Rapid transit or mass rapid transit ( MRT ) or heavy rail , commonly referred to as metro , is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas . A grade separated rapid transit line below ground surface through a tunnel can be regionally called a subway , tube , metro or underground . They are sometimes grade-separated on elevated railways , in which case some are referred to as el trains – short for "elevated" – or skytrains . Rapid transit systems are railways , usually electric , that unlike buses or trams operate on an exclusive right-of-way , which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles.
102-466: [REDACTED] The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter train system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main , Wiesbaden , Mainz , Offenbach am Main , Hanau and Darmstadt . The network comprises nine S-Bahn lines, eight of which currently travel through the cornerstone of the system, a tunnel (the " City Tunnel ") through central Frankfurt. The first section of this tunnel
204-425: A body of water), which are potential congestion sites but also offer an opportunity for transfers between lines. Ring lines provide good coverage, connect between the radial lines and serve tangential trips that would otherwise need to cross the typically congested core of the network. A rough grid pattern can offer a wide variety of routes while still maintaining reasonable speed and frequency of service. A study of
306-454: A code for its stations. Unlike that of Singapore's MRT, it is mostly numbers. Based on the line number, for example Sinyongsan station, is coded as station 429. Being on Line 4, the first number of the station code is 4. The last two numbers are the station number on that line. Interchange stations can have multiple codes. Like City Hall station in Seoul which is served by Line 1 and Line 2. It has
408-651: A code of 132 and 201 respectively. The Line 2 is a circle line and the first stop is City Hall, therefore, City Hall has the station code of 201. For lines without a number like Bundang line it will have an alphanumeric code. Lines without a number that are operated by KORAIL will start with the letter 'K'. With widespread use of the Internet and cell phones globally, transit operators now use these technologies to present information to their users. In addition to online maps and timetables, some transit operators now offer real-time information which allows passengers to know when
510-583: A conventional track is often provided in case of flat tires and for switching . There are also some rubber-tired systems that use a central guide rail , such as the Sapporo Municipal Subway and the NeoVal system in Rennes , France. Advocates of this system note that it is much quieter than conventional steel-wheeled trains, and allows for greater inclines given the increased traction of
612-405: A dedicated right-of-way are typically used only outside dense areas, since they create a physical barrier in the urban fabric that hinders the flow of people and vehicles across their path and have a larger physical footprint. This method of construction is the cheapest as long as land values are low. It is often used for new systems in areas that are planned to fill up with buildings after the line
714-418: A large number of factors, including geographical barriers, existing or expected travel patterns, construction costs, politics, and historical constraints. A transit system is expected to serve an area of land with a set of lines , which consist of shapes summarized as "I", "L", "U", "S", and "O" shapes or loops. Geographical barriers may cause chokepoints where transit lines must converge (for example, to cross
816-652: A large part of the network, for example, in outer suburbs, runs at ground level. In most of Britain , a subway is a pedestrian underpass . The terms Underground and Tube are used for the London Underground . The North East England Tyne and Wear Metro , mostly overground, is known as the Metro . In Scotland , the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway . In Ireland ,
918-452: A line is obtained by multiplying the car capacity, the train length, and the service frequency . Heavy rapid transit trains might have six to twelve cars, while lighter systems may use four or fewer. Cars have a capacity of 100 to 150 passengers, varying with the seated to standing ratio – more standing gives higher capacity. The minimum time interval between trains is shorter for rapid transit than for mainline railways owing to
1020-615: A metro. In Spain, such systems are present in Madrid , Barcelona , Bilbao and Valencia . In Portugal, Lisbon has a metro. The Italian cities of Catania , Genoa , Milan , Naples , Rome and Turin also have metro lines. In Germany and Austria they rapid transit is known as U-Bahn , which are often supported by S-Bahn systems. In Germany, U-Bahn systems exist in Berlin , Hamburg , Munich and Nuremberg , while in Austria such
1122-544: A modernization in the interior, which included light gray instead of striped partitions and new upholstery in the current design. At the same time, the already quite advanced phasing-out was severely curtailed and henceforth focused on the railcars of the third construction series in order to be able to take at least the oldest vehicles out of service. Two railcars received the test LED headlights, but these could not prevail in Frankfurt. The rapid-transit railway Rhine Main had
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#17327984658341224-652: A rapid transit setting. City-Tunnel Offenbach The Offenbach City Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Frankfurt Schlachthof–Hanau railway in Offenbach am Main in the German state of Hesse . It is used by all of the eastern branches of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn ( S1 , S2 , S8 and S9 ). It runs largely under Berliner Straße. Several options were considered and the current route
