meaning. Here Stadtbahn is an underground urban rail network that is used by conventional trams but planned at the outset to be eventually converted into a metro system. A final metro system may or may not be implemented in the end. This concept has the benefit of being cheaper in comparison with constructing a metro from scratch.

Post-World War II transport policies in West German cities aimed for a separation of public and private transport. The conflicts that arose between increasing car usage and the existing tramway systems led to