History of the Berlin subway
The history of the Berlin subway started in 1880 with a suggestion by the entrepreneur Werner Siemens to build an elevated and subway in Berlin . In the nine years after the founding of the German Empire , the population of Berlin had risen by over a third, which caused increasing traffic problems. At the beginning of 1896, Siemens & Halske then began building the first line as an elevated railway . On April 1, 1897, the company for electrical elevated and underground railways in Berlin ( elevated railway company ) was founded, which took over the further construction and operation and in 1929 was merged with the Berliner Verkehrs-AG. The company, renamed Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) in 1938 , became the city of Berlin's own operation . The BVG has been an institution under public law since 1994 .
The elevated railway company opened the first line on February 18, 1902, the line between Stralauer Thor and Potsdamer Platz (largely the current line U1 ). The “ministerial trip” on the Potsdamer Platz – Zoological Garden –Stralauer Tor – Potsdamer Platz route had already preceded it on February 15, but the Zoological Garden was only accessible by passengers from March 11th. By 1913 four more routes have been executed before the First World War and in the Weimar Republic following hyperinflation initially prevented further expansion. It was not until 1923 that a new subway line was inaugurated again, which had wider cars with the newly introduced large profile . From 1923 to 1931, new routes of this type were then handed over to operation, and there were also new openings in the small profile .
In the era of National Socialism no further stations were built. The Second World War caused great damage to the Berlin subway network: the Allied air raids destroyed many stations and towards the end of the Battle of Berlin in early May 1945, the north-south tunnel of the S-Bahn was also widened when it was blown up Sections of the subway flooded. The reconstruction of the pre-war network was not completed until 1950.
The construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 brought new restrictions: the two underground lines C (from 1966: U6 ) and D ( U8 ) continued without stopping through the stations of the two East Berlin tunnels that had become ghost stations - an exception was the rule the Friedrichstrasse station, which has been expanded to become a border crossing (see also: Tränenpalast ). The Warschauer Strasse and Potsdamer Platz stations were closed. While the subway construction in West Berlin continued to progress through the S-Bahn boycott , there was a quasi-construction freeze in East Berlin. Only the Tierpark station (line E) reopened in 1973. From 1985 to 1989 line E (today: U5 ) was extended from the animal park above ground to Hönow .
Just two days after the fall of the Berlin Wall , the first former ghost train station Jannowitzbrücke was reopened as a border crossing point on November 11, 1989 . The Rosenthaler Platz station followed on December 22nd, followed by the Bernauer Strasse station , which is only accessible from West Berlin on April 12th , all of them on the U8. On July 1, 1990, all other former ghost stations of the subway were finally reopened. The main goal now was to bring the networks together. In 1993 the U2 line from Vinetastraße to Ruhleben was able to pass through again, and since 1995 the U1 line has been running again from Kreuzberg over the Oberbaumbrücke to Friedrichshain to the Warschauer Straße station. After that, only the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park station on the U2 line (October 1998) and the short section from Vinetastraße to Pankow (September 2000) were reopened. Because of the tight budget situation in the city of Berlin, further expansion has stagnated since then.
The underground expansion is generally divided into three development phases:
- until 1913 (development of the small profile network in Berlin, Schöneberg , Charlottenburg , Wilmersdorf and Dahlem in the German Empire )
- until 1930 (development of the large profile network in Greater Berlin during the Weimar Republic )
- from 1953 (network expansion after the Second World War )
First construction phase
The beginnings
The increasing traffic problems in the metropolis of Berlin led to the search for modern, efficient means of transport at the end of the 19th century. Inspired by Werner von Siemens ' proposal to break new ground, numerous ideas arose for suspension railways based on the example of the Wuppertal suspension railway , elevated railways based on the New York model, and tube railways like those in London . Finally, Siemens submitted the plan for an elevated railway in Friedrichstrasse , which, however, was not approved by the authorities. The AEG developed project ideas, in this case for subways . But the Berlin city administration resisted their construction because they feared damage to the sewer system that had just been installed .
Meanwhile, AEG built the first rail tunnel on its own premises, through which an electric train for internal passenger and freight transport ran from May 31, 1897 to 1904. This underground structure, 295 meters long, 3.60 meters wide and 3.15 meters high, is the first underground tunnel in Germany. During the First World War , the tunnel was used next to above-ground locations on the factory premises for the production of throwing mines. During the Second World War it was an air raid shelter for AEG employees. The tunnel can be visited on guided tours.
In December 1899, the Spree Tunnel between Stralau and Treptow , which began in February 1896, was put into operation. During the construction of this tunnel, the AEG used the shield tunneling method for the first time . The tunnel, even if it was used for the operation of a tram , can be regarded as the forerunner of the subway. However, the mining method adopted from England subsequently did not establish itself as the standard construction method - the competitor Siemens later built tunnels using the open-cut method just below the road surface.