1326-603: A significant time savings for the many commuters. This project failed at the community Bischofsheim, which refused to build a bend in their district. There they pointed out that a change of direction in Bischofsheim station was possible. According to the Darmstadt-Dieburg local transport organization, the realization of this route is dependent on the expansion of the Main-Rhine-Bahn and a compression of
1428-565: A specialized transit police may be established. These security measures are normally integrated with measures to protect revenue by checking that passengers are not travelling without paying. Some subway systems, such as the Beijing Subway , which is ranked by Worldwide Rapid Transit Data as the "World's Safest Rapid Transit Network" in 2015, incorporates airport-style security checkpoints at every station. Rapid transit systems have been subject to terrorism with many casualties, such as
1530-608: A system exists in Vienna . In addition, the small, car-free town of Serfaus in the Austrian state of Tyrol also features a short U-Bahn line. There are no U-Bahn systems in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but the city of Lausanne has its own, small metro system. In Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, a project for a U-Bahn network was stopped by a referendum in the 1970s and instead its S-Bahn system
1632-569: A weaker clock density. While now all services are also provided on the aforementioned lines of railcars, drive only individual pairs of trains on the line 34 at rush hour and because of the operational link in Bad Vilbel two of the three bound train pairs on the line 48 as a wagon train with double-decker and a locomotive Class 245. The biggest problem experienced on the Rhine-Main S-Bahn is frequent unpunctuality, one reason for which
1734-801: Is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area . Rapid transit systems such as the Washington Metrorail , Los Angeles Metro Rail , the Miami Metrorail , and the Montreal Metro are generally called the Metro . In Philadelphia , the term "El" is used for the Market–Frankford Line which runs mostly on an elevated track, while the term "subway" applies to the Broad Street Line which is almost entirely underground. Chicago 's commuter rail system that serves
1836-608: Is a single corporate image for the entire transit authority, but the rapid transit uses its own logo that fits into the profile. A transit map is a topological map or schematic diagram used to show the routes and stations in a public transport system. The main components are color-coded lines to indicate each line or service, with named icons to indicate stations. Maps may show only rapid transit or also include other modes of public transport. Transit maps can be found in transit vehicles, on platforms , elsewhere in stations, and in printed timetables . Maps help users understand
1938-506: Is built. Most rapid transit trains are electric multiple units with lengths from three to over ten cars. Crew sizes have decreased throughout history, with some modern systems now running completely unstaffed trains. Other trains continue to have drivers, even if their only role in normal operation is to open and close the doors of the trains at stations. Power is commonly delivered by a third rail or by overhead wires . The whole London Underground network uses fourth rail and others use
2040-506: Is expected until 2027 as RMV funds are already committed to the purchase of rolling stock. On several regional routes without overhead contact line, S-Bahn-like traffic was already partially introduced at the time of the Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund, i.e. high density of traffic, continuous weekend traffic as well as trains bound through Frankfurt during the daytime and Frankfurt main station. The operators were and are
2142-488: Is necessary to close the tunnel several times between 2015 and 2018 for between two and six weeks each, mostly during school holidays. The times of service closure are also used to modernize the stations in the tunnel. From July 31 to August 18, 2006, the mainline tunnel between the main station and Konstablerwache was completely closed to exchange 30 switches. On May 13, 2007, the served by the S2, new breakpoint Frankfurt Zeilsheim
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#17327984658342244-416: Is necessary, rolling stock with a smaller loading gauge from one sub network may be transported along other lines that use larger trains. On some networks such operations are part of normal services. Most rapid transit systems use conventional standard gauge railway track . Since tracks in subway tunnels are not exposed to rain , snow , or other forms of precipitation , they are often fixed directly to
2346-555: Is referred to simply as "the subway", despite 40% of the system running above ground. The term "L" or "El" is not used for elevated lines in general as the lines in the system are already designated with letters and numbers. The "L" train or L (New York City Subway service) refers specifically to the 14th Street–Canarsie Local line, and not other elevated trains. Similarly, the Toronto Subway is referred to as "the subway", with some of its system also running above ground. These are
2448-412: Is serviced by at least one specific route with trains stopping at all or some of the line's stations. Most systems operate several routes, and distinguish them by colors, names, numbering, or a combination thereof. Some lines may share track with each other for a portion of their route or operate solely on their own right-of-way. Often a line running through the city center forks into two or more branches in
2550-695: Is the most commonly used term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. Rapid transit systems may be named after the medium by which passengers travel in busy central business districts ; the use of tunnels inspires names such as subway , underground , Untergrundbahn ( U-Bahn ) in German, or the Tunnelbana (T-bana) in Swedish. The use of viaducts inspires names such as elevated ( L or el ), skytrain , overhead , overground or Hochbahn in German. One of these terms may apply to an entire system, even if
