital of Munich and the Deutsche Bundesbahn signed a contract on the construction of the Munich S-Bahn. The further development was most influenced by a decision made in Rome on 26 April 1966: the International Olympic Committee chose Munich over Detroit, Madrid and Montreal as the location for the 1972 Summer Olympics, resulting in a tight schedule of only six years to complete the Munich S-Bahn network.

Not only did the tunnel through the city centre have to be built, the full railway infrastructure had to be expanded. The network of suburban lines had to be changed over and modernized. A large number of stations had to be upgraded; platforms were extended to a length of 210 metres (690 ft) to allow for three-unit trains, and the platform height was raised to 76 centimetres (2 ft 6 in). However, the floor height of trains used then and now is at approximately 1 metre (3 ft 3 in), which makes boarding difficult for people with wheelchairs or prams. Tunnel stations and platforms updated recently where no freight trains run do feature a height of 96 centimetres (3 ft 2 in), however.

On 25 February 1971 the topping-out ceremony could be celebrated in the core route tunnel. In May the first S-Bahn train of the ET 420 series was put into service on the route between Pasing and Gauting. On 1 September 1971 a regular advance service was started on that route.

On 28 May 1972, the Munich S-Bahn network was finally put into service with 360 kilometres (220 mi) of tracks and 101 trains of the ET 420 series. It was the first time a S-Bahn network that size was put into service on a single date. The route S10 to Wolfratshausen (today S7) was operated with conventional push-pull trains from the southern wing of Munich Central Station. It was electrified later and connected to the core route after the construction of a 260-metre (850 ft) tunnel crossing the large number of mainline rail tracks leading to Munich Central Station.

Three months later the German President Gustav Heinemann opened the 1972 Summer Olympics. During the Games there were two additional S-Bahn lines servicing the now-defunct station Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium). The new S-Bahn system stood the test and transported 3.18 million passengers in 7,138 runs to and from the sports sites in only 17 days.

Since then the Munich S-Bahn network has been expanded multiple times. In 1992, the route between Ismaning and the newly opened Airport Munich II was put into service. Until 2005, there was a 266 million euro programme to substantially extend the infrastructure. For example, the route Giesing-Deisenhofen was upgraded with a second track. From 2000, trains of the type series ET 420 were gradually replaced by ET 423 trains.

The Dachau–Altomünster railway was electrified between Dachau station and Altomünster. Services commenced as part of line 2 on 14 December 2014. It had previously been operated with class 628 diesel multiple units as Line A of the S-Bahn.

Further dates:

Rolling stock

Trialled:

Plans and further expansions

Current plans for further expansion include the following:

The Second S-Bahn Tunnel

Nearly all lines use the core route, creating a bottle-neck responsible for long delays from even the smallest disruptions. A second tunnel through the city centre is planned, which will be about 10 km (6 mi) in length and which is supposed to be finished in 2020. It will start between the stations Laim and Donnersbergerbrücke and lie north of the current tunnel. Just before Munich East it will fork, with one fork going to Munich East and the other to Leuchtenbergring. In between, only two stations, Central Station and Marienhof (slightly north of Marienplatz), are planned. The tunnel was chosen over another variant to build an S-Bahn along the railway "south ring". It is not known if this capacity expansion will also be used for intercity traffic travelling eastwards following the cancellation of the München 21 project.

The Munich senate approved the construction in 2014 in order to complete in 2023. However discussions are still ongoing with no tentative date of construction and completion as well as cost estimate.

S-Bahn-Nordring

An alternative route in the north has been proposed for many years. This route would use part of Münchner Nordring (Munich North Ring) currently used by the freight trains and as railway bypass. The plan would call for eight new S-Bahn stations and two conjunctions (one at Pasing and other one at Berg am Laim) to be built, totalling fourteen stations (six have been already built: Pasing, Moosach, Johanneskirchen, Englschalking, Daglfing, and Trudering).

The advantage of using the Nordring is numerous as compared to Südring (South Ring – proposed as weak alternative to second trunk line):

The discussion of S-Bahn-Nordring is ongoing with no tentative date of construction and completion as well as cost estimate.

Other projects

Literature