About eb Elektrische Bahnen

eb Elektrische Bahnen

eb Elektrische Bahnen – Elektrotechnik im Verkehrswesen is a German technical-scientific railway journal published since 1903, making it one of the oldest continuously published railway engineering periodicals in the world. Issued ten times a year by the Georg Siemens Verlag with a print run of 1,300 copies, it covers electric rail transport, traction power supply, energy generation and transmission, and the electric railway as an integrated system. Under editor-in-chief Steffen Röhlig, the journal serves engineers, researchers, and planners in the railway and electrical-engineering industries, documenting more than 120 years of railway electrification.

Overview

eb Elektrische Bahnen (ISSN 0013-5437) is a specialist journal for the electrical engineering of rail transport. Its editorial scope encompasses electric traction — locomotives, multiple units, and their power electronics — traction power supply including substations, catenary systems, and energy management, power generation and transmission for railway purposes, and the electric railway understood as a complete technical system. The readership consists of development and design engineers at rolling-stock manufacturers and railway operators, infrastructure planners, researchers at technical universities and institutes, and specialists in energy supply for transport.

The journal appears ten times a year, with double issues in January/February and in April/May or August/September depending on the year's principal trade fair or industry event. The print run of 1,300 copies reflects the journal's highly specialized audience: it is written by experts for experts, with articles that assume professional knowledge of electrical engineering and railway technology. The editorial standard is technical-scientific, with contributions from industry engineers, university researchers, and infrastructure specialists, and the journal's longevity has made it a trusted forum where competing technical approaches are debated on their engineering merits.

The journal's subtitle, "Elektrotechnik im Verkehrswesen" (electrical engineering in transport), signals its position at the intersection of two engineering disciplines. As railway electrification has advanced — driven by decarbonization policy, the expansion of high-speed networks, and the digitalization of energy management — the journal's subject matter has moved from the margins of railway engineering to its strategic center, giving the publication renewed relevance in its second century.

History

eb Elektrische Bahnen was first published in 1903, in the pioneering era of electric railways. The early volumes — edited by Wilhelm Kübler and published by R. Oldenbourg in Munich and Berlin under titles such as "Elektrische Bahnen: Zeitschrift für das gesamte elektrische Beförderungswesen" — documented a technological revolution: the first electric tramways, the record runs of electric railcars exceeding 200 km/h in October 1903, and the electrification of main-line railways. The journal's founding coincided with the period when electric traction was proving itself against steam, and its pages recorded the engineering debates of that transformation.

Through the 20th century, the journal accompanied every major chapter of railway electrification: the development of AC traction systems, the electrification of national networks, the advent of high-speed electric railways, and the progressive digitalization of traction control and energy management. The disruptions of the two world wars and the division of Germany are part of its institutional memory; the journal's continuity across more than twelve decades makes its archive a unique record of electrical railway engineering, consulted by historians of technology as well as by practicing engineers seeking the origins of today's standards.

In its modern form, the journal is published by the Georg Siemens Verlag — a specialist publishing house named for the Siemens family's publishing tradition — and maintains its editorial office in Berlin, the city where electric rail transport was born with Werner von Siemens's pioneering exhibition railway of 1879. The current editor-in-chief is Steffen Röhlig, supported by a circle of publishers (Herausgeber) including Katja Elschner, Thomas Groh, Corinna Salander, Arnd Stephan, and Kristian Weiland, drawn from industry and academia. The journal's website, eb-info.eu, extends the print edition with digital content and subscription services.

Coverage and Content

The journal's content program mirrors the technical architecture of the electric railway. Traction coverage addresses vehicle electrical systems: traction motors, converters, transformers, control electronics, and energy storage. Infrastructure coverage spans traction power supply — substations, switching stations, catenary and third-rail systems, return-current and earthing arrangements — and the generation and transmission of traction energy, including the railway's dedicated power grids and their interface with public networks.

Systems topics treat the electric railway as a whole: energy efficiency and recuperation, electromagnetic compatibility, standardization, and the integration of renewable energy into traction power supply. The journal reports on major electrification projects, new vehicle classes, and infrastructure investments, as well as on research results from universities and industry laboratories. Event-related issues coincide with the industry's principal fairs and conferences, providing thematic focus on current priorities such as battery-electric and hydrogen traction, digital automatic coupling's energy implications, and the resilience of traction power infrastructure.

The articles are technical papers rather than news items: detailed engineering treatments with diagrams, calculations, and references, aimed at readers who design, build, operate, or research electric railway systems. This depth distinguishes the journal from general railway magazines and from news-oriented trade publications, positioning it as the archival journal of record for German-language railway electrical engineering — a status it has held, with few interruptions, since the first decade of the twentieth century.

Organization and Ownership

eb Elektrische Bahnen is published by the Georg Siemens Verlag in Germany. The editor-in-chief is Steffen Röhlig. The journal is overseen by a circle of publishers (Herausgeber): Katja Elschner, Thomas Groh, Steffen Röhling, Corinna Salander, Arnd Stephan, and Kristian Weiland — a mix of industry and academic figures typical of German technical-scientific journals, where the Herausgeberkreis provides strategic direction and peer legitimacy.

The journal's business model is the traditional specialist-press combination of subscriptions and advertising. With a print run of 1,300 copies, circulation is small but precisely targeted: advertisers are manufacturers of traction equipment, catenary systems, power electronics, and measurement technology, for whom the journal's readership represents the core purchasing-influence community. The ten-issues-per-year rhythm, with double issues timed to industry events, optimizes the journal's presence at the moments when the professional community gathers. In a niche this specialized, the journal's value lies less in reach than in the authority of its readership — the engineers who specify the systems that move Europe's trains. No further financial details are publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is eb-info.eu, which presents the journal's profile, subscription information, and digital content. The website extends the print edition's reach to the international community of railway electrical engineers and provides the access point for subscriptions and single-issue orders. For a journal whose readership consists of technically connected professionals, the website serves primarily as a service platform — subscription management, issue information, and contact — rather than as a news portal.

The journal's archive, stretching back to 1903, represents a significant portion of its intellectual capital; early volumes are accessible through digital library projects such as archive.org, where the Kübler-edited volumes from 1904 can be consulted. The modern issues are distributed through the publisher's channels and specialist journal databases. The journal does not maintain a prominent social-media presence in the accessible sources — consistent with its character as a technical-scientific journal whose audience is reached through professional and academic channels rather than public platforms. Its influence travels through citations, standards committees, and the engineering offices where its articles inform design decisions, a quieter but more durable form of impact than social metrics could capture.