2652-623: Is the shortage of capacity in the Citytunnel . Capacity of the tunnel was increased from 22 trains per hour (in each direction) to 24 trains per hour in 2010 by optimising the Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung signalling system, rather than upgrading the system to the more modern Linienzugbeeinflussung (LZB) system, as used on the Munich S-Bahn to achieve a throughput of 30 trains per hour in each direction in
2754-404: Is to operate as a mixed operation of two-system metropolitan railway car on mostly existing light rail and railway / S-Bahn routes, which makes their realization - despite the great track length - quite reasonably priced. Their primary task is to strengthen the tangential traffic, to spare the passengers tiresome and time-consuming detours via the Frankfurt city center and to reduce the congestion of
2856-627: The Dublin Area Rapid Transit is despite the name considered a commuter rail due to usage of mainline railways. In France, large cities, such as Paris , Marseille and Lyon , feature a Métro . Also the smaller cities of Lille Rennes have a light metro. Furthermore, Brussels in Belgium, and Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands have metro systems in place. Several Southern European contries also have
2958-752: The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad K-series cars from 1958, the New York City Subway R38 and R42 cars from the late-1960s, and the Nagoya Municipal Subway 3000 series , Osaka Municipal Subway 10 series and MTR M-Train EMUs from the 1970s, were generally only made possible largely due to the relatively generous loading gauges of these systems and also adequate open-air sections to dissipate hot air from these air conditioning units. Especially in some rapid transit systems such as
3060-429: The London Underground . In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway , initially a cable-hauled line using stationary steam engines . As of 2021 , China has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world – 40 in number, running on over 4,500 km (2,800 mi) of track – and was responsible for most of the world's rapid-transit expansion in
3162-740: The Metropolitan Railway opened publicly in London in 1863. High capacity monorails with larger and longer trains can be classified as rapid transit systems. Such monorail systems recently started operating in Chongqing and São Paulo . Light metro is a subclass of rapid transit that has the speed and grade separation of a "full metro" but is designed for smaller passenger numbers. It often has smaller loading gauges, lighter train cars and smaller consists of typically two to four cars. Light metros are typically used as feeder lines into
Rhine-Main S-Bahn - Misplaced Pages Continue
3264-578: The Montreal Metro (opened 1966) and Sapporo Municipal Subway (opened 1971), their entirely enclosed nature due to their use of rubber-tyred technology to cope with heavy snowfall experienced by both cities in winter precludes any air-conditioning retrofits of rolling stock due to the risk of heating the tunnels to temperatures that would be too hot for passengers and for train operations. In many cities, metro networks consist of lines operating different sizes and types of vehicles. Although these sub-networks may not often be connected by track, in cases when it
3366-589: The Prague Metro . The London Underground and Paris Métro are densely built systems with a matrix of crisscrossing lines throughout the cities. The Chicago 'L' has most of its lines converging on The Loop , the main business, financial, and cultural area. Some systems have a circular line around the city center connecting to radially arranged outward lines, such as the Moscow Metro 's Koltsevaya Line and Beijing Subway 's Line 10 . The capacity of
3468-685: The Singapore MRT , Changi Airport MRT station has the alphanumeric code CG2, indicating its position as the 2nd station on the Changi Airport branch of the East West Line. Interchange stations have at least two codes, for example, Raffles Place MRT station has two codes, NS26 and EW14, the 26th station on the North South Line and the 14th station on the East West Line. The Seoul Metro is another example that utilizes
3570-450: The deep tube lines . Historically, rapid transit trains used ceiling fans and openable windows to provide fresh air and piston-effect wind cooling to riders. From the 1950s to the 1990s (and in most of Europe until the 2000s), many rapid transit trains from that era were also fitted with forced-air ventilation systems in carriage ceiling units for passenger comfort. Early rapid transit rolling stock fitted with air conditioning , such as
3672-409: The linear motor for propulsion. Some urban rail lines are built to a loading gauge as large as that of main-line railways ; others are built to a smaller one and have tunnels that restrict the size and sometimes the shape of the train compartments. One example is most of the London Underground , which has acquired the informal term "tube train" due to the cylindrical shape of the trains used on
3774-432: The 15 world largest subway systems suggested a universal shape composed of a dense core with branches radiating from it. Rapid transit operators have often built up strong brands , often focused on easy recognition – to allow quick identification even in the vast array of signage found in large cities – combined with the desire to communicate speed, safety, and authority. In many cities, there
3876-488: The 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack and the 2005 " 7/7 " terrorist bombings on the London Underground. Some rapid transport trains have extra features such as wall sockets, cellular reception, typically using a leaky feeder in tunnels and DAS antennas in stations, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity. The first metro system in the world to enable full mobile phone reception in underground stations and tunnels
