Class 143 was built 1984 to 1991 for the east German Deutsche Reichsbahn.
The S-Bahn coaches type ABx, Bx and Bxf were built 1978 to 1998 primarily for the S-Bahn in the VRR and VRS systems.
Class 420 was successful in Frankfurt, Stuttgart and München since the early 1970s but for this S-Bahn system with longer lines a new class was needed, with gangways and toilets, which class 420 didn't have. DB would have preferred an EMU based on class 420 but the political decision was taken to order coaches and another series of class 111 instead, to keep the locomotive builder Krupp in Essen busy. (The Krupp locomotive works have not survived on long term ...)
Around 1992 class 143 (replacing class 111, freeing it for faster trains) and the ABx/Bx/Bxf coaches came together.
Nowadays more and more EMUs class 423 and 422 are entering these services, replacing the locomotives and coaches.
Köln Messe Deutz, 2013-08-01.<p>
<a href="mailto:tbk.uncia@gmail.com">tobias b k&ouml;hler</a>