Munich S-Bahn at Karlsplatz. Photo by Matthias Frey, August, 2003.

Overview

The Munich S-bahn, suburban railways converted to "metro" style services similar to the Paris RER, consist of 10 lines covering 435 km of route. At the outer edges of the S-bahn lines the trains run either on their own tracks or shared with those of the Deutschebahn, the German national railways. There are many single track sections in the S-bahn network and many grade (level) crossings.

A tunnel 4.2 kilometres long underneath central Munich links the western S-bahn lines with the eastern ones. Eight lines use the center city tunnel. Its construction started in 1967. The tunnel was partly built with open-cut (cut and cover) methods, but at the big intersection stations Karlsplatz and Marienplatz a covered construction was used. The tunnel section under the Neuhauser Straße and Im Tal were built in a special vault method. Between Isartorplatz and Rosenheimer Platz two single track tunnels built with the shield method cross under the river Isar.

The tunnel and almost the whole S-bahn system opened April 28/29, 1972, the year of the Olympic Games in Munich.

The S-bahn train reaches the tunnel behind the Hackerbrücke station over a ramp. The two underground stations Hauptbahnhof and Karlsplatz each have an island and two side platforms; with the island platform used for boarding and the side platforms used for exiting the trains. At Marienplatz station there are also seperate platforms, but in two levels. The trains towards Ostbahnhof stops at level -2, the trains towards Hauptbahnhof on level -3. A lot of moving stairs connect the different levels and lead to the U-bahn platforms in level -4. At Hauptbahnhof and Karlsplatz stations there are also connections to the U-bahn. The connection leads over mezzanines under the S-bahn platforms.

The other two subway stations Isartor and Rosenheimer Platz have only island platforms. Before reaching Ostbahnhof station the trains leave the tunnel in a curve turning to the left. The platform length is 210 metres at all stations.

A new S-Bahn section (20 kilometres) from Ismaning to the new airport north-east of Munich was opened on March 17, 1992. For this line a tunnel 2 km long with one subway station was built in the suburb Ismaning. Along this new line on the surface portion there are new stations at Hallbergmoos, with side platforms, and one in the airport area called Flughafen Besucherpark. Below the airport the S-bahn runs in a 1300 metres long tunnel to München Flughafen, an island platform station. This station lies directly below ground with openings to the daylight in the ceiling above the island platform. From here a extension will be built to the city of Erding. The airport is also served by a part-time extension of S-bahn line S1.

A new tunnel with one station on the existing section in Unterföhring will be finished in 2005. Also, a second tunnel 8 km long may be built in the inner city of Munich to unburden the existing tunnel. The new tunnel will get only two stations at Hauptbahnhof and north of Marienplatz at a depth of 40 metres to cross under the U-bahn lines. Nearby the Max-Weber-Platz station of the U-Bahn the new tunnel will divide into two branches, one to Leuchtenberg Ring station and one to Ostbahnhof station.

Photo Gallery

Five Random Images
Image 37257 (85k, 820x553) Photo by: Matthias Frey Location: Hauptbahnhof	Image 37262 (90k, 820x552) Photo by: Matthias Frey Location: Isartor	Image 37263 (79k, 820x552) Photo by: Matthias Frey Location: Rosenheimer Platz	Image 37265 (78k, 820x513) Photo by: Matthias Frey Location: Flughafen Besucherpark	Image 37269 (102k, 820x553) Photo by: Matthias Frey Location: München Flughafen