Hanover S-Bahn

The Hanover S-Bahn (in German: S-Bahn Hannover) is an S-Bahn network operated by Transdev Hannover in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony. It went operational shortly before Expo 2000 and is focused on the Hanover region, and also connects with adjacent districts (Celle, Hameln-Pyrmont, Hildesheim, Nienburg and Schaumburg), and into the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Minden, Paderborn). The S-Bahn is an evolution of a suburban railway.

The S-Bahn has ten services in Hanover. It is distinguished from the Hannover Stadtbahn, which emerged from the Hannover tram network. In addition, there are other rail passenger services in the region composed of Regional-Express and Regionalbahn services. It is mainly operated with Class 424 electric multiple units.

The S5 line is in service 24/7 from Hannover Hauptbahnhof (central station) to Hannover Flughafen.

In the 1960s there were plans to upgrade the rail network around Hanover. This led at first only to the establishment between 1965 and 1970 of regional commuter services on the east–west axis between Nienburg / Minden, Wunstorf, Hannover Hauptbahnhof (central station), Lehrte and Celle and on the Deister Railway. A further extension was omitted because of disagreement between federal, state and city region governments. In 1984, in preparation for the upgrading of the line between Wunstorf and Hannover, Seelze station was relocated and rebuilt with overtaking tracks. After Hanover won the right to build Expo 2000 in 1990, it was decided to bring forward the planned introduction of an S-Bahn network that was originally intended to be opened at a later date. On 12 November 1990 a development agreement was signed between the state of Lower Saxony, the Municipal Association of Greater Hannover and Deutsche Bundesbahn. In a relatively short time lines which for decades had remained virtually unchanged were upgraded considerably in and around Hanover.

Construction began with the new Hannover-Karl-Wiechert-Allee station on the Hannover–Braunschweig railway, which provides a connection to the Hannover Stadtbahn; the first pile for it was driven in 1993.

Two additional S-Bahn tracks were built on the western route from the Hauptbahnhof towards Wunstorf as far as Seelze from 1994, with services starting in 1997. In Leinhausen an extensive flying junction was built; this separates regional and long distance traffic running to and from the north and west. The S-Bahn runs over the old freight tracks in Hainholz and through the former main freight yard. This included the new Hannover-Nordstadt S-Bahn station, which replaced the existing suburban station of Hannover-Hainholz.

Two additional tracks were laid for the S-Bahn on the line north to Langenhagen. On this line, Hannover-Herrenhausen station was replaced by the new S-Bahn station at Hannover-Ledeburg. The route was also electrified as far as Bennemühlen and in addition was doubled as far as Bissendorf. Hannover-Langenhagen Airport was connected by a local service for the first time, via the former goods track. From 1995, this line was electrified and extended through a tunnel to the airport's Terminal C, which was then under construction.

In the east the line was extended as a single track as far as the previously established station at Karl-Wiechert-Allee and operations on it started in 1999. Two additional S-Bahn tracks were then added almost to Ahlten, continuing to Lehrte as a single track; being brought into service in June 2000. This extension was part of the German Unity transport projects (Verkehrsprojekte Deutsche Einheit).