I am surprised that you did not mention the ferries that go on the Elbe river. They are basically run as on-water buses, fully integrated into the city's transit system with line numbers and are a great way to see Hamburg from the river without having to buy a separate ticket

The fact that they got rid of the trams in the 70’s, and the fact that they replaced them all with busses which get stuck in traffic is the worst thing to ever happen to Hamburgs transport system…

A fun fact about the U3: Most of the line is at a constant elevation, switching between tunnels and viaducts as the terrain demands.

I'd like to mention Hamburg's buses, because they're insane. Some lines, like line 5, used to be tram lines, but the tracks were dismantled and replaced with buses. This is not unusual, but these lines are insanely congested. The buses are enormous (look up what a Mercedes Benz CapaCity looks like), they run every three minutes, and are still overcrowded. They even run in dedicated lanes in the center of the road for most of their journey. It's basically still a tram line, they just don't use trams. It would probably be a good decision to rebuild the tracks and replace the gigantic buses with trams, but that's apparently not happening any time soon.

Interesting side note: the HVV - Hamburger Verkehrsverbund - was the world‘s first integrated fare system. Until today, all public transport companies operating in Hamburg (The Hochbahn, the S-Bahn operated by DB, City Buses, regional trains and even river boats) can be used with one common ticket. It‘s also an open system without physical barriers or validators at the platform entrances.

As a person from Hamburg I am really happy u made a video about my homwtown! What you did not even touch upon are the extensive regional services. There are many regional lines connecting the other cities in the region. Most of the operating every 30 minutes the whole day and that is with 5 - 8 car double decker trains.

The “chime” for stop announcements on the Hamburg U-bahn are probably my favorite in the world, they are so unique compared to anywhere else I’ve been

Great video as always, though I’d like to add one thing: In early December the S-Bahn is planning to reorganise the entire network in order to improve reliability, which I can personally confirm isn’t the best. The S1 will stay the same, running from Wedel in the west through the city tunnel to Poppenbüttel and the airport in the east. The S2 will take over the services currently operated by the S21 apart from terminating at Altona like the S31 instead of continuing westwards. The S3 will also largely stay the same. The only difference is that it won’t run all the way to Stade on the southern branch and instead terminate at Neugraben. The S5 will be a completely new line taking over current S3 services on the southern branch running all the way to Stade and current S21 services to the north of central station. The services currently operated by the S2 and S11 will be taken over by the new S1 and S2. In the near future there will also be three major extension to the network including one not mentioned in the video: The S4 is currently being built and will start in the west at Altona running through the city tunnel and terminating in the northeast at Bad Oldesloe. The S5 will be extended in the north to Kaltenkirchen taking over services currently operated by the AKN. The S6 will be a new line starting at Neugraben in the south passing the central station and Dammtor and in the west it will presumably terminate in Osdorf where a new tunnel is planned.

4:29 As far as I know, the metro system isn't called Hochbahn, but the company that operates it is. It's like if you called the NYC Subway the MTA. Hochbahn also operates most busses in Hamburg. Wikipedia says: "Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HHA) is the largest transport company in Hamburg. It operates the Hamburg subway and a large part of the Hamburg city bus network within the Hamburg Transport Association (HVV). Hochbahn is one of the largest local transport companies in Germany and the largest service provider in the HVV."

As someone who lived most of his life in Hamburg, I think it's a good, but not a crazy good system.(There is room for improvement) What's missing, IMHO; is a bigger loop other than the U3. Connection between parts of the city outside and around the city center can take quite a while. I commuted between Flottbek and Stellingen for some while, and it took twice as long with the S-Bahn compared with a bicycle. At the moment, almost everything goes to the main station (which is overcrowded in peak times anyway) or Altona. And a better connection between Harburg and the rest of Hamburg (the S3 is terrible overcrowded during rush hour) would also be great. Maybe a second line would help. I am also not quite happy with the relocation of Altona to Diebsteich. Altona is a city center of its own and a destination. In Diebsteich on the other hand is hardly anything. Also, it makes one more change necessary for routes west of Altona because the S1 will not be directly connected to Diebsteich. Great is however that they finally build a proper S4 to Ahrensburg. This is overdue.

