S-Bahn

German

Wikipedia

Wikipedia ^de

Etymology

S (Stadt "city" / schnell "fast") + Bahn "train"/"track"

Noun

S-Bahn f (genitive S-Bahn, plural S-Bahnen)

1. suburban metro railway, subway (not necessarily underground), a fast but local train

Usage notes

This is not(!) Strassenbahn, which is a slow train for city centers. Sometimes you need to take the S-Bahn to get to the next city and then switch to the local, slower, Strassenbahn to get to your final destination. For people from California: S-Bahn is more like BART, while Strassenbahn is like a cable car.

Related terms

• U-Bahn
• Strassenbahn