3978-621: The 2010s. The world's longest single-operator rapid transit system by route length is the Shanghai Metro . The world's largest single rapid transit service provider by number of stations (472 stations in total) is the New York City Subway . The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Shanghai Metro, Tokyo subway system , Seoul Metro and the Moscow Metro . The term Metro
4080-532: The 21st century, most new expansions and systems are located in Asia, with China becoming the world's leader in metro expansion, operating some of the largest and busiest systems while possessing almost 60 cities that are operating, constructing or planning a rapid transit system . Rapid transit is used for local transport in cities , agglomerations , and metropolitan areas to transport large numbers of people often short distances at high frequency . The extent of
4182-790: The DB Regio and the Hessian State Railways (HLB), formerly the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn (FKE). The FVV led these lines with their own line letter (K, T and N) or as S-Bahn line (S9, S11). This affected the following routes (sorted by today's RMV line number): On other lines such as the Horlofftalbahn (48, HLB) or the Odenwaldbahn (82/85, Vias) also in the rush hour additional trains to and from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof; but they have
Rhine-Main S-Bahn - Misplaced Pages Continue
4284-602: The Frankfurt City Tunnel. The realization is planned for the end of 2023. Other projects under consideration include an extension of the S1 from Rödermark-Ober-Roden to Dieburg , an extension of the S7 from Riedstadt-Goddelau to Biblis , and a branch of the S7 to Groß-Gerau . The Frankfurt district of Oberrad has seen a campaign to reactivate its rail station that was mothballed in the 1980s as an S-Bahn station. In
4386-577: The Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, rather than running these services through the Citytunnel. Reconstruction of the signalling technology in the Citytunnel enabled all westbound S2 trains to travel all the way to Niedernhausen at a frequency of 15 minutes in 2010. Since 2015 a new signal tower for the Citytunnel is installed at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof which is going to replace the original signal tower operating since 1978 in 2018. Therefore, it
4488-568: The Munich core city tunnel. A further cause of delays is that many of the S-Bahn lines share track with freight trains, regional trains and inter-city trains. Longer distance passenger trains take priority over the S-Bahn, which frequently has to stand for up to 10 minutes to allow the other service to overtake. Mixed services are particularly found along the S6, S7, S8 and S9 routes. The operators recognise
4590-690: The S15 was rerouted to the main arrivals hall of the Hauptbahnhof. In 1990 the Citytunnel was extended, adding the underground stations Ostendstrasse and Lokalbahnhof to the system, along with the overground station Frankfurt Süd. All the lines (with the exception of the S15) were extended to Frankfurt Süd, while the S5 and S6 were further extended a short time later to a new station at Stresemannallee, south-west of Frankfurt Süd. In 1992, S1 and S2 trains were diverted to
4692-472: The S7 from Riedstadt-Goddelau, that currently terminates in the main hall of the Hauptbahnhof, with a service to and from Fechenheim (replacing the station at Mainkur) four times an hour of which half would extend to and from Hanau. The S6 to Friedberg will get its own track to be independent of long-distance and regional traffic on the Main-Weser-Bahn. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was planned to expand
4794-514: The S8/S9 will be 24/7 through the Citytunnel with a 30-minute frequency between 1:00 am and 4:30 am from Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbahnhof to Konstablerwache (1:11 am/4:11 am from Konstablerwache to Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) and a 60-minute frequency between 12:49 am and 3:49 am from Wiesbaden Hbf and Hanau Hbf (1:46 am/3:46 am from Hanau Hbf to Wiesbaden Hbf) The S-Bahn crosses three of
4896-535: The U-Bahn lines and any of the city's tram lines. Some opportunities for interchange also exist in the suburbs of Frankfurt. Since the end of 2003, the system comprises the following lines: The former routes are as follows: [REDACTED] Plans for a rail connection between the central rail station (Hauptbahnhof) in Frankfurt and the Hauptwache, the central commuter destination in the city, were started in
4998-478: The beginning of rapid transit. Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant. Experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. In 1890, the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, which was also fully underground. Prior to opening, the line was to be called the "City and South London Subway", thus introducing
5100-509: The breakdown was as follows: 65 units of class 420 (of which 55 plantations and 10 reserves) and 100 units of class 423 (including 93 plantations and 7 reserves). Until autumn 2014, the class 420 were replaced by modern vehicles of the DB 430 series. This is part of the contract that RMV signed with Deutsche Bahn in November 2011 following the tendering of transport services. Since the completion of
5202-451: The car to the Frankfurt railcar - some of them were in the interior until the withdrawal with Stuttgarter advertising stickers. The 65 remaining trains of the 420 series were still in operation until November 2014. Since the conversion of the S7 and some of the S1 (which had previously been performed by 420s since the autumn of 2013) to the new 430 series in May 2014 made numerous 420s redundant,