The U5 is really needed. I remember starting my vocational training as a teenager in Hamburg. I thought I could get there with public transport because I was used to travel to Hamburg via Rail and S-Bahn needing only around 30 to 45 minute to get into the city center. But my company send me to a branch in Bramfeld where I needed to leave home around three 3 and a half hours before my start time to not be late. I bought the cheapest a car after enduring the long travel times for 3 months with my first pay checks. With the car I needed only 25minuts instead of over 3 hours. No more taking the first train at 4am in the morning after riding the bike in the rain to the station because buses only started at 5am.

9:45 Blankenese is one of the richest areas in Germany, mostly filled with large single-family mansions that cost millions. So even the rich people get a very nice connection to the public transit network

I'm from Berlin and I love Hamburg, it's probably my fav city in Germany. I just love Hamburg's maritime feeling, the transit system is also amazing. I would love to spend more time in Hamburg

Yay, my city! 🥳 I love the Hochbahn, the bridges and trees Fun fact: there is a reason why the S-Bahn is focused around Altona and Harburg: they weren't part of Hamburg, but Prussia. The Hochbahn was "by Hamburg for Hamburg".

One thing to notice in the line numbering is that all one digit lines run through the city center via the southern route, the "City-Tunnel", while all two digit lines run through the center via the northern "Verbindungsbahn". I like this numbering system. However, it will be gone in December this year, being replaced by simple lines S1-S3 plus S5. By 2030, an S4 and S6 are supposed to join the network as well.

I think it's also notable that Hamburg doesn't have trams, wich is very unique for a city in Germany of its size. They were demolished after WW2 but are really needed because the busses are really crowded :/

I would love to see a video about the metro/train system in Brussels and how Brussels is the backbone for the whole Belgian train network.

A dream come true! I‘m from Hamburg and I hoped something like this would come! Thanks, Reece!

I think the metropolitan area of Leipzig-Halle deserves a video on it‘s own. Leipzig and Halle both have really extensive tram networks. Also this area has the largest S-Bahn system in all of Germany.

I think it's interesting that you mentioned the good coverage of the system several times. Since in Germany, it's actually regarded as having less good transit coverage because there just aren't that many lines and the city also doesn't have a tram system like Cologne, Berlin or Munich. This is also why so much new stuff is being built now.

Oh man, I'm so glad my home town got the spotlight like this! Growing up in Hamburg, the public transport system was such a major part of life that I really notice it whenever I go to other cities that don't have a system as expansive as ours. Fun fact, one of the big reasons why the term "Hochbahn" is still in use so much is probably because the company that runs the Metros and most Busses is called "Hochbahn".

Yay, as a Hamburg-based person I was hoping for this one. :)

Relatively new Hochbahn U-Bahn conductor here - great and insightful video! The harbor view you get at Landungsbrücken/Baumwall is in fact a highlight... if you have time to enjoy it, since the U3 is often very congested (nightmarishly so during events like the Hafengeburtstag or after service interruptions) because the trains only have 2x3 DT5 cars instead of the usual 3x3. This is due to the short platforms of some of the beautiful historic stations (the shortest being Sierichstraße at a whopping 84m, giving us appx. 4m lenience to not have people fall onto the tracks when they exit). It also has one of the sharpest, if not THE sharpest, turn of any metro in Europe between Rödingsmarkt and Rathaus (the "rollercoaster" between the office buildings). And just a little nitpick: Technically, the U2 starts at Niendorf Nord (in the northwest) and terminates at Mümmelmannsberg (in the east). That's only relevant internally though, I guess. :)

I regularly use Hamburg S-bahn and U-bahn ,they are mostly reliable and clean.

I am studying in Hamburg. This city is just magnificent and deserves all kind of appreciation. The U3 ist designed to drive in a loop, seeing the Harborside at Landungsbrücken and Baumwall is just beyond beautiful.

fun fact of history: hamburg has independence as a city from any larger region sort of baked into its local culture since the middle ages, and you can actually see this in the layout of the u-bahn and s-bahn. before 1937 altona was it's own city with 200k residents, inside of the state of prussia. it was prussia (and after railways were nationalized, the german empire as a whole) who operated what would become the sbahn, while hamburg operated the ubahn. thats why there is no ubahn to altona, despite having quite alot of residents (when the ring opend the mayor of hamburg actually specificly said "the hochbahn is build for all HAMBURG residents - and should be beneficial for everyone") the main reason for the north eastern u1 branch to großhansdorf was that großhansdorf was an exclave of hamburg back then aswell

Thanks Reece for a very clear video about a system I am familiar with. One point in Hamburg;'s favour is that it was (in 1966) the first city to institute a Verkehrsverbund under which identical fares and tickets apply to the U-bahn, S-bahn, buses, trams and passenger ferries. All other major German-speaking cities have followed Hamburg's example. Against Hamburg is the fact that the last trams ran in 1978, and it has no plans to reintroduce them. On this point Hamburg is in marked contrast to every other major German-speaking city.

