Berlin S-Bahn

The Berlin S-Bahn (German: [ˈɛs baːn]) is a hybrid rapid transit and suburban rail system in Berlin. The modern incarnation of the system opened in December 1930, succeeding the special fare area Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahnen ('Berlin city, orbital, and suburban railways'). It complements the Berlin U-Bahn and is the primary transport link to many suburban areas, such as Berlin Brandenburg Airport. As such, the Berlin S-Bahn blends elements of a commuter rail service and a rapid transit system; in doing so, it lends its name to the pan-European family of S-Bahn urban transit systems.

In its first decades of operation, the trains were steam-drawn; even after the electrification of large parts of the network, some lines remained under steam. Today, the term S-Bahn is used in Berlin only for those lines and trains with third-rail electrical power transmission and the special Berlin S-Bahn loading gauge. The third unique technical feature of the Berlin S-Bahn, the automated mechanical train control (works very similar to the train stop at New York City Subway), is being phased out and replaced by a communications-based train control system specific to the Berlin S-Bahn.

Today, the Berlin S-Bahn is no longer defined as this special tariff area of the national railway company, but is instead just one specific means of transportation, defined by its special technical characteristics, in an area-wide tariff administered by a public transport authority. The Berlin S-Bahn is now an integral part of the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg, the regional tariff zone for all kinds of public transit in and around Berlin and the federal state (Bundesland) of Brandenburg.