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#17327984658345304-515: The centre of Mainz, while the S9 travels via Mainz-Kastel . This arrangement means that it is possible to travel between Wiesbaden, the capital of the state of Hesse , and Frankfurt, the state's largest city, by three different routes. In the same year, a new station on lines S3-S6 was opened in the Frankfurt fairground ( Frankfurt Messe station ). In 2002, a new S-Bahn line, the S7, between Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main arrivals hall) and Riedstadt-Goddelau
5406-623: The clock on this route. However, this should be done in the form of an extended to Frankfurt S-Bahn line S -Bahn RheinNeckar. The S5 is planned to be extended via Friedrichsdorf to Usingen, requiring electrification of the Taunusbahn line. The green light for the project was given in May 2015, with a scheduled completion date of the end of 2019. A further extension to Grävenwiesbach (Hochtaunuskreis) and Brandoberndorf has been requested by local politicians in Hochtaunuskreis, but no action
5508-484: The delivery of new class 423 railcars in Frankfurt, in parallel, in August 2003, the first ET 420 were retired. As of 2004, Frankfurt ET 420 no longer received any main examinations; this was only in 2007 with 420 271 started when it became clear that the delivery of the last railcar due to registration problems would have to be postponed indefinitely. All Frankfurt vehicles were also from 2007 to 2008 for three million euros,
5610-493: The delivery, 100 vehicles of the class 423 and 91 vehicles of the class 430 are in use, the latter vehicles on the lines S1, S7, S8 and S9. In the early years trains of the second and third series of electric locomotive class 420 in the color pure orange / Kieselgrau (contrary to original plans, the proposed paint carmine / kieselgrau was not used) were used in Frankfurt, although occasionally lent to 1990 due to lack of vehicles also from Munich blue white 420s were used, for example,
5712-414: The display of the transit network. Often this has the effect of compressing the distance between stations in the outer area of the system, and expanding distances between those close to the center. Some systems assign unique alphanumeric codes to each of their stations to help commuters identify them, which briefly encodes information about the line it is on, and its position on the line. For example, on
5814-554: The double track to a third track. Later, the plan was changed to build the S6 for their entire run until Friedberg own two tracks for a scheduled operation independent of long-distance, regional and freight traffic. After 24 years of planning and resolution of legal challenges, construction of the first phase between Frankfurt-West and Bad Vilbel started in December 2017. The S6 will receive a new station between Frankfurt-West and Eschersheim to serve Frankfurt-Ginnheim . Commissioning of
5916-471: The early 1960s. Construction work on the project started in 1969. During the construction phase, some rearrangements were carried out to the commuter network in the area around Frankfurt, including creation of a link line between Bad Soden am Taunus and Niederhöchstadt. In 1978 the first section of the "Citytunnel" of the Rhine-Main S-Bahn was opened, with all lines sharing the tunnel between Hauptbahnhof and Hauptwache. The initial system, which lay entirely to
6018-611: The end of years of poor maintenance in North Rhine-Westphalia that From then on, they were usually taken out of service directly at the end of the investigation period. In parallel, four Stuttgart trains of the seventh series were relocated to Frankfurt in July 2009. After the main inspection, three of them were initially deployed from mid-June, primarily on the S7 and the airport short-commuter (S8 / S9), later normal in mixed operation with older units on all ET 420 rides. In
6120-611: The entire metropolitan area is called Metra (short for Met ropolitan Ra il), while its rapid transit system that serves the city is called the "L" . Boston's subway system is known locally as "The T". In Atlanta , the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority goes by the acronym "MARTA." In the San Francisco Bay Area , residents refer to Bay Area Rapid Transit by its acronym "BART". The New York City Subway
6222-504: The entire network was possible, so that in very rare cases even to use z. B. came on the lines S5 and S6, which were converted in 2005 on the trains of the series 423. Rapid transit Modern services on rapid transit systems are provided on designated lines between stations typically using electric multiple units on railway tracks . Some systems use guided rubber tires , magnetic levitation ( maglev ), or monorail . The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside
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#17327984658346324-729: The expanded line is planned for December 2022. A further application of such two-system metropolitan railway vehicles is provided in the west of Frankfurt: Starting in Bad Homburg and the Frankfurt Northwest Center so-called Regional Tangent West (RTW) on Eschborn South, Sulzbach (Taunus), Frankfurt-Sossenheim, Frankfurt-Höchst, Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt Stadium to the Isenburg center in Neu-Isenburg or after Dreieich-Buchschlag run. The Regional Tangent West
6426-531: The first completely traffic-red vehicle park of the German course AG. This status was maintained until the end of 2003, when the S-Bahn Stuttgart handed over the orange-white and orange-pebble-gray units to Frankfurt. After just over a year, the S-Bahn were completely painted red by the z-position of the last orange-pebble-gray unit 420 376 early 2005. Until 2005, there was also the last pebble gray orange 420 (apart from 420 001) in Frankfurt, but this train
6528-516: The floor rather than resting on ballast , such as normal railway tracks. An alternate technology, using rubber tires on narrow concrete or steel roll ways , was pioneered on certain lines of the Paris Métro and Mexico City Metro , and the first completely new system to use it was in Montreal , Canada. On most of these networks, additional horizontal wheels are required for guidance, and