Some historical (and fun) facts about the Hamburg Transit System : The Hamburg S-Bahn is the oldest in Germany. It opened in oktober 1907, 17 years before Berlin. The original name was "Hamburg und Altonaer Stadt- und Vorortbahn", it was renamed in S-Bahn in 1934. The first Hochbahn line, the "Ring" (present U3) opened in 1912, the Hochbahn was renamed in U-Bahn in 1947, although a lot of older (and less older) people still call the system "Hochbahn" (elevated railway), as more than 60% of the system is overground. The Hochbahn was the first metro in the world where the 3rd rail was contacted from the underside. In the tunnels, the 3rd rail is 5cm lower than on the overground lines, thus the lights in the trains were automatically switched on on the original trains from 1912-1929. The S-Bahn had originally 6300 Volt AC overhead wire and was converted to 1200 Volt DC 3rd rail in 1940. Due to the war, both systems remained until 1954 on the same tracks ! In Hamburg, the S-Bahn is not a S-Bahn in its present modern conception, even more than in Berlin, it is more like a big metro. To my knowledge, the Hamburg S-Bahn is the only system in the world, where the 3rd rail is contacted from the side instead of from the top or the underside. The current on the 3rd rail of the S-Bahn ist not +1200 Volt DC, but -1200 Volt DC. Originally, the Hochbahn (present U-Bahn) was built by the city to serve the city of Hamburg and the Hamburg owned suburbs, while the S-Bahn was built by the Prussian state to serve Hamburg, the (then Prussian independent city of) Altona and the Prussian owned suburbs of Hamburg and Altona. In 1937, Hamburg, Altona, Wandsbek and Harburg where merged to a greater Hamburg of 750 Km2. From 1907 till 1959 (so during 52 years !), there was only 1 S-Bahn line, the present S1 from Poppenbüttel to Blankenese (and later Wedel), but until 1979 it ran over Dammtor, the city tunnel only opened between 1975 and 1979. Originally until 1962, the outer sections of the present line U1 where not owned by the Hochbahn company, they were owned by the city of Hamburg itself, but they were operated by the Hochbahn: Originally, passengers had to change trains at Barmbek to continue to Volksdorf, Ohlstedt and Großhansdorf and at Ohlsdorf to continue to Ochsenzoll. This is why Ohlsdorf originally had 2 platforms with 4 tracks instead of the super large platform and the 2 tracks it has at present. Hauptbahnhof(-Süd), the present U3 station, also had 2 platforms and 4 tracks as it was the beginning of another Hochbahn line of 3,2 Km with 5 stations, which existed from 27 July 1915 until 27 July 1943. In the night of 27-28 July 1943, the line and the whole area where competely destroyed by British air raids, the line has never been rebuilt and the remains were dismanteled in 1951. Between Buchenkamp and Großhansdorf, the U1 has single track. It was built double track in 1915-1918, but before the opening of the line, they dismanteled and sold the rails of the 2nd track to have money to buy the 3rd rail for the sections Barmbek - Volsdorf - Ohlstedt and Volksdorf - Großhansdorf. On the U1, behind Großhansdorf, the line continues for 1 station until Beimoor, which was completely built in 1918, but never ever opened, as the planned suburb was never built. The rails were dismanteled and sold, like the 2nd track between Buchenkamp and Großhansdorf after the 1st WW, the station building of Beimoor was dismanteled after the 2nd WW, to recuperate the stones to rebuilt destroyed houses. The platform still exists. The section Schlump (U3 platform) - Christuskirche still exists, but is not any more operated since the opening of the city tunnel of the U2 on 3 June 1973. Since 2007, the line S3 operates on railway tracks and 15000 Volt AC