Vienna S-Bahn - AVienna S-Bahn - AThe Vienna S-Bahn is a suburban commuter rail 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 (Austrian Federal Railways), and consists of many branch lines. S-Bahn is short for Schnellbahn, which can be translated as "rapid railway". Vienna S-Bahn Network 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 ("trunk line"). 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. Only line S45 operates entirely within Vienna's boundaries. Unlike many S-Bahn networks in Germany, the Vienna S-Bahn is not a separate rail network. It is integrated with, and part of, the national railway system. As such, S-Bahn trains share tracks with regional trains (which travel further than the S-Bahn, some regional lines crossing into neighbouring countries) and other rail traffic, including freight trains. The numbering of the lines has changed since the partial opening of the Wien Hauptbahnhof on 9 December 2012. Train services since 13 December 2015
All lines except for S45 have the same route and final station; most have trains that go further and ones that do not run to the terminal. Vienna S-Bahn History The Wiener Stadtbahn, which belonged to the Commission for Transport Facilities in Vienna and was operated by the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways, was in its original mode of operation (1898-1925) a forerunner of the S-Bahn, since it was a full-line operation (Vollbahn), which also handled local traffic. However, since other factors, such as military transports, long-distance traffic, etc., played an important role in their planning and the railway was operated with steam locomotives, there was no great success. As a result, numerous proposals were made to improve the situation, but most of them failed. In these proposals, in general, no distinction was made between full railway and metro, so many proposals under the name "subway" mostly included railway facilities. The original light rail design included more lines than were actually built; these remained legally binding until 1951. However, the Stadtbahn, which had been shut down after 1918, was reopened in 1925 by the Vienna city administration as the Wiener Elektrische Stadtbahn and in a fare network with the tram; for the sets, turning loops were built in Vienna Hütteldorf and Vienna Heiligenstadt and at the station Gumpendorfer Straße connecting tracks to the tram network, the cars used could also run on the tram. The track connections to the full railway network, on the other hand, were shut down or dismantled. The light rail was thus eliminated for an operation that was spreading to the region. When in 1933 the municipal building Wildganshof (3rd district) was built, a railway line between the buildings was taken into account as planned, so that an elevated railway line on the path would have been possible. In the entrance area of the complex there is a board in which this planned route is referred to as a subway. After the "Anschluss" of 1938, the Siemens Bau Union developed a combined U-Bahn and S-Bahn network with municipal offices, the latter intended to be operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Although the planned network was extremely extensive, due to the onset of World War II that plan was not able to go beyond test drilling. In the post-war period, there were new proposals, but these rarely had an official character. A proposal by Otmar Denk from 1947 was very similar to the project that was later realised. Planning for the S-Bahn network for Vienna was started in 1954 as a part of reconstruction of the ÖBB and especially the Wien Südbahnhof. Concrete plans were completed by 1955, but financing was not secured until 1958. The collapse of the investment budget of the city of Vienna 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 17 January 1962. Its official opening was attended by over 900 invited guests, including Federal President Adolf Schärf and Vice Chancellor Bruno Pittermann. After a day of testing the network with empty trains, passenger transport began at 11:45pm the following day. Between Meidling and Praterstern a driving ban for steam locomotives was immediately imposed. The station Hauptzollamt was renamed "Landstraße" (now Wien Mitte), analogous to the Stadtbahn station. The S-Bahn was an immediate success. There was severe overcrowding, which could only be eliminated by replacing the single sets with double sets. An agreement was concluded with Wiener Verkehrsbetriebe which allowed passengers to use other parallel modes of transport without additional ticket purchase in the event of a malfunction. In 1963, the first television monitors for train handling were installed on a trial basis in the Südbahnhof stop (now Wien Quartier Belvedere). On the Stammstrecke trains were initially run every quarter of an hour, but already in October 1962 the traffic between Floridsdorf and Landstraße was increased in the rush hour, and from 1964 on the entire Stammstrecke. Since 3 June 1984, the Vienna S-Bahn has formed part of the integrated fare structure of the Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region (VOR) of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. 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 Badner Bahn trains still use the term Schnellbahn as of 2009. See also our other page: Vienna S-Bahn - B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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