6630-407: The four largest rivers in the region, with a total of nine bridges and a tunnel: S-Bahn in Frankfurt has several tunnels: The City Tunnel Offenbach is 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) long and has three underground stations, which are served by the lines S1, S2, S8 and S9. Opening: 1995 Plans for the system include a line to Hanau via Maintal, largely running north of the river Main. This would extend
6732-417: The group of lines S3, S4, S5 and S6. All the lines, with the exception of the S7, share 5 stations. Initially this arrangement gave rise to some considerable delays caused by poorly functioning signalling. To some extent this has been allayed by routing every second westbound S2 train in peak times to Offenbach am Main (Hauptbahnhof) and every second eastbound S2 train in peak times to the main arrivals hall of
6834-439: The interconnections between different parts of the system; for example, they show the interchange stations where passengers can transfer between lines. Unlike conventional maps, transit maps are usually not geographically accurate, but emphasize the topological connections among the different stations. The graphic presentation may use straight lines and fixed angles, and often a fixed minimum distance between stations, to simplify
6936-437: The lines of the Lyon Metro includes a section of rack (cog) railway , while the Carmelit , in Haifa, is an underground funicular . For elevated lines, another alternative is the monorail , which can be built either as straddle-beam monorails or as a suspended monorail . While monorails have never gained wide acceptance outside Japan, there are some such as Chongqing Rail Transit 's monorail lines which are widely used in
7038-439: The main rapid transit system. For instance, the Wenhu Line of the Taipei Metro serves many relatively sparse neighbourhoods and feeds into and complements the high capacity metro lines. Some systems have been built from scratch, others are reclaimed from former commuter rail or suburban tramway systems that have been upgraded, and often supplemented with an underground or elevated downtown section. Ground-level alignments with
7140-469: The mid-90s was also a rapid-transit railway line in planning, which should be led from Frankfurt over Rüsselsheim to Darmstadt. The train should come from Darmstadt coming before Bischofsheim in a curve yet to be built (Schindberg curve) to Frankfurt. This would have given the Darmstadt the long desired direct connection to the Frankfurt airport. Furthermore, such a fast connection between Darmstadt and Rüsselsheim would have been created, which would have brought
7242-435: The need to separate S-Bahn services from other services along these routes. The first stage towards this was originally scheduled to start in 2007, doubling the number of tracks from two to four on the S6 line between Westbahnhof and Bad Vilbel, but in October 2011 Deutsche Bahn stated that it expected work to start in 2014 and the extra tracks to go into service in 2018. 165 S-Bahn trains are in operation. On December 31, 2012,
7344-418: The network map "readable" by illiterate people, this system has since become an "icon" of the system. Compared to other modes of transport, rapid transit has a good safety record, with few accidents. Rail transport is subject to strict safety regulations , with requirements for procedure and maintenance to minimize risk. Head-on collisions are rare due to use of double track, and low operating speeds reduce
7446-432: The network, is 54 minutes. Services on some lines start shortly after 4 a.m., while all lines have services from about 5 a.m. onwards. A full service is maintained from 6 a.m. until about 8 p.m., and a somewhat reduced service is run until the late evening. The last services leave Frankfurt at 2:12 a.m. The S8/S9 runs 24/7. The S-Bahn system is quite closely integrated with other components of
7548-496: The new Mühlberg underground station, the first station in the direction of Offenbach. This left the S3, S4, S5 and S6 serving all the stations between Hauptbahnhof and Frankfurt Süd, a situation which still pertains to this day. The S14, which is now the S8, also served all of these stations. In 1995, the newly instituted RMV increased train frequency from a 20/40/60 minute schedule (depending on
7650-402: The next vehicle will arrive, and expected travel times. The standardized GTFS data format for transit information allows many third-party software developers to produce web and smartphone app programs which give passengers customized updates regarding specific transit lines and stations of interest. Mexico City Metro uses a unique pictogram for each station. Originally intended to help make
7752-434: The north of the river Main , comprised the following lines: In 1980, two further lines were added to the network, made possible by construction of a new rail bridge over the river Main : Completion in 1983 of a 600m long easterly extension of the Citytunnel, as far as Konstablerwache, improved the opportunities for train turnaround in the tunnel. At this stage lines S1–S6 and line S14 were extended to Konstablerwache, while
7854-902: The occurrence and severity of rear-end collisions and derailments . Fire is more of a danger underground, such as the King's Cross fire in London in November 1987, which killed 31 people. Systems are generally built to allow evacuation of trains at many places throughout the system. High platforms , usually over 1 meter / 3 feet, are a safety risk, as people falling onto the tracks have trouble climbing back. Platform screen doors are used on some systems to eliminate this danger. Rapid transit facilities are public spaces and may suffer from security problems: petty crimes , such as pickpocketing and baggage theft, and more serious violent crimes , as well as sexual assaults on tightly packed trains and platforms. Security measures include video surveillance , security guards , and conductors . In some countries