between Neugraben and Stade. The rest of the system is -1200 Volt DC 3rd rail and more like a metro city system than a suburban system. The Hamburg equivalent of the modern S-Bahn systems like München (Munich), Leipzig, Köln (Cologne), Stuttgart, etc. is the R-Bahn (regional trains), which operate several lines starting from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) or Altona. In the north of Hamburg, there is a S-Bahn like network of private railways, operated with diesel trains but with a very distinctive S-Bahn character : Line A1 (former AKN) 64,5 Km from Eidelstedt (originally Altona) to Ulzburg, Kaltenkirchen, Bramstedt and Neumünster, Line A2 (former ANB, "Alsternordbahn") 7,8 Km from Norderstedt to Ulzburg and Line A3 (former EBO, Elmshorm - Barmstedt - Ulzburg - Oldesloe, cut back to Ulzburg in 1973) presently 24 Km. Between Eidelstedt, Ulzburg and Kaltenkirchen, the Line A1 is presently being electrified and will be coverted to S-Bahn (new line S5), and there are plans to convert the A2 to U-Bahn line U1. In the south-east of Hamburg also existed a network of private railways, all of them closed between 1950 and 1953 : Line BGE (Bergedorf - Geesthacht), closed on 26 october 1953 and is due to reopen by 2030, Vierländer Bahn (Bergedorf - Zollenspieker) closed and dismanteled in 1952, Hamburger Marschbahn (Billwerder - Zollenspieker - Geesthacht) closed in steps between 1950 and 1952, and the Südstormarnsche Kreisbahn (Tiefstack - Glinde - Trittau), closed in 1952 and dismanteled between Glinde and Trittau. In the north-west existed another private railway Uetersener Eisenbahn (Tornesch - Uetersen) until 1965. The (electrical) Tramway network existed from 1894 until 1978. About 20 Km closed as early as 1923 during the economic recession, another 30 Km were not rebuilt after the 2nd WW. After the 2nd WW, the remaining network of 187 Km was reorganised in 17 lines. Lines 1, 2, 3, 16 (should have been renumbered 4, but this never happened), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 18 (intended to be renumbered 10, but this never happened) ran west to east through the city center, Rathaus, Mönckebergstraße, Hauptbahnhof. Lines 11, 12, 13 from the west to the south, but over the Alster bridge instead of the city center. Lines 14, 15 were semi-circle lines, line 14 mostly running a few streets closer to the center as line 15. Line 17 was a short connection in the west between Eimsbüttel and Altona. Line 19 ran in the south-east from Berliner Tor to the industries of Billwerder. The 3 tram lines in the suburb of Harburg were already closed before the renumbering of the system in 1955. In 1958, the socialist city senate decided to close the whole tram system within the next 20 years. The last lines to close were line 9 in 1974, line 11 in 1975, line 15 in 1976, lines 1 and 14 in 1977, and finally line 2 on 30 september 1978. Most of the Hamburg trams were built by Falkenried in Hamburg. Several sections of lines were on separate tracks, Hamburg trams were much faster than other German trams, reaching speeds up to 70 Km/h. Hamburg never had any standard DÜWAG trams. A new tramway system was planned under mayorship of Ole Von Beust (CDU) until 2010. New mayor Olaf Scholz (SPD) cancelled all the plans just after being elected in 2011. The HADAG operates (-ed) boat lines on the river Elbe : 61, 62, (63), 64, (65), 68, (71), 72, 73, 75, (76), (77), HBEL, integrated in the HVV fare system. () = closed or renumbered lines. They are accessible with single trip tickets, day tickets and group tickets. Until 1983, the Alster boat lines 51, 52, 53 and 55 were also integrated in the HVV fare system. At present, they only operate as touristic lines. They can not be used any more for the HVV fare.

