: The S-Bahn Hamburg transports up to 750,000 passengers per day. In order to remain efficient in the future, S-Bahn operations must be digitalised. To achieve this goal, the Hanseatic City of Hamburg entered into a partnership with Deutsche Bahn and Siemens Mobility in July 2018. The pilot project "Digital S-Bahn Hamburg" evidences how new technologies can make local transportation in growing cities more efficient. For the ITS World Congress 2021, automated rail-operations will start in Hamburg on the 23-kilometre section between the stations Berliner Tor and Aumühle on the S2/S21 S-Bahn lines.

The core is the networking of the trackside traffic management system -- the infrastructure side of the standardised European Train Control System (ETCS) -- with the on-board Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system. This is the first time "ATO over ETCS" has been implemented in Germany. The Bergedorf electronic interlocking control system and track infrastructure between the stations Berliner Tor and Aumühle will be upgraded for this purpose. Four S-Bahn Hamburg vehicles will be equipped with digital technology.