A quick question. I noticed the S-bahn portions of HHL have a third rail (I think?). I was wondering what trains in reality run these services since the other S-Bahn trains I've seen in TSW all use pantographs. Thanks.
I'm no expert but I think Hamburg and Berlin both use DC Third rail electrification for their S-bahn systems. Looks like Hamburg runs DBAG type 474 and 490 units.
Hamburg S-bahn uses a 1200V DC side-contact 3rd rail, a very similar system to the old Manchester-Bury EMUs I used to ride on (now part of the Manchester tram network).
The S-Bahn Hamburg mostly uses the 1200V= third rail as mentioned above. The section between Neugraben and Stade on the S3 on the other hand uses the normal railway track and therefore uses the standard 15kV 16,7Hz catenary. All trains on the Hamburg S-Bahn are capable of running on the third-rail sections, whilst only the BR 474.3 and the BR 490.2 are capable of also running in the catenary section. BR 474.3 BR 490.2 The S-Bahn Hamburg and the S-Bahn Berlin are the only places where a third rail is used on the national rail network. The S-Bahn Hamburg is also the only place where a voltage of 1200V is used (including light railways, subways, trams, etc.). Another speciality of the S-Bahn Hamburg (and Berlin) is the lack of automation regarding the doors. Still to this day, the driver warns passengers through an announcement about the closing doors. The doors do then have to be closed manually (they don't close by themselves) and the driver has to check visually that all doors are closed correctly before departing.
This is all great content! Thank you all so much! Maybe we will get something similar to the Hamburg S-Bahn addon for TSW in the future. That's crazy that they have manual doors still, specially with S-Bahn trains and their tight schedules.