Also of interest are the regional train services, which at most only serve the more important stations within the city, like Harburg Station and Dammtor. They often provide a faster and/or more comfortable service to the outlying towns which are also served by the S-Bahn and more service beyond. Of greatest interest are probably the RE8 and RE80, which connect Hamburg with the city of Lübeck, which is situated only 60 km distant and has about 220.000 inhabitants

Btw. Hamburg as a city has the most bridges in entire europe... Having more than rotterdam and amsterdam together

I visited Hamburg a few years ago and was stunned to find that our party of 3 could travel unlimited on public transport for just 11 EUR per day. Fantastic city!

I think the Cologne stadtbahn could be also really interesting or the Ruhr area, as its multiple city systems acting as one big network basically. The amount of lines is NUTS 🥜🥜🥜

I have been wanting this video for sooo long. Hamburg was my first introduction to a real U-Bahn & S-Bahn as a child when visiting friends. To this day whenever I come to Hamburg the first thing I want to do after the 5 hour ride on the metronom is taking a U-Bahn and just travel a bit around the network. It fills me with so much nostalgia every time and I really like the vibe of the systems and how interconnected both systems are (except for the U4). I am so happy that you made a video about it as it is my favourite Transit system.

Thanks for publishing this video! Hamburgs U-Bahn system is very interesting indeed, especially due to similarities with some other old North American metro systems like the Chicago L or the elevated branches in the Philadelphia and New York subways. Also, just like most of the rail cars in North America, the U3 and U4 line operate in stainless steel rail cars. The downside of Hamburgs U-Bahn is that although it is reliable, the coverage isn't good at all. But I think Hamburg is trying to fix the issues they made in the past with very ambitious projects like the new U5, U4 extension, S32 (Osdorf), S5 and more. But ripping off the tram/street car system like West-Berlin, Chicago, New York etc. did back then was a big mistake and I think the only way fixing this mistake is to reintroduce the tram in Hamburg. Very sad for a city with that many residents and such a long public transportation history.

I moved to hamburg a year ago and as someone from london i thiught i would never say this. But hamburg might have the best inner city line with the U3. Train comes every 3 minutes and is reliable and always on time. Plus it's not very loud. My flat is direktly next to the train Line.

It's so weird having moved from the south of hamburg, to NRW, where essentially every place is easy to reach. The lack of rail capacity to the south leading to constantly running full DoSto instead of something like a Class 423 (the quintessential S-Bahn) and the now several decade old fight to increase capacity is probably worth a video on its own.

why does the sound get so weird whenever you say ''Altona''?

A comment on the S-Bahn naming: The S-Bahn lines are named for the way they cross the city center: Two-Digit Lines (S11, S21, S31) are crossing the center via the Verbindungsbahn (=northern route) while the one digit lines (S1, S2, S3) are crossing via the city tunnel (=southern route). The 1/2/3 then again refer to the outer parts of the city they will head to: S11 and S1 serve the same outside city routes, as do S2 and S21 and S31 and S3 (while some may terminate early). This makes sure you always know which way you will cross the city center.

The extra wide Platform you mentioned is a result of a Station redesign. Like at the U3 in Hauptbahnhof South, there were originally 4 Tracks. With the reduction of tracks those extra wide Platforms came to be. 😄 BTW it is amazing how the Hochbahn was able to keep Trains running, inspite of Hamburg being heavily Bombed. At one point one of the Viaducts near the Port fell, but the Line was back up and running within 10 Days! One U-Bahn Line towards Hammerbrook was so heavily damaged, it was not rebuilt, but the S-Bahn runs through there since 1984. Since December 2023 The S-Bahn Lines have been renumbered and changed from what is explained in this Video.

I'm visiting Hamburg next week, you picked a wonderful time to release this video 😂

Hamburg bus System (VHH) is also very good and reaches far into its neighboring states and Hamburg also has harbor ferries (HADAG) which is really cool bc u can use them along with Ubahn, Sbahn, AKN and Regio with the same ticket.

Very well done! On top of trains and buses, Hamburg has public transit ferries too! Only thing missing: A tram. Sadly, the extensive Hamburg tram network was shut down in the car-crazy 60ies and 70ies...

Shout out to the Isemarkt, a weakly farmers market between the stations Hoheluftbrücke and Eppendorfer Baum on the U3 Line. This is one of the longest markets in Hamburg / Germany and I personally loved to shop there as a kid. 4:13 As a local I am so happy you made this video.

I have to admit, whenever visiting Hamburg I miss my Straßenbahn 😃. Its network in Bremen is quite extensiv. And although suffering from the shortcomings of a star design, it feels better accessible than the U- and S-Bahn in Hamburg. A very interesting video though.

As someone living in Hamburg, this made my day! Fantastic video! I do want to mention that the AKN lines may be worth some sort of look as well, as they run metro-style trains but at way low frequencies, serving mostly exclusively outer areas of the city (and also the A1 goes all the way up to Neumünster, which I think is pretty neat). Also, there's a bunch of big changes happening soon to the S-Bahn, such as the new S5 service taking over a lot of the current S3!

Love to see it covered as I'm from Hamburg and really waited for this. Also nice that you mentioned all the plans for the future as there are a lot of them.

I like the added Altona snippet 😂

The S-Bahn drives whenever it wants. The U-Bahn is way more reliable. I think it´s kind of a problem, that every line connects to the central station as this way you need very long to get to places that are physically not that far away, but you have to drive through half the town to reach them.

Finally! I've been waiting for this for way too long!

