CHAPTER 6

Inspiration from Abroad: Germany’s S-Bahn and Regionalbahn Systems

While North American regions are grappling with how to best rework their regional rail networks, other countries are facing similar challenges. Work-from-home rates have dramatically changed in developed countries over the past 5 years, with metropolitan areas in the United States, Canada, and Europe following similar patterns.¹¹⁷

Germany offers a unique case study because of its economic, cultural, and urban form similarities to U.S. peers. German cities are often polycentric, with places like Berlin and Frankfurt having downtown office markets competing with suburban offices (Munter 2011). German regions also have similar densities to American ones, and car ownership, although not as high as in the United States, is higher than in most European countries (ACEA 2022). Finally, German regional trains are analogous to North American commuter railroads in terms of extent and scope, providing a valuable comparison.

Despite similarities, the German regional trains have performed much better from a ridership perspective. DB Regio, the organizational unit of Deutsche Bahn (DB) that operates most S-Bahn and Regionalbahn (RB) train networks across the country, recovered on average 86 percent of its pre-COVID ridership, compared with 63 percent for U.S. counterparts. Figure 21 shows that the initial decline was much steeper in the United States, and while the recovery patterns are similar, the German system has maintained a 20-percentage-point advantage.

Several factors contribute to the better resilience of the German regional rail networks. This case study evaluates the factors driving ridership trends and considers the applicability of each of the identified strategies and practices to the North American rail market broadly and to commuter rail agencies specifically.

The regulatory, cultural, and historical context of passenger rail in Germany differs from that of the United States and Canada, and systems in North America differ from each other. This case study approaches the topic with nuance and an understanding of this fact. Regardless, the German experience provides important and transferable lessons for the future of commuter rail.

The sources for this case came from reports and data from DB, as well as interviews with staff at DB InfraGO, DB S-Bahn Berlin, VBB, and DB corporate strategy in the spring of 2024.

6.1 German Regional Rail Structure and Context

DB is a government-owned corporation charged with managing the infrastructure and operating the trains on the German national rail network. It is a vertically integrated company, managing more than 20,000 miles of track, 5,400 stations, and operating over 50,000 trains per day.¹¹⁸

It has several distinct divisions that operate independently to comply with German and European Union law. The four primary divisions are

• DB InfraGO: the infrastructure owner of the track, signals, electrical infrastructure, and stations;
• DB Fernverkehr: the long-distance operator;
• DB Regio: the regional train operator; and
• DB Cargo: the freight train operator.

The German rail system has been categorized and branded consistently across the country. While differences exist between regions, Table 9 details the different types of services and their general governance. As in North America, tram and U-Bahn services are not part of the national

rail network and are regulated separately (similar to FTA-administered transit in the United States). RB and the InterCity trains all share the national network and are regulated by the federal railway ministry (similar to FRA-regulated intercity passenger rail and commuter rail in the United States).

The S-Bahn and RB systems in Germany are roughly equivalent to North American commuter rail in their extent and scope, although with some important differences. There are 16 total S-Bahn systems in Germany, mostly centered on major cities and extending into the suburbs and surrounding towns, although some serve polycentric metropolitan areas. Unlike in North America, the RB systems are ubiquitous in connecting most major and moderate-sized cities throughout Germany. S-Bahn lines typically extend between 30 and 40 miles from the city center, but some go beyond 60 miles.

S-Bahn systems are all electrified using a third rail or overhead catenary power system with metro-like rolling stock. RB systems overwhelmingly use either electric locomotives hauling double-decker trailer cars or electric multiple units, which can be either single or double decker. Some systems use diesel multiple units to serve the smallest cities on their network, although this practice is not widespread, and hydrogen-powered multiple units are in testing in some areas.

6.2 Lessons for North America

While differences do exist between the German and North American historical, regulatory, and policy frameworks, distinct lessons from the German case can be helpful in explaining how the German regional systems capture a greater portion of the overall market.

Predictable, Well-Branded, and Standardized Services

The S-Bahn and RB services provide several service aspects that assist riders, planners, and government officials with understanding what they will get out of their services.

Because they share a common name across Germany, S-Bahn and RB services have a strong brand and are interchangeable throughout the country. Many RB systems are run by private non-DB operators but still use the RB logo and line numbering, creating a consistent experience for riders. Visitors and locals alike know the S-Bahn will get them across the city and to some of the inner suburbs, and RB will take them to nearby cities with fewer stops. Adopting standardized branding and labeling of services has helped lower the barrier to understanding and navigating the system, making the system more accessible to infrequent riders, visitors, and tourists.