After many years and negotiations, Siemens finally prevailed with an elevated railway line from the Warschauer Brücke over Hallesches Tor and Bülowstrasse , along large parts of the route of the Berlin customs wall that had been demolished 30 years earlier . The private company Siemens & Halske also carried out all construction work as the client. The first groundbreaking took place on September 10, 1896 in Gitschiner Strasse. The construction work had to go ahead quickly, because the concession contract with Berlin provided for a contractual penalty of 50,000 marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 361,000 euros) if the route is not completed within two years.
For the elevated railway, the engineers developed special elevated railway pillars. Since the Berliners didn't like this at all, the architect Alfred Grenander was commissioned to come up with an artistically acceptable solution to this problem. Grenander remained the in-house architect of the elevated and underground railway for 30 years.
After tough negotiations with the city of Charlottenburg , it was decided not to build an elevated railway on Tauentzienstrasse , but to build a sub-paved railway and run the route to the knee (today's Ernst-Reuter-Platz ). Thus, the requirement to complete the line by January 1, 1900, could not be met. The recently replaced top management of the Berlin City Planning Office viewed the subject of the underground with significantly greater benevolence. Since the subway apparently did not cause any damage to the sewer system, an underground branch to Potsdamer Platz was to be created. A further extension into the city center of Berlin was now possible at any time. The state approval for the planning changes went to the elevated railway company in an addendum on November 1, 1900 .
The entire project of the elevated and underground railway had a length of 10.1 kilometers in 1900. The largest part of the route, around eight kilometers, was to be built on viaducts and connect eleven elevated stations. There was also a two-kilometer underground route with three underground stations. The planners at the time did not believe that 8-car trains were needed, and had the platforms built with a length of 80 meters, which was enough for a 6-car train.
In the first year after the turn of the century, a six-kilometer route was completed. After about 5 1 ⁄ 2 years of construction, the main line was ready. On February 15, 1902, the so-called “ministerial trip” took place on the route Potsdamer Platz - Zoological Garden - Stralauer Tor - Potsdamer Platz. This was called because several Prussian ministers took part in the opening trip, such as the Minister of Public Works Karl von Thielen , the Minister of the Interior Hans von Hammerstein-Loxten , the Minister of War Heinrich von Goßler and the Minister of Education Heinrich Konrad von Studt . On February 18, 1902, the first section (Stralauer Tor - Potsdamer Platz) of the Berlin subway was officially opened, and on March 11, the so-called "western trunk line" to the zoological garden went into operation. It was able to be extended to the knee on December 14th . On August 17, the route to Stralauer Tor was extended by 380 meters to the Warsaw Bridge.
At the end of 1902 there were three lines:
- Warschauer Brücke - (Gleisdreieck -) Potsdamer Platz
- Warsaw Bridge - (Gleisdreieck -) Zoological Garden
- Potsdamer Platz - (Gleisdreieck -) zoological garden
The elevated railway company was contractually obliged to operate 5 minutes, which it ensured by driving each of the three lines at 10-minute intervals, meaning that there was a train interval of five minutes on each branch.
Extension to the west
After the opening of the main line, further plans were made to extend the three branches of the route: on the Charlottenburg urban area to Wilhelmplatz (today 's Richard-Wagner-Platz underground station ) and towards Reichskanzlerplatz (today: Theodor-Heuss-Platz underground station ), from Potsdamer Platz going out into the inner city of Berlin and through Warschauer Strasse to Frankfurter Tor . The negotiations with the young and up-and-coming city of Charlottenburg were concluded the quickest , as there was a great deal of undeveloped land there that could be developed. The most important point of negotiation was the construction of a route to the Charlottenburg town hall on Wilhelmplatz . An extension along Berliner Strasse (today's Otto-Suhr-Allee ) would have been an option, but the Berlin-Charlottenburg tram was running there at that time and parallel traffic did not seem sensible. Therefore, this route should continue under Bismarckstrasse to the west and then in an arc to the town hall. Under the working title of Krumme Strasse , the Bismarckstrasse (today: Deutsche Oper ) stations and the Wilhelmplatz terminus were initially built . planned. The line between Knie (today: Ernst-Reuter-Platz ) and Wilhelmplatz was opened on May 14, 1906. Both underground lines now ran to Bismarckstrasse , but only the line that ran at the junction to Potsdamer Platz led to Wilhelmplatz .
While this line was under construction, the elevated railway company and the city of Charlottenburg agreed on a line junction towards Westend . Therefore, a planning change was necessary at the planned Bismarckstrasse station , because the line to Westend was to branch off here. Therefore, the station was established as the first four-track underground station in Germany. The line to Wilhelmplatz was to run from the two inner tracks and to Westend from the outer ones. This created an unusual situation: Although the short section to the Charlottenburg town hall was actually planned as the main route, it now became the route to Westend.