Hey RM, I have lived in Hamburg for a couple of years and I really like this city. It has a lot of green spaces, interesting architecture and a lot of nice places by the water. What the town really needs (in my opinion) is a better east-west connection in the north via rail. There is a bus (line 24) that you can take from Volksdorf via Poppenbüttel to Langenhorn Markt, but these busses often get stuck in traffic and you may be faster by taking a bike. Otherwise the S-Bahn and U-Bahn services are really good and the frequency is excellent. As others have also noticed, the ferries in the harbour also are part of the HVV ticket system and there are some lines working like bus lines, but on the water. The ferrys are really quick and it is a lot of fun to take this unusual method of transportation. An annoying thing is that every transit line is routed via the Hauptbahnhof, making this station more than just overloaded during peak hour. There could be some more interchange stations to avoid the Hauptbahnhof, maybe in combination with another east-west connection in the north of the city as mentioned before. And although it is not part ot the transit, I highly recommend the Stadtrad Hamburg system. This is a bike sharing system with hundreds of stations and thousands of bikes. So you alsmost never have to walk for more than five minutes to find the next station within the city centre. The first 30 minutes are for free and even renting the bike for a full day is really affordable. So if you want to go somewhere and don't want to wait for the bus, just take a bike, but please be careful because there are still a lot of cars (too many) and some of the bike lanes are not that safe. Other than that there are a lot of nice places to bike along rivers and parks. So I would definitely recommend to visit Hamburg as it is one of my favourite cities. My favourite transit line is the U3 and I really like the DT3 and DT4 of the Hochbahn and the class 474 of the S-Bahn. Have a nice day everyone!

The 2nd Hamburg U-Bahn line was not the U1 but was a branch line of the "Hamburger Hochbahn", which opened in 1915 and had four stations: Spaldingstraße, Hammerbrook, Süderstraße and the terminus "Rothenburgsort". The route was about 3.5 km long and ran mostly on a viaduct through the then densely populated district of "Hammerbrook". The Elevated Line was part of a larger rapid transit project that also included a Freihafen Elevated Line, an easterly connection to Barmbek and a Billbrook Line. But these never came into construction status after WWI due to the budget restraints in the interwar period, where Germany was obligued to pay heavy reparations to the winners of WWI. The line to Rothenburgsort was badly damaged 1943 in World War II when Hammerbrook was almost completely destroyed during the Allied air raids on Hamburg (Operation "Gomorrah") in June 1943. The last train went through this line on October 7th, 1943. After the war the line was dismantled. Once home to 40,000 residents, the Hammerbrook remained a largely undeveloped wasteland for decades after it was destroyed and the rubble cleared. Today hardly anything reminds of the former elevated railway line, apart from a few bridge piers and a triangle at the main station.

Having been to Hamburg twice, I can agree that the S and U-Bahn system is indeed very good. I do find it strange that they have no tram system though....

I love Hamburg! It's one of the best cities in Germany. The network has some weaknesses in terms of coverage, but they're trying their best to fix that with by far the most ambitious expansion plans of any city in Germany. You did a great job mentioning them all, I think the only one that you might have missed are the metro-like S6 (formerly S32) which is supposed to cover some ground in western Hamburg that U5 will miss. Great video, Reece!

I live near Hamburg, amazing to see it covered by you!

Yes, finally. I waited for this video so long!

Schlump is a tremendous name for a station.

Good job, Reece, as always!

Sweet, I've been waiting for this episode for ever. Thank you, Reece! Greetings from Hamburg

As always: great video!

Thanks for finally making this video!!!

Thanks Reece for finally making this video!

Great Research! Got allmost all Aspects of Hamburgs Transit.

Well done! So cool to see you covering my city. Cheers.

Hello from Hamburg Niendorf (7 minutes walk north of U2 Niendorf Markt), the Hochbahn AG (elevated railway Stock company) got its name because they originally wanted to build a suspension railway like in Wuppertal. The S-Bahn runs at MINUS 1200VDC to minimize decomposition processes.

Something that I find underrepresented is the flipping 24hour service on weekends. Major Cities like Paris or Madrid simply don't run trains between ~02:00 to ~05:00 o'clock while this system on its ring has a train coming every 10 minutes. This makes going out at night so much more easy and convenient.