7956-603: The only two North American systems that are primarily called "subways". In most of Southeast Asia and in Taiwan , rapid transit systems are primarily known by the acronym MRT . The meaning varies from one country to another. In Indonesia , the acronym stands for Moda Raya Terpadu or Integrated Mass [Transit] Mode in English. In the Philippines , it stands for Metro Rail Transit . Two underground lines use
8058-506: The opening of the trunk line extension to Frankfurt South. The cars of the 2nd construction series were delivered completely to the S-Bahn Munich until the beginning of the 2000s. Due to the ever-increasing vehicle demand at that time were between 1980 and 2004 at irregular intervals all railcars of the third and fourth series and numerous cars of the fifth and sixth series from the S-Bahn Stuttgart delivered to Frankfurt. In 2003 began
8160-587: The outset. Budapest , Chicago , Glasgow , Boston and New York City all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services. Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services. Hybrid solutions have also evolved, such as tram-train and premetro , which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems. In response to cost, engineering considerations and topological challenges some cities have opted to construct tram systems, particularly those in Australia, where density in cities
8262-416: The phasing out progressed sharply. Another reason for this was the expiry of the examination period of many vehicles, while at the same time main examinations were no longer worthwhile due to the manageable remaining service life. In the last months of operation, trains of the 420 series were still in service on the S8 and S9 lines. In exceptional cases or in case of vehicle shortage a use of the series 420 in
8364-908: The rapid transit system varies greatly between cities, with several transport strategies. Some systems may extend only to the limits of the inner city, or to its inner ring of suburbs with trains making frequent station stops. The outer suburbs may then be reached by a separate commuter rail network where more widely spaced stations allow higher speeds. In some cases the differences between urban rapid transit and suburban systems are not clear. Rapid transit systems may be supplemented by other systems such as trolleybuses , regular buses , trams , or commuter rail. This combination of transit modes serves to offset certain limitations of rapid transit such as limited stops and long walking distances between outside access points. Bus or tram feeder systems transport people to rapid transit stops. Each rapid transit system consists of one or more lines , or circuits. Each line
8466-592: The region's transport system, such as the bus services in the various cities and towns, the tram services in Mainz , Frankfurt and Darmstadt , and the Frankfurt U-Bahn . In Frankfurt, connections can be made, at either Hauptwache or its neighbouring station Konstablerwache , between the eight cross-city S-Bahn lines and eight of the city's nine U-Bahn lines, while the S-Bahn stations Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and Frankfurt Süd between them have connection to six of
8568-445: The routes of the S5 and S6 were shortened slightly, so that they travelled only as far as Frankfurt Süd, while the S3 and S4 were extended to Darmstadt and Langen. The section of the S3 between Höchst and Bad Soden im Taunus also ceased to be served by S-Bahn trains. In 1999, the S8 was effectively divided into two lines, the S8 and S9, both of which travel between Hanau and Wiesbaden via Bischofsheim . The S8 continues to travel through
8670-542: The rubber tires. However, they have higher maintenance costs and are less energy efficient. They also lose traction when weather conditions are wet or icy, preventing above-ground use of the Montréal Metro and limiting it on the Sapporo Municipal Subway, but not rubber-tired systems in other cities. Some cities with steep hills incorporate mountain railway technologies in their metros. One of
8772-401: The spring of 2014, another train of the seventh series and four trains of the eighth series were relocated from Stuttgart to Frankfurt in order to absorb a shortage of vehicles resulting from deadlines in older 420s. This was also the only period in which the eighth series in Frankfurt was in use. After an early deployment was already foreseeable at that time, no great efforts were made to adapt
8874-663: The suburbs, allowing a higher service frequency in the center. This arrangement is used by many systems, such as the Copenhagen Metro , the Milan Metro , the Oslo Metro , the Istanbul Metro and the New York City Subway . Alternatively, there may be a single central terminal (often shared with the central railway station), or multiple interchange stations between lines in the city center, for instance in
8976-714: The term subway . In Thailand , it stands for Metropolitan Rapid Transit , previously using the Mass Rapid Transit name. Outside of Southeast Asia, Kaohsiung and Taoyuan, Taiwan , have their own MRT systems which stands for Mass Rapid Transit , as with Singapore and Malaysia . In general rapid transit is a synonym for "metro" type transit, though sometimes rapid transit is defined to include "metro", commuter trains and grade separated light rail . Also high-capacity bus-based transit systems can have features similar to "metro" systems. The opening of London's steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked
9078-530: The term Subway into railway terminology. Both railways, alongside others, were eventually merged into London Underground . The 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset. The technology quickly spread to other cities in Europe , the United States, Argentina, and Canada, with some railways being converted from steam and others being designed to be electric from
9180-520: The time of day) to the 15/30/45/60 minute schedule which is still used in the system. The S15 ceased operations at this stage. Also in 1995, a new underground alignment through the city of Offenbach was opened, assisting the rerouting of the S14 (renamed the S8) through Mühlberg to City-Tunnel Offenbach and Hanau. The S1 was also extended as far as Offenbach, while the S2 returned to serving Frankfurt Süd. In 1997,