Since the western Charlottenburg area was still completely undeveloped and therefore not inhabited, the route could not generate any profits in its early years. The elevated railway company therefore negotiated with the city of Charlottenburg and the other landowners to compensate for the line deficit: this contract was concluded on June 23, 1906.
The following stations were to be built for the route to the west:
- Bismarckstrasse (today: Deutsche Oper )
- Sophie-Charlotte-Platz
- Kaiserdamm
- Reichskanzlerplatz (today: Theodor-Heuss-Platz , provisional end point)
On March 16, 1908, Emperor Wilhelm II drove this route for the first time, based on the “Ministerfahrt”. The route was officially inaugurated on March 29th. The two existing lines did not continue to Reichskanzlerplatz ; rather, a third line was opened that only ran between Bismarckstrasse and Reichskanzlerplatz .
Due to the significantly increased length of the route, the desire arose for a new workshop, because the previous workshop in Rudolfstrasse (or Warschauer Brücke) was no longer sufficient. Therefore, the elevated railway company was looking for a suitable site. Since the Prussian forest administration wanted to market their Grunewald site profitably, the interests of both partners met. The company bought 14 hectares of land there to build their new workshop. At the same time, she undertook to extend the route to the Stadion station (today: Olympic Stadium ). For this the forest administration paid a grant of 200,000 marks to the elevated railway company. Only company and occasional traffic should take place here, regular traffic was not planned. At the same time as the extension to the Stadion station, the shell of the Neu-Westend station was also built on the route , because there was no need for traffic at the time.
When the German Stadium opened on June 8, 1913, the section of the route with the new stadium terminus and the shell of the Neu-Westend station went into operation. The associated Grunewald workshop was completed in January 1913. The nearby Unterspree power station on Wiesendamm in Ruhleben , which was built to supply power to the underground , had already started operations in 1911.
The eastern extension of the trunk line originally planned from Warschauer Brücke to Frankfurter Tor was not implemented. The flat line from the Warschauer Brücke underground station to the Central-Viehhof, which was built as a forerunner by the Hochbahngesellschaft and operated as a tram, was acquired by the city in 1909 and was incorporated into the trams of the city of Berlin on January 1, 1910 .
The way to the city center
After the main line had been extended to Wilhelmplatz , the elevated railway company planned to connect the city center of Berlin to the new subway. However, the city of Berlin only prohibited this because, given the success of the first line, it had its own plans for the construction of subways. But the highest decision-maker, the Berlin police chief , stepped in and approved the plans.
The elevated railway company planned to run the new line in a straight line under Leipziger Strasse from Potsdamer Platz to Spittelmarkt . The "Great Berlin Tram", whose route ran through this street, together with the city of Berlin, prevented the realization of these plans by threatening to claim damages. The negotiating partners finally agreed on the long-term route via Spittelmarkt, Alexanderplatz and Schönhauser Allee to Nordring station . The plans initially envisaged the Kaiserhof (today: Mohrenstraße ), Friedrichstraße (today: Stadtmitte ), Hausvogteiplatz and Spittelmarkt stations . Later the line was to continue through the following stations: Inselbrücke (today: Märkisches Museum ), Klosterstraße , Alexanderplatz , Schönhauser Tor (today: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz ), Senefelderplatz , Danziger Straße (today: Eberswalder Straße ; as a high station) and Nordring ( today: Schönhauser Allee ; as a high station).
Since the section on the Spittelmarkt was to be very complex and cost-intensive due to the necessary underpassing of the Spree , the plans included a (cheaper) elevated railway line in Schönhauser Allee as compensation. Construction work began on December 15, 1905. In order to enable continuation, the Potsdamer Platz station , which was then provided with side platforms , was demolished. On September 28, 1907, the new Leipziger Platz station (today: Potsdamer Platz) was opened 200 meters away .
A train station of the same name was built behind the Spittelmarkt in 1908. This is located directly on the Spree, where the ground is very swampy . A pile foundation was necessary to prevent the station from sagging . He received a window gallery on the Spree, which was closed during World War II . Only after German reunification and the merging of Berlin's traffic arteries, in 2004, was the gallery reopened.
The “Spittelmarktlinie” was officially opened on October 1, 1908. There were now four different lines, two of which used the new line:
- Warschauer Brücke - Potsdamer Platz - Spittelmarkt
- Wilhelmplatz (Charlottenburg) - Wittenbergplatz - Potsdamer Platz - Spittelmarkt
The Schönhauser Allee gets an elevated railway
In March 1910, construction work began to extend the “Spittelmarktlinie” (now also called “Centrumslinie”) to the north. There were some challenges here too. Behind the Spittelmarkt train station , the route runs along the banks of the Spree . Therefore, a slope had to be provided in order to get through under the river bed of the capital river. The Inselbrücke station (today: Märkisches Museum ) was built about 6.5 meters below the road surface . Because the station was so deep, it was possible to build a train station unique in Berlin with a basket arch vault . Besides the Platz der Luftbrücke underground station, it is the only column-free underground station in Berlin.
