[6] In July 2009, the incumbent management board was dismissed, which was held responsible for the operational disruptions caused by maintenance deficiencies.

After the S-Bahn Berlin GmbH was founded on 1 January 1995, it initially belonged to the DB Stadtverkehr business unit.

The contract is valid retroactively from the beginning of 2003 to the end of 2017 and includes funds from the states of Berlin and Brandenburg amounting to 3.54 billion euros.

[8] Originally, the contract included the option that the state of Berlin could award the operation on the north-south lines in a tender as early as 2010.

[11] Based on a question by Michael Cramer (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), the transport policy spokesman of the Green Party in the European Parliament, the European Commission announced on 27 October 2009 that it would review the financing of the Berlin S-Bahn for a violation of EU state aid law.

This would violate the principle of European public procurement law, according to which state subsidies for a transport company may only cover its costs.

On the Berlin system with the lateral conductor rail and the weight restrictions on the trains, only specially developed vehicles can be used, which cannot be procured in the required number by 2017.

[14] In addition, S-Bahn Berlin GmbH is also applying for the tendered Ring sub-network in the award procedure that will start in April 2013.

If the S-Bahn Berlin GmbH is able to win the contract for the Ring sub-network, 195 quarter trains are to be called up for this purpose.