Talk:List of metro systems in Europe

Standards for inclusion into the article

What technical and/or operational criteria need to be fulfilled by a system to be included into this article? In German Wikipedia there have been extensive and rather emotional discussions whether to include Frankfurt's system in the U-Bahn category which ended with the decission to not include it, giving Germany four U-Bahn systems (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg). The problem in said case was that the operator in Frankfurt officially calls it "U-Bahn", but there is generally a broad consensus in professinal literature that it is a "Stadtbahn", or light rail system, because a U-Bahn is generally considered to be completely separated from all other means of transport, whilst all lines of Frankfurt's system have street-bound sections at some point. So, which systems should be included here and should Frankfurt be deleted following the result of the discussion in German Wikipedia? MissyWegner (talk) 09:27, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Frankfurt should be removed. It was irritating to see it on the list. Always every city in North Rhine-Westphalia has a Stadtbahn system, and they are not included. They all use the U symbol, but that doesn't make them metro systems.--62.96.99.98 (talk) 01:23, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

I have a tendency to to also remove "Frankfurt" from this list. However, if "Frankfurt" will be removed, then at least also "Charleroi", "Porto" and "Malaga" as well. These and some others systems are even less like a full metro. We need to find consensus over MissyWegner's question first: What technical and/or operational criteria need to be fulfilled by a system to be included into this article? KatVanHuis (talk) 12:21, 12 August 2024 (UTC)

I've found that one well known report (page 10) that classifies the Frankfurt U-Bahn as a light rail system: "U-Bahn is applied to all underground rail transit in Germany, whether rapid or light rail. The common belief that this term is synonymous with rail rapid has led to the false classification of some light rail subway operations. Light rail U-Bahn exists in Frankfurt, Cologne, Bonn, Hannover, Stuttgart. In Munich, Berlin, Nuremberg and Hamburg the U-Bahn is rail rapid." KatVanHuis (talk) 15:54, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Hello Oknazevad, having read several of your additions to articles and talk pages about urban rail transport; I'd like to invite you to share your opinion here as well. KatVanHuis (talk) 19:38, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

I think we should be consistent with the general List of metro systems, which does not include Frankfurt.

Actually, I wonder why this article exists at all when that main list isn't really that long. Seems duplicative in effort and likely to create conflicting listings, such as the one being discussed here. oknazevad (talk) 23:59, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Hello Oknazevad, about Frankfurt, this is a clear answer to MissyWegner.

For your second point, there seems to be other language Wikis as well. The French version includes light metros (like the English one), but also hybrid systems like the Frankfurt one. This English list currently contains a lot of hybrid systems as well. Do you think it's wise to change the scope of the article? This would need a better lede explaining the inclusion of hybrid systems, just like the French version does. I think it will be nice to be able to compare metros with near-metros like the one in Frankfurt. KatVanHuis (talk) 10:45, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

I think what other languages do are irrelevant, as different languages have different terms and concepts. I just want consistent within the English language Wikipedia. oknazevad (talk) 15:12, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

I agree that it's irrelevant, it was meant as inspiration to find a solution. I'm going to try to make some changes, but not yet today. KatVanHuis (talk) 07:27, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

Under construction systems

I propose to add a new section for metro systems in Europe that's under construction, currently the Belgrade Metro, Chelyabinsk Metro, Cluj-Napoca Metro and Thessaloniki Metro are systems in Europe that's under construction, these systems are to be included in the list Metrosfan (talk) 05:50, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

I think it's a great idea for under construction systems, but not for systems that are merely planned. KatVanHuis (talk) 17:08, 23 September 2024 (UTC)