Behind the Märkisches Museum, the line crossed under the Spree and turned onto Klosterstrasse with the associated train station. Since there were already plans to build an underground line (Line E) under Frankfurter Allee , there was room for another track in the middle of the platform at Klosterstraße station . But that was not needed, because today the U5 line runs from Alexanderplatz station in the direction of Frankfurter Allee. The “Centrumslinie” continued from Klosterstrasse to Alexanderplatz. During the construction of this station, care was taken to ensure that transfer options to other lines could be added later. The line between Spittelmarkt and Alexanderplatz was opened on July 1, 1913. The line between Wilhelmplatz with the Kaiserhof underground station (today: Mohrenstraße ) and Alexanderplatz quickly became the most widely used Berlin underground line.
In the further course this route leads to Schönhauser Allee . There the first train station was built under today's Torstrasse with the name Schönhauser Tor (today: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz ). Since the Schönhauser Allee was wide enough, there were no problems with the tunnel construction.
This was followed by the Senefelderplatz station . Behind this a ramp rises out of the tunnel and leads to what was then the Danziger Straße station (today: Eberswalder Straße ). As mentioned, this was designed as a high station, because the tunnel sections at Spittelmarkt were very cost-intensive, and on the wide Schönhauser Allee the construction as an elevated railway could be carried out quite cheaply.
Behind the Danziger Strasse station there was a long elevated viaduct to the Nordring station (today: Schönhauser Allee ). There the already existing ring line was crossed on the viaduct. Today's S-Bahn runs there in the cut. This marked the provisional end of the route. The extension from Alexanderplatz to the Nordring was opened just 3½ weeks after the opening of the route to Alexanderplatz, on July 27, 1913.
The first municipal subway
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The then independent city of Schöneberg had been planning to build a subway since 1903 to better develop its urban area. The negotiations between the Schöneberg city administration and the elevated railway company did not lead to any result because, in the opinion of the elevated railway company, the line did not promise any profit. That is why Schöneberg took matters into its own hands and planned the first municipal subway in Germany.
This underground line was supposed to run as a sub-paving line from the existing Nollendorfplatz high station to the main street in the south. An extension to the north was not ruled out, even a stretch to Weißensee was considered. Initially, however, plans were made for the stations Nollendorfplatz (as a separate underground station next to the existing high station), Viktoria-Luise-Platz , Bayerischer Platz , Stadtpark (today: Rathaus Schöneberg ) and Hauptstrasse (today: Innsbrucker Platz ).
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 8, 1908, in a mood similar to a folk festival among the Schönebergers. All standards were adapted to the elevated and underground railways that already existed in Berlin in order to later enable a direct connection to their routes. After two years of construction, the line was opened on December 1, 1910. However, the celebrations were very cautious, as the Schöneberg mayor Rudolph Wilde, the biggest sponsor of the new route, had died four weeks earlier.
The Schöneberg U-Bahn was initially completely separated from the rest of Berlin's network and therefore separate operating systems had to be provided for the line in addition to the cars. This included a converter plant and a small workshop that were built at the southern end of the line. During the Second World War , the workshop served as a shelter during air raids . It has been separated from the subway network since the construction of the city motorway at Innsbrucker Platz. The only connection to the rest of Berlin's subway network was a covered pedestrian crossing between the two stations on Nollendorfplatz.
The city of Schöneberg was the builder and owner of the line, but transferred the operation to the Berliner Hochbahngesellschaft. Since a collective bargaining agreement had been agreed the day before the opening, the passengers hardly noticed the different ownership structures.
U-Bahn to Dahlem and under the Kurfürstendamm
In the summer of 1907, the elevated railway company proposed to the young town of Wilmersdorf to build an underground line through the Wilmersdorfer area. A guided tour was planned to Nürnberger Platz and, if Wilmersdorf paid for it, further to Breitenbachplatz . Since the community of Wilmersdorf had poor transport links, the Wilmersdorf city fathers were pleased to accept this suggestion. The royal domain of Dahlem , which was south of Wilmersdorf and was still undeveloped, was also very interested in an underground connection. This wanted to build the planned line from Breitenbachplatz to Thielplatz.
However, a big problem arose. The future route would partially run over the Charlottenburg area. And this then independent city saw in the likewise independent city of Wilmersdorf a big competitor in the settlement of financially strong taxpayers. Lengthy negotiations were conducted until a proposal finally prevailed in the summer of 1910: In addition to the one that had already been planned, another line was to be built under Kurfürstendamm with a terminus on Uhlandstrasse .
