GERMANY: All 82 of S-Bahn Hamburg’s fleet of Class 490 EMUs have now entered service, the operator has confirmed.
The EMUs were ordered from Bombardier Transportation to replace Class 472/473 units dating from the mid-1970s. The original order placed in 2013 was for 60 trainsets, but a further 22 were ordered later. The first unit was delivered to DB Regio subsidiary S-Bahn Hamburg GmbH in February 2017, and testing in passenger service began in May 2018.
The three-car EMUs have 190 seats, inter-car gangways, air-conditioning and a multi-purpose area for wheelchairs, pushchairs, cycles and luggage.
All sets are equipped to take power at 1∙2 kV DC from a third rail on the dedicated S-Bahn tracks, but the Class 490.1 sub-series is also equipped with pantographs for 15 kV 16∙7 Hz operation on DB’s main line network. These sets are deployed on route S3, where the Neugraben – Stade section shares tracks using overhead electrification. A similar arrangement would also apply on the planned extension of route S4 to Bad Oldesloe.
Maximum speed is 100 km/h on the third rail network and 140 km/h on overhead sections; the eight traction motors fitted to each set give a total rating of 1 360 kW.
S-Bahn Hamburg has an option to order a further 64 units. In the meantime it is updating the Class 474 fleet, providing inter-car gangways and installing a passenger information system.
The six-route Hamburg S-Bahn network currently totals 147 route-km and 69 stations. It carried around 250 million passengers/year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