Consistent branding helps drive customer expectations in terms of service levels. The headway on most RB lines is typically an hour or less, and many run half-hour headways all day. In most systems, S-Bahn services are combined on one or two corridors through the city center. This functionally creates a line with metro-like headways, as trains can come every 5 minutes or less through the central trunk in the larger urban areas. For services with 30-minute headways or greater, the timetables are consistent and clock facing, with the same stopping pattern on each line throughout the day.

The clockface schedules also provide simplicity to operations, allowing the system to operate as a network. A timetable could theoretically be developed using any number as the basis for the interval but will lose its usefulness as soon as the timetable moves from a single line to a network, for which everything needs to use the same standard interval. Then, planners almost always revert to the natural and simple choice: 1 hour. This allows for the development of pulsed timetables, which require the standardization of frequency and symmetry of the timetable

Each region that implemented such a model was rewarded with rising transit usage, both in absolute numbers and increased mode share, because the barriers to accessing transit had been lowered for everyone. For example, VBB, the transit association in the Berlin region, cited a 132 percent growth in regional transit ridership from 1999 to 2022 following the creation of its regional model.¹²⁰

Capacity of the Railroad Is Managed by the Infrastructure Owner

The rail network in Germany is mostly managed by DB InfraGO, a subsidiary of DB. DB InfraGO is not responsible for any train operation and is separate from the operating subsidiaries of DB. DB InfraGO is responsible for right-of-way and station management, construction, timetabling, and capacity management. The primary tasks of the Tracks Division of DB InfraGO, formerly DB Netz, are “designing timetables, managing operations and construction, maintenance, and ongoing improvements to rail infrastructure.”¹²¹ As the infrastructure manager, DB InfraGO is held to strict open access and non-discriminatory regulation for long-distance trains and accepts various operators for regional trains contracted for states and transit associations (Knorr and Eisenkopf 2022).

Although it is not the operator, DB InfraGO engages in a continuous, coordinated process of timetabling the entire national rail network and allocating capacity to each train operator that uses the network. By engaging in this process, those responsible for timetabling, dispatching, and operating the trains understand capacity on each line in the German network. Capacity is allocated to each train operator that asks for it, based on a non-discriminatory and transparent process. This entire process lasts 18 months, from June 1 to December of the following year, when the new timetables are introduced. Construction is coordinated through DB InfraGO to ensure that all operators are aware of the capacity constraints during the construction process and of the added capacity once construction is finished.

Each regional board of DB InfraGO constructs the timetable within its area of responsibility. These regional boards roughly follow the borders of one or more German states. The task of timetabling at DB InfraGO is to provide and allocate train paths to each of the 400 train operators on the German network. The process of timetabling is divided into multiple work areas. The goals of timetable management are to include the desired routes and schedules of all train operators and to optimize capacity utilization. The main components that drive the timetabling process toward these goals are the existing framework agreements with train operating companies, the network timetable, and the construction schedule.

The process for building the network timetable is regulated at multiple levels, from the European Union, the German federal level, and the DB InfraGO rail network terms of use. These regulations mean that the process of building a timetable is transparent, and all train operating companies know their rights to the network.

The advantage of a unified timetabling process is understanding the capacity supply of the railroad and balancing that with the demands of each operator. In North America, capacity supply and demand on hosts like Amtrak or freight railroads are not well known, and timetables are not consistently coordinated, posing a challenge for those that want to develop a new service.

6.3 Summary

Although the German context differs from the North American context in several ways, important lessons can still be learned from it:

• Operating simple, consistent service all day broadens the appeal of transit to more people and makes transit more able to attract a wider, more robust rider base than bespoke, targeted service can.
• Reducing the barriers to using transit is one of the most important methods for attracting riders to a system. The barriers of high cost, low information, and poor connectivity can be reduced by addressing regional governance directly in terms of planning, funding, and coordination.
• Implementing fare integration and free transfers, consistent and easily understood branding, and timetables built around convenient connections across a region helps transit agencies, and commuter rail providers in particular, make transit vastly more accessible to potential riders.
• Developing a consistent and transparent knowledge of infrastructure capacity supply and demand for all users helps in allocating scarce space, limiting unnecessary investment, and allowing for new services to be tested.