Nakaner (2017-11-05 14:47:58+00:00): Hi Ilya,

it is common mapping practice in Germany to use network=* for the Verkehrsverbund or Verkehrsverbünde (plural if necessary) instead of using relations of type=network to tie all stops, platforms and routes together. And yes, it is (unfortunately) common mapping practice to abuse the name tag of route relations for descriptions.

A Verkehrsverbund is usually not the operator of a service. It is a distinct company which is either owned by the companies operating the services or owned by the local municipailties or Kreise.

Please keep accept this.

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The following paragraphs are an incomplete introduction into public transport in Germany. An incomplete and simplified TL;DR can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5hkR-IAnwQ

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Most S-Bahn systems have been changed to route=train in the last three years. Only Nuremberg S-Bahn was forgotten.

"S-Bahn" is just a brand used by Deutsche Bahn and other companies for trains which usually stops at every station/halt and usually stops very often. You cannot conclude from the usage of the brand to a route=* or railway=* value. Instead, you have to inspect the infrastructure and which specific law its operations are based on (BOStrab vs. EBO vs. ESBO).

railway/route=light_rail should be usually applied to better trams which are faster and have a dedicated right of way (don't share space with cars). This applies to the tram/light rail systems of Stuttgart ("Stadtbahn"), Frankfurt am Main ("U-Bahn"), Köln/Bonn ("Stadtbahn"/"U-Bahn"), Düsseldorf (only high floor)/Neuss (only high floor)/Duisburg, Mülheim an der Ruhr (only normal guage)/Essen (only normal gauge), Bochum (only normal gauge), Dortmund.

Most S-Bahn systems are just trains with more doors than usual and use normal train tracks. They only have separated tracks near the city centre and use the normal 15 kV 16.7 Hz overhead lines. This applies to all S-Bahns except the S-Bahn Berlin and Hamburg which are fed with DC power from a third rail except the Hamburg S 3 which uses the AC overhead line between Neugraben and Stade. The S 23 (Bonn Hbf–Euskirchen–Bad Münstereifel) uses diesel multiple units. To extend the mess, the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a tram-train system which is called Stadtbahn but uses the S-Bahn logo except where it uses the tracks of the Karlsruhe tram and on the tram tracks in Heilbronn.

Most younger S-Bahn networks (Nuremberg S 4, Leipzig/Halle, Magdeburg, Rostock, Rhein/Neckar, Hannover) are no commuter services. Their lines are quite long (e.g. Rhein/Neckar S 1 from Homburg(Saar) to Osterburken needs 3:44; Leipzig/Halle S 4 from Wurzen to Ruhland 2:28) and they run from the city centres to the very rural areas outside the cities. The use of "S-Bahn" for their services is just marketing. If they did not use the brand "S-Bahn", they would be called Regionalbahn (RB) which is the lowest category for passenger trains.

Now you have read about the normal S-Bahn networks. If you include everything which uses "S-Bahn" in its name, it becomes even more strange. Ortenau-S-Bahn is a network served by small (!) diesel multiple units between Strasbourg, Offenburg (the centre) and Freudenstadt. The Breisgau-S-Bahn serves some very busy branch lines around Freiburg with the same type diesel multiple units as Ortenau-S-Bahn does but Breisgau-S-Bahn will be converted to a electrical S-Bahn in 2018. Regio-S-Bahn Bremen is a network of lines around Bremen which is similar to systems of Rostock and Dresden but it is operated by Nordwestbahn and not by a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary. The S-Bahn system of Dresden is operated by DB Regio but they use normal electric locomotives and bilevel rail cars. The same applied to Leipzig/Halle (old version) and Rostock. These three systems started operation before 1990.

I avoided to mention the narrow-gauge railway lines which are used by trams in a tram-train like way because that would increase the confusion of the reader.

Best regards

Michael