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We theoretically study transport properties of voltage-biased one-dimensionalsuperconductor--normal metal--superconductor tunnel junctions with arbitraryjunction transparency where the superconductors can have trivial or nontrivialtopology. Motivated by recent experimental efforts on Majorana properties ofsuperconductor-semiconductor hybrid systems, we consider two explicit modelsfor topological superconductors: (i) spinful p-wave, and (ii) spin-splitspin-orbit-coupled s-wave. We provide a comprehensive analysis of thezero-temperature dc current $I$ and differential conductance $dI/dV$ ofvoltage-biased junctions with or without Majorana zero modes (MZMs). Thepresence of an MZM necessarily gives rise to two tunneling conductance peaks atvoltages $eV = \pm \Delta_{\mathrm{lead}}$, i.e., the voltage at which thesuperconducting gap edge of the lead aligns with the MZM. We find that the MZMconductance peak probed by a superconducting lead $without$ a BCS singularityhas a non-universal value which decreases with decreasing junctiontransparency. This is in contrast to the MZM tunneling conductance measured bya superconducting lead $with$ a BCS singularity, where the conductance peak inthe tunneling limit takes the quantized value $G_M = (4-\pi)2e^2/h$ independentof the junction transparency. We also discuss the "subharmonic gap structure",a consequence of multiple Andreev reflections, in the presence and absence ofMZMs. Finally, we show that for finite-energy Andreev bound states (ABSs), theconductance peaks shift away from the gap bias voltage $eV = \pm\Delta_{\mathrm{lead}}$ to a larger value set by the ABSs energy. Our workshould have important implications for the extensive current experimentalefforts toward creating topological superconductivity and MZMs in semiconductornanowires proximity coupled to ordinary s-wave superconductors.

Transport in superconductor--normal metal--superconductor tunneling structures: Spinful p-wave and spin-orbit-coupled topological wires