The first electrically operated Hamburg S-Bahn trains had appeared on the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban Railway in 1907.

In 1937, the main-line railway operator, Deutsche Reichsbahn, decided to switch current collection from overhead catenary (AC 6,3 kV/25 Hz) to third rail (DC 1,2 kV), basically adopting the S-Bahn system established in Berlin from 1924 onwards.

They received a distinctive dark blue livery with a broad cream stripe on the centre car to denote the 2nd (from 1955: 1st) class.

State owned train operator Deutsche Bundesbahn opted for a modernisation scheme instead, as its Stuttgart-Bad Canstatt works had abundant capacity for carrying out the task.

One complete unit and four single coaches survive until today: The ET 171 were among the first German light-weight steel constructions for railways.