These videos are a godsend for urban planning/transit nerds, love it 😂

First of all I’m so happy you finally covered the Hamburg system 😍😍! It’s my fav city and system in the whole of Germany. Like the others mentioned a few regional services could’ve been covered that basically act like Paris‘ RER and the ferries which are so unique and the first thing I show to ppl that visit me. One thing that you could do (although I know time’s limited) is to include shortcomings or negative points. For example one being that Hamburg is a really big metropolitan area with lots of smaller cities surrounding it, that are all well connected to the centre but lack connection between each other. One line that I would love to see but will probably never be build bc it’s not profitable enough would be a ring SBahn like the one in Berlin connecting the outskirts. Running from Pinneberg to Norderstedt further to Poppenbüttel and then ending in Rahlstedt for example. Everyone who lives in the northwest knows that the east and especially the southeast is about as far as it can get in Hamburg. The lack of this line leads to insane suburban traffic congestion and is not even properly serviced by busses. Another cool fact would have been the old AKN train models which can switch between diesel and 3rd rail to service into Hamburg and still run to this day (they’re suuuuper old and really unbearable in summer but I get so nostalgic when I see them pulling into the stations).

As always, a clear explanation by Reece. Ganz gut!

You should have added a shot that captures how the S-Bahn or ICEs go over the bridge over the Alster. It’s a Beautiful sight!

Hi Reece, great video as always. You should also make a video about Athens and it's metro and tram services

Crazy good transit? It WOULD be crazy good if they hadn't torn down the entire tram system, but like this it's only a normal good system.

Nice to watch, when you use it every day👌🏽

Always wondered if you would one day make a video about my old home town. And here you are, delivering. Having now moved to a criminally under-served (more rural) region regarding public transportation, I find that I do miss the good old U-Bahn. Maybe you will also get to making a video about my "college town" of Cologne, which has a light rail network interconnected with neighboring Bonn, (West) Germany's former capital.

And perhabs you as a Canadian should remember, that in Germany "line" don't mean the tracks where a train is running on, but the service number! when we talk about the tracks, we call it Kurs or Route.

this is one of the best videos i have ever seen

It's really interesting to see this pop up in my feed, I live there! And you showed many places I frequent, I work near the Altona station and live in Eimsbüttel

This is an EXCELLENT VIDEO!!! So glad I found you. Thanks!

Another huge plus is the wayfinding. It's excellent, bi-/trilingual throughout, and very necessary especially because of the number of branches and splitting. I still managed to get lost at Barmbek but that's on me.

Finally, a video about my home city!

wohoooo, thank you !!!

Fun fact: In like pre 2019, the 3 and fourth tracks at Sengelmannstraße were disused and overgrown with grass. I thought they were originally for regional services, lol.

Looking at the elevated U-bahn I am reminded so much of the L in Chicago.

What an amazing city, should visit again soon

You are so right: The S1 in the North is quite short. I grew up there, direcetly inbetween U1 and S1 Endstation, needed 15mins with the bus to both of them. In the 70s they planed to prolong the S1 furhter north, allready bought the land and such, but they never executed, because i guess cars. Now, the district from where i come from has the highst car/person ratio in the whole of Hamburg with 2,5 or something. (A lot of single family homes + rather rich area). To go with the car into the city you need around 30 mins. From the last station of U1 and S1 35mins. But if u need to get to those last 2 station, that cost you another 15 mins. They at least have build in the recent years more and more Park and Ride systems. My parents started to use them as well. Bad public transport --> more cars --> bad public transport, cause everyone has a car.

Great work once again! One of the next cities to explain should be Athens, Greece. Athens Metro serves both the city center and its historical sites, with archeological findings being exhibited in some of the stations, along with the main port Pireaus.

my very best experience with the Hamburg Hochbahn: arriving at the airport after a 10 days stay in NYC, where riding the subway felt like the train driving down a cobblestone street, and then feeling the smooth tracks in Hamburg was so much different. Never really appreciated that circumstance until I went to NYC ...

I really enjoyed the video. I luv Hamburg. Go there often. Tom from Oakville

Small correction (2:45): The S-Bahn is run by "Deutsche Bahn", the federal owned train and transportation company. The U-Bahn (as well as most of the busses) is run by the state/city owned company "Hochbahn". 12:30 unfortunately on weekdays service stops at around 12:30 am and only starts again at 5 am.

One funny fact is that the system change (from 3rd rail to overhead) at Neugraben the S-Bahn driving a short part of Track without power. From there the S-Bahn shares track with the "normal" Trains of the DB network.

