India’s definitely aping the US all right in terms of how utterly carbrained everyone is becoming
The US has the second largest total length of metro system in the world. It also has the third largest population and is rich enough to actually have built a lot of metro, which a lot of the other countries with large populations are not(the next ones by population are Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Brazil).
Also one needs to keep in mind, that a lot of these are just matters of definition. The transition between regional rail and longer metro spacing is somewhat fluent(Paris RER, Japans metros, S-Bahn and so forth). Especially the Great Society metros sort of act like regional rail. For example BART is often considered a metro, but Berlins S-Bahn is not.
Berlin’s S-Bahn is an anomaly in Germany. Normally S-Bahns are a form of light interurban rail networks. Not really metros (more classically within city subways and suburbs).
Across Germany there are S-Bahn networks between cities, but Berlin has grown so much that it absorbed other cities into a single metro area and the S-Bahn with it. They also added extra stations in places making it a bit more metro like.
It’s a weird beast for classification now.
I like that the U-Bahns and S-Bahns are different rail companies in the city. That way when there’s a strike it normally only shuts down one of the two systems and I can still get around, just a bit slower.
Normally S-Bahns are a form of light interurban rail networks
S-Bahns are not trams or tram trains, but are heavy rail. They are basically upgraded regional or commuter lines, which run on a common corridor through the city to allow for metro like frequencies on that section. A lot of the lines hav 20min frequency, but often share track to increase that. Quite a few of them are pretty close to metros. Not just the Berlin one. Hamburgs has 10min frequency on its lines for the most part, Cologne and the Rhein-Ruhr one is at 20-30min and a lot of shared track.
There are some, which are worse, but Berlins system is not an anomaly in being rather metro like.
Same in Frankfurt. In the city the frequency is quite high and then they split into lines when they get outside, which only reach a 30min frequency during rush hour I think.
Even the connection Frankfurt central station to Offenbach market place (city on the other river side) can reach a train every 5min during rush hour.
But they can get delayed when they surface and get outside.
There is also Pre-Metro like Frankfurt U-Bahn (Stadtbahn networks), which are basically upgraded tram lines that are partially built to metro standards and never reached full metro status/standards. In the city center they are properly separated and underground, but in lower density areas they surface and cross roads. They are not on the road like trams, but they have tram rails through intersections and such.
Yeah, but how many km(miles)/capita?