9282-511: The trains, requiring custom-made trains in order to minimize gaps between train and platform. They are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities . Some rapid transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. The world's first rapid transit system was the partially underground Metropolitan Railway which opened in 1863 using steam locomotives , and now forms part of
9384-601: The use of communications-based train control : the minimum headway can reach 90 seconds, but many systems typically use 120 seconds to allow for recovery from delays. Typical capacity lines allow 1,200 people per train, giving 36,000 passengers per hour per direction . However, much higher capacities are attained in East Asia with ranges of 75,000 to 85,000 people per hour achieved by MTR Corporation 's urban lines in Hong Kong. Rapid transit topologies are determined by
9486-559: Was Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, which launched its first underground mobile phone network using AMPS in 1989. Many metro systems, such as the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and the Berlin U-Bahn, provide mobile data connections in their tunnels for various network operators. The technology used for public, mass rapid transit has undergone significant changes in the years since
9588-566: Was added to the system (replacing the regional train line on the northern part of the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway ). Due to a shortage of capacity in the Citytunnel, these trains are not currently able to reach Frankfurt's inner city. At present, these trains do not operate on a 30-minute schedule because of several ICE lines that operate on the same tracks. In 2003 the Rodgaubahn , a commuter rail system serving Offenbach and its environs,
9690-899: Was developed further. Other Central European countries also have metro lines, for example in the cities of Budapest (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic) and Warsaw (Poland). In Eastern Europe , metro systems are in operation in Minsk (Belarus), Kyiv (Ukraine), Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Moscow (Russia). In Southeastern European countries, there are metro systems in Athens and Thessaloniki (Greece), Belgrade (Serbia), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Istanbul (Turkey). In Northern Europe , rapid transit systems exist in Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), Stockholm (Sweden) and Helsinki (Finland). Various terms are used for rapid transit systems around North America . The term metro
9792-590: Was incorporated into the Rhine-Main S-Bahn system. This resulted in the S1 being extended from Offenbach Ost to Rödermark-Ober Roden, while the S2 was also rerouted from Frankfurt Süd to serve Offenbach Ost and all stations to its new terminus in Dietzenbach. The current system has an almost 5-minute frequency for services between Frankfurt and Offenbach Ost and an actual 5-minute frequency for services between Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and Frankfurt Süd. The group of lines S1, S2, S8 and S9 all share 10 stations, as do
9894-543: Was linked with the extension of line S8 to Hanau , while line S1 only went as far as Offenbach Ost. Line S2—which had previously terminated at Muhlberg—was diverted to Frankfurt South station . Following the completion of the upgrading of the Rodgau Railway as well as the route to Dietzenbach on 23 March 2001 lines S1, S2, S8 and S9 now run through the Offenbach City Tunnel. Limited capacity in
9996-702: Was low and suburbs tended to spread out . Since the 1970s, the viability of underground train systems in Australian cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne , has been reconsidered and proposed as a solution to over-capacity. Melbourne had tunnels and stations developed in the 1970s and opened in 1980. The first line of the Sydney Metro was opened in 2019. Since the 1960s, many new systems have been introduced in Europe , Asia and Latin America . In
10098-523: Was opened on May 28, 1978. Further tunnel sections were opened in 1983 and 1990, before its completion in 1992. The system belongs to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) and is operated by DB Regio , a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn . End-to-end journey times on the nine lines in the system range from 36 minutes (on line S7) up to 87 minutes (on line S1). The longest journey time into central Frankfurt ( Hauptwache ), from any point on
10200-473: Was opened, on 31 October 2008, operated by the S3, single-track breakpoint Schwalbach North. For the timetable change 2017/18, a continuous night traffic was introduced on weekends. Due to nocturnal blockages of the City Tunnel, the railways go in a first phase at night on modified lines: From August 2018, the start of operations of the entire night traffic in the Citytunnel is planned. From December 2018
10302-587: Was scrapped in the spring of 2005 in Trier-Ehrang. In 2009, when the use of the class 420 at the S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr was completed, the Essen depot delivered several ET 420 of the fifth and sixth series to Frankfurt. Although the Frankfurt plant made great efforts to align the railcars to the Frankfurt units (for example, most railcars were still redesigned in 2007), they were in such poor condition by
10404-408: Was selected in 1983. Finance for the project was agreed on 4 December 1986, and planning approval was achieved at the end of 1990, allowing construction to begin. However, the symbolic beginning of construction was on 23 March 1988. Parts of the new line run along or below the route of the former Lokalbahn line . The line between Frankfurt-Mühlberg and Offenbach Ost was opened on 23 May 1995. This
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