Work began in the summer of 1910. The following stations had to be rebuilt:
- Wittenbergplatz (conversion / extension)
- Nürnberger Platz (closed in 1959 and replaced by the Spichernstrasse underground station )
- Hohenzollernplatz
- Fehrbelliner Platz
- Heidelberger Platz
- Rüdesheimer Platz
- Breitenbachplatz (originally planned as Rastatter Platz )
- Podbielskiallee
- Dahlem village
- Thielplatz (provisional terminus)
as well as on the Charlottenburg line:
Wittenbergplatz station, which opened in 1902 and was equipped with only two side platforms , had to be extensively expanded. A train station with five tracks was built, a sixth was prepared and a vestibule was built. The cities of Wilmersdorf and Charlottenburg made many proposals. Ultimately, however, the Royal Police President recommended the idea of the house architect of the elevated railway company, Alfred Grenander .
The train stations in the Wilmersdorfer area were given a pompous design, because the community had money and wanted to show it. Today you can still see this mainly at the train stations Hohenzollernplatz, Fehrbelliner Platz, Heidelberger Platz, Rüdesheimer Platz and Breitenbachplatz. At the station Heidelberger Platz had to train - ring are very deep under crosses, so there was the possibility to design the station cathedral-like. This station is even compared with Moscow metro stations in some metro books .
Behind the Breitenbachplatz, the route reached the Dahlem domain . Since there was only loose or no development there, it was possible to let the route run in the cut. The architects designed the entrance houses particularly lavishly because the platforms did not have to be overly decorated.
The additional line to Uhlandstrasse, which Charlottenburg had won in negotiation poker, only had one new station. The line branches off at Wittenbergplatz and leads under Kurfürstendamm to Uhlandstraße underground station . A later extension to Halensee was planned , but the line did not get another station until 1961 with the construction of the U9 line, the Kurfürstendamm underground station .
Both lines, the one to Thielplatz and the one to Uhlandstrasse, were opened by the elevated railway company on October 12, 1913. Together they were about ten kilometers long. This was the last subway opening in Berlin before the First World War , which began on August 1, 1914. The next new section of the underground was not due to open until ten years later.
The new track triangle
The Gleisdreieck , which connected the main line between the Warschauer Brücke and the Zoological Garden with the branch line to Potsdamer Platz, was a considerable danger point. This junction was only secured by signals, so that an inattentive platoon leader was enough to cause a disaster. Such a disaster happened on September 26, 1908. A subway train hit another train in the flank and pushed two cars off the track. One of the cars fell off the viaduct. 21 passengers were killed. As a result, a reconstruction of the track triangle was ordered.
Construction work began in May 1912. Instead of a triangle, a cross-shaped system with a tower station was planned, which was still called the Gleisdreieck. There is only a connecting track between the two lines for internal purposes. The conversion was basically carried out with full operation, whereby various connections had to be temporarily stopped. The new Gleisdreieck station was opened on November 3, 1912, but construction work continued until August 1913.
Second construction phase
overview
After the end of the First World War, the line network was to be expanded again. Up until now, the elevated railway network consisted mainly of east-west routes, which mainly led through the residential areas of the better-off (Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Wilmersdorf). The city of Berlin also intended to develop the residential areas of the workers ( Neukölln , Wedding ) with new underground lines in a north-south direction. However, this shows the difference in interests between the private elevated railway company, which primarily wanted to build profitable routes, and the city of Berlin, which had more communal tasks in mind.
Something else also came to the fore: In the first years of the elevated and underground railway, it was still necessary to negotiate contracts with the individual municipalities and cities. At an early stage, the Berlin area was to be combined administratively, because the communities had grown so much closer together that a passenger usually did not notice the crossing of a "border". As early as 1912, the Zweckverband Groß-Berlin was founded, mostly just called "Zweckverband". He already took over all duties and rights regarding the planning, construction and execution of the rail-bound means of transport. But that had no effect on the underground. With the Greater Berlin Act in 1920, almost all of the surrounding communities were combined with the City of Berlin to form Greater Berlin .
The north-south railway
As early as 1901, the city of Berlin had plans for an underground railway under Friedrichstrasse from north to south. Werner von Siemens had plans for a parallel line under Nobelstrasse. This is one of the reasons why the city of Berlin refused to give Siemens approval for a north-south line and built the subway, which thus remained in municipal hands. The construction work for the north-south line from Wedding to Tempelhof with a branch Neukölln were made more difficult by the First World War and stopped in the course of the war.
Construction work began again in 1919, but in 1921, during the period of hyperinflation, due to lack of funds, consideration was given to filling in the existing tunnels. Nevertheless, the construction work was continued piece by piece and so on January 30, 1923 - before the introduction of the Rentenmark - the first tunnel section between Hallesches Tor and Stettiner Bahnhof (today: Natural History Museum ) was finally opened. Another section of the subway was put into operation on March 8th between Stettiner Bahnhof and Seestrasse . A workshop was added at Seestrasse station. Since the city of Berlin had to be very economical, any embellishment of the station walls was dispensed with. The passenger only sees simple plaster.