4:04 I appreciate the shadows on this drawing 👍 Makes it a lot easier to understand

Something which you might find interesting, and it explains in part why the parts of Hamburg south of the Elbe are so badly connected to the rest of the city: unlike river cities like Paris or London, there is only one (!) rail crossing of the Elbe in Hamburg, and that's the Elbbrücken in Veddel (where the S3 crosses the river). There are no more rail crossings for a hundred kilometers downriver (all the way to the sea), and the closest rail crossing further upstream is another fifty kilometers away (at Lauenburg). The Elbbrücken are massively overloaded, as not only do they carry the S3, but also all long-distance trains between Schlewig-Holstein (and the Scandianavian countries) and points further south. The Hamburg S-Bahn simply can't run any more trains across these bridges, which is why they're so crowded at rush hour. This is why the proposed Elbe crossing for the U4 is a big deal, as it will reduce the load on the Elbbrücken, and improve the connections between both banks of the river.

Great to see you covered my home city! What you can see is a unfinished rail network. When they decided to ditch the tram they planned to build a 200 kilometer Metro Network including numerous additional lines. While the tram got ditched and replaced by buses that are overcrowded now least of the planned metro kilometers were built. Also for the S-Bahn there were lots of plans for expansion which never happened. By the way the S31 runs all day, only in the very early morning and late evening on a shorter section.

Loved that you put in minatur wunderland, i have just been to hamburg and i was there, its the worlds largest model railway, 15km of track and more than 1000 trains

Rhine-land next please❤❤❤

I lived in the Hamburg metropolitan area in the late 70s for two years, and I go visit any time I am in the area. If I have a rental car I leave it at the hotel or at a park & ride lot on the outskirts of and take the train into the city. An off-peak day pass is a tourist bargain, as buses, the S-Bahn, Hochbahn, and Ferries are all included in the price. Public transit will really take you anywhere you want to go in Hamburg. Back in the 70s all stations and many bus stops had single-line data terminals and thermal printers (like cash register receipts). You'd enter the address of your desired destination (e.g. Volksdorfer Str 104) and you'd get a printout of the next bus and train connections within the the HVV that would take you there.

i would love a video about the athens metro and their current plans for a new line!

The elevated lines indeed give a very futuristic (or "Big Apple") feel to Hamburg. Remember seeing the lit trains snake along in dusk... While chilling at the waterfront... one of my first trips abroad with a school group.

If you´re living South from the Elbe in Hamburg - it can be quite horrendous. There are reports in "Die Zeit" that the "20 minute travel time" according to the timetables is not reliable in any capacity. There are a lot of failures regularly. So people regret having moved there and are regularly very frustrated. When I had to travel to work in rush hour, just 2 stations away from central station, a lot of times I couldn't get in cause it was commonly overcrowded. Or it was not that crowded but people don't leave the door area so I couldn't get in. The lines that are often used by tourists and right in the center are the best, of course. The rest has a lot to catch up. E. g. there is no possibility to cross the Elbe in the South of Hamburg, the same city, so the Elbbrücken is the only way - for everyone, except for cars they have more possibilities. Everybody has to walk or cycle directly along the city highway crossing drivers, that don´t expect cyclists and do not even look at the crosswalks, cause it looks like it is build just for cars. Hamburg seems great where it is polished, but the rest can be quite awful, compared to German city standards. - Here just 2 headlines from articles in "Die Zeit": "Die geteilte Stadt: Warum Hamburgs Süden schlecht angebunden ist" Engl. "The Divided City - Why Hamburgs South is badly connected" _ "Es ist nur noch zum Kotzen! Weichenstörungen, gesperrte Gleise, Verspätungen, Zugausfälle - wer in Hamburg auf die S-Bahn angewiesen ist, braucht gute Nerven. Unsere Leserinnen und Leser berichten." "It Is Nothing but Sucking!" "Technical failures, closed tracks, delays, down times - who has to rely on the S-Bahn needs strong nerves. Our readers share their experiences." - there's a lot more to find, if you search for "Pendler, Hamburg, S-Bahn"

Great video as usual! Love to ride along U3, especially near the Harbor 😋 I’d like to suggest a video about Frankfurts U-Bahn, S-Bahn and Tram system! Very interesting systems, with the U-Bahn being partly tram as well as being powered by overhead wire, the S-Bahn connecting at least 5 major cities, two of which are like state capitals, Germanys busiest airport, connecting to another S-Bahn system and major extensions underway, even adding another train service type in the future. Very fascinating system in my opinion ☺️

I remember visiting my relatives in HH back in the early 70s, when the system did not cross the Elbe, and you had to switch to DBB trains to go to H-Wilhelmsburg.