At the corner of Mohrenstrasse and Friedrichstrasse there was the first intersection of two underground lines (north-south railway (line C) and the main line, line A). But the city of Berlin built its own underground station 160 meters further, called Leipziger Straße (today: Stadtmitte ), also because the tower station principle was not yet widespread. Even today, when transferring between the two lines, passengers have to go through a long tunnel, which Berliners call the “ mouse tunnel ”.
The branch station on Belle-Alliance-Strasse (today: Mehringdamm ) was put into operation as a three-track station at Belle-Alliance-Strasse . Trains from Neukölln and Tempelhof ran from the eastern central platform in the direction of the city center, while the western side platform served traffic to the south. The station was completely redesigned in the 1960s as part of the construction of today's U7 and is now called Mehringdamm .
First the branch to Neukölln (line C I ) was built. This runs directly under Gneisenaustrasse . The first underground tower station in Berlin was built on Hermannplatz , because the plans provided for another north-south line to be crossed here (line D, today: U8 ). The new line ran on the lower platform, the other was supposed to run over it. Since Berlin's first Karstadt department store was built at Hermannplatz from 1927 to 1929 and the management saw new customer potential in the underground passengers, the company financed the construction of the Hermannplatz train station , which in return received direct access to the new department store. The station is considered one of the most magnificent in Berlin.
The branch to Neukölln was put into operation in different sections:
- Hallesches Tor - Gneisenaustraße (April 19, 1924)
- Gneisenaustrasse - Hasenheide (December 14, 1924)
- Hasenheide - Bergstrasse (April 11, 1926)
- Bergstrasse - Grenzallee (December 21, 1930)
Work on the branch of line C II towards Tempelhof also began in 1924. On February 14, 1926, the first section Belle-Alliance-Strasse - Kreuzberg (today: Platz der Luftbrücke underground station ) was opened. A year later it went to the airport train station (today: Paradestrasse ). To the east of the route, Tempelhof Airport was in operation from 1923 to 2008 .
Between 1927 and 1929 the route from the station was the airport to the station Tempelhof built. This received a joint access structure with the underground, which was opened on December 22, 1929 to Tempelhof. Since the underground station had to be built very deep under the ring line, the possibility of a spacious hall arose.
But the most noticeable thing about the new subway line were the tunnels and the trains. Learning from the experiences of the competing elevated railway company, a larger tunnel profile, the large profile, was chosen. The clearance profile of the tunnels is larger for the wider trains. Although these also run on standard-gauge tracks, their car body width is 2.65 meters (small profile: 2.35 meters). The reason for this was that the city of Berlin said that larger trains would have a much greater capacity. At that time, the operator considered a platform length of 80 meters (with a wagon length of 13 meters at the time) to be sufficient. This later turned out to be wrong. The consequence was that the platforms had to be extended in the 1950s and 1990s.
If the financial means for the construction work were already very scarce, there was a complete lack of the vehicle material. Therefore, in 1922, a contract was signed with the elevated railway company, which provided that they should manage the line and operate it with its trains. So it came to the strange situation that small profile trains drove with the large profile. Because of the now different width of the wagon, compensating timber had to be attached to the sides, which were popularly called "flower boards".
From Gesundbrunnen to Neukölln - the GN train
As already mentioned, the AEG had presented both underground and elevated railway plans. Some of them were very daring, others were quite realistic. Finally, in 1907, AEG presented a plan for a north-south subway from Gesundbrunnen to Neukölln . The negotiations with Berlin were very tough until the two parties were finally able to agree on a contract in 1912. Because it threatened the aforementioned Zweckverband , which did not want to accept the subway project.
In the contract, the approximate route with both underground and elevated railway sections was specified. The line should begin as an elevated railway in Schwedenstraße, then continue over Badstraße and Brunnenstraße and on to Humboldthain . Then the line was supposed to continue as a subway via Brunnenstraße, Rosenthalerstraße and Münzstraße to Alexanderplatz . The subway should go through Litten-, Brücken-, Neander-, and Dresdener Straße to Kottbusser Straße. There was also a stipulation that the new line should be built with a large profile.
Construction began in 1912. Similar to Siemens & Halske the elevated railway company, AEG had also founded a subsidiary, AEG Schnellbahn AG. This carried out all construction work. But only a few tunnel sections were completed by the First World War, including the underpass of the Spree at the Jannowitzbrücke . After all, AEG's economic situation was so difficult that it stopped all construction work in October 1919. The city of Berlin then successfully sued AEG. Finally the AEG Schnellbahn AG had to be liquidated . The city of Berlin has now received all tunnel sections that have already been built. Berlin wanted to complete the line on its own, but was still tied to the construction work on the first north-south subway. Only in 1926 the construction work on the GN-Bahn could (after the two endpoints district G esundbrunnen and N eukölln) continue. The change of client had advantages for Berlin, because some sections were corrected, for example the northern elevated railway section, which was completely eliminated, and the route between Alexanderplatz and Jannowitzbrücke as well as Moritzplatz and Kottbusser Tor .
First, the construction work began in the southern area of the GN-Bahn, so that operations could begin on July 17, 1927 between Boddinstrasse and Schönleinstrasse. Between these stations was the aforementioned Hermannplatz underground station , where passengers could change between two different large-profile lines for the first time. As a precaution, the project engineers took into account that in the course of the north-south subway construction, a transfer track was required between the two lines. Then construction began further north. At the Kottbusser Tor underground station , the already built high station was moved to create a convenient transfer situation. The main route continued to be operated via wooden viaducts.
Now it made sense to let the line continue on Dresdener Strasse to Neanderstrasse (today: Heinrich-Heine-Strasse ). But the Wertheim Group had also recognized the advantage of a subway connection (similar to Karstadt at Hermannplatz) and so it paid five million marks for a change of plan. The GN-Bahn should now swing to Moritzplatz and then make a sharp curve to Neanderstraße. At the Moritzplatz underground station there was direct access to the Wertheim department store that was destroyed in World War II.
This was followed by the Neanderstraße line and temporarily ended at the station of the same name (today: Heinrich-Heine-Straße underground station ). The route between Schönleinstrasse and Neanderstrasse was opened on April 6, 1928. A year later, in August 1929, another station was opened south of Boddinstrasse station, the Leinestrasse station .
Behind the Neanderstraße train station , the already built Spree underpass followed. But since this had to be corrected and the Jannowitz Bridge was in poor condition anyway, a completely new bridge was built with an underpass. The old tunnel (also known as the " orphan tunnel ") was later used for an operating track between the U2 and U8.
The construction of the subway at Alexanderplatz dragged on for a long time, because the situation was used for a complete redesign of the square. Some buildings had to be demolished, including the house with 99 sheep's heads . As already mentioned, some corrections have been made to the route, so that the GN-Bahn has been integrated much better into local public transport.
At Alexanderplatz, a huge transfer station for the underground, S-Bahn , tram and bus was built . The so-called “mother of all underground shopping malls” was also created at that time. Today it looks rather modest compared, for example, to the An der Hauptwache passage in Frankfurt am Main .
Alexanderplatz station can be recognized on a map as an "H". The eastern leg of the "H" is formed by the underground station of today's U2, which opened in 1913, and the western leg of the GN-Bahn station built at that time (today: U8). The middle section forms the end of the underground line under Frankfurter Allee (today: U5), which was already under construction . Two parallel platforms with a total of four tracks were built here: the two inner tracks for today's U5 and the two outer ones for a planned line from Potsdamer Platz to Weißensee .
In the further course there were no longer any major obstacles; for the most part, there were already tunnels of the AEG Schnellbahn AG. On April 18, 1930, the Neanderstraße - Gesundbrunnen section was opened.
As with the other large profile line, the line operation was transferred to the elevated railway company.
The elevated railway contract
The creation of a uniform city administration for Greater Berlin in 1920 weakened the position of the private elevated railway company, which had only one negotiating partner. The city of Berlin was now able to exert considerable pressure on the elevated railway company in the negotiations, especially since the city already owned a large part of the tram and bus network and was therefore able to compete very well with the subway.
Therefore, on July 10, 1926, the elevated railway contract was signed. This envisaged that the city of Berlin incorporated the right to determine the entire subway network with huge transactions under stock corporation law. Since the Hochbahngesellschaft was facing an uncertain future, the Hochbahn shareholders also voted for the contract. Finally, all local transport, with the exception of were S-Bahn on 1 January 1929 for the " B ERLIN V erkehrs share g ompany" together. The corresponding symbol " BVG " is still used today, although it now " B ERLIN V erkehrs b is etriebe".
Last openings in the small profile
In the years of the Weimar Republic the small profile network was only slightly expanded. Since May 22, 1922, there has been regular train service to the stadium , and the Neu-Westend station , which had already been built in the shell, was finally ready for use.
With the completion of the new Gleisdreieck station on October 24, 1926, the "relief line" from Gleisdreieck via Kurfürstenstraße to Nollendorfplatz was opened. The sparingly designed underground station Kurfürstenstraße bears witness to the difficult financial situation of the time. In connection with the construction of the relief line, the Nollendorfplatz subway station was also to be extensively rebuilt and redesigned, as the Schöneberg subway was still operated independently, although it had been the property of the city of Berlin since 1920.
The expanded Nollendorfplatz station was opened together with the relief line. Since then he has had two underground platforms that are directly above each other and look identical. At the top is the platform for the trains to Innsbrucker Platz (U4) and the trains going in the direction of Warschauer Straße (U1). At the bottom, the trains go in the direction of Uhlandstrasse (U1) or Krumme Lanke (U3). Nollendorfplatz is thus a train station with one-way traffic, where the platforms are one above the other. The high station of today's U2 remained completely unchanged. The imposing dome was destroyed in the Second World War and only rebuilt in simplified form in profile for the 100th anniversary of the underground in 2002.
The so-called “main line” from the north ring to the stadium was to be extended by one station in both directions. The Pankow train station was built in the north in 1930 (today: Vinetastraße ). There was one main reason for its construction: the trains at Nordring station (today: Schönhauser Allee ) ran so often that it was not possible to turn the train on the viaduct. It was much easier to sweep the trains underground. A further planned extension to the Breiten Straße in Pankow and to the Pankow S-Bahn station was no longer possible; construction was not continued until 1997.
From the beginning it was intended to extend the main line to Spandau , but this was not built because of the very expensive Havel crossing. To improve the connection of the Spandau tram network, construction work began in the summer of 1928 for an extension to the future Ruhleben station . This line ran on the embankment and was opened on December 22, 1929. The station has no sweeping tracks , so the trains end directly at the platform and drive back again. There are plans to extend the U2 to Spandau town hall one day . But there is no recognizable need for this after the U7 was taken to Spandau in 1984 , which has also been served by the Spandau suburban railway since 1998 .
In the south of the Wilmersdorfer-Dahlemer-Bahn it did not look very favorable for an extension. The route was in high deficit , from Breitenbachplatz even only a so-called “solo car” (a wagon) drove to the terminus at Thielplatz . The city of Berlin was very reluctant to take over this route from the Dahlem domain or the Prussian Ministry of Finance. But in 1926 the situation improved considerably. The Prussian state wanted to hand over the route to Berlin free of charge and free of debt. At the same time, the Sommerfeld Group, which owned large areas still to be built on in the south of Berlin, offered free land and assumption of construction costs for an extension to Krumme Lanke. Thus, in fact, Berlin was given three kilometers of the subway.
The route should have these stations, which are also located in the cut:
- Oskar-Helene-Heim
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Krumme Lanke (preliminary end point)
The section went into operation on December 22, 1929. The Onkel Toms Hütte train station, which is still called this today, was named after a nearby restaurant. The Krumme Lanke station received a very functional entrance building, which is one of Alfred Grenander's late works . In 1988 the dilapidated building was demolished, and in 1989 it was rebuilt true to the original. The terminus of today's line U3 is named after the nearby lake Krumme Lanke . An extension of the line by one station to the Mexikoplatz S-Bahn station is possible in order to connect the underground to the Wannseebahn . However, the expected demand is estimated to be relatively low.
The subway under Frankfurter Allee
There were plans very early on for a line under Frankfurter Allee. As mentioned, the elevated railway company also wanted to build a small-profile line under this busy street, and the Klosterstraße station, which had already been built and is now on the U2, was expanded for this purpose. The elevated railway company had been trying to get a concession for this route since 1908 , which it received in 1914. But then came the First World War, which prevented further subway construction. After the war, however, all new lines were to be set up in the large profile, and it did not seem appropriate to build another branch line from the main line. For this reason, two platforms for the line to Frankfurter Allee and for a further unrealized route to Weißensee were set up at Alexanderplatz station when the GN train (U8) was completed.
The elevated railway company still had the concession for their plans, which they extended in 1927. But as already described, the entire underground network already belonged to the city of Berlin, so the curiosity arose that the elevated railway company built a large-profile route for the first time. The construction work began in May 1927. The following stations should be built:
- Alexanderplatz (partly already available)
- Schillingstrasse
- Strausberger Platz
- Memeler Straße (today: Weberwiese)
- Petersburger Strasse (today: Frankfurter Tor)
- Samariterstrasse
- Frankfurter Allee (transition to the S-Bahn)
- Magdalenenstrasse
- Lichtenberg (transition to the Reichsbahn)
- Friedrichsfelde (provisional end point; connection to new company workshop)
The construction work under Frankfurter Allee was done with little effort. The stations were exactly under the street, so that distribution floors were built. At the existing Frankfurter Allee station, the railway bridge was renewed at the same time as the underground railway was being built. The temporary terminus at Friedrichsfelde was not created out of a specific traffic need, but merely served as the end point of this route. In the area that was still undeveloped at the time, an under- paving station was built and a new workshop for the new underground line was built at the same time. This was the first in the east of the city.
On December 21, 1930, the line under Frankfurter Allee was fully opened with ten stations and seven kilometers in length.
End of the second construction phase
| Small profile network | |
|---|---|
| A I | Pankow (Vinetastraße) - Ruhleben |
| A II | Pankow (Vinetastraße) - Krumme Lanke |
| A III | Municipal Opera - Wilhelmplatz |
| B I | Warsaw Bridge - Main Street |
| B II | Warsaw Bridge - Uhlandstrasse |
| Large profile network | |
| C I | Seestrasse - Grenzallee |
| C II | Seestrasse - Tempelhof (Südring) |
| D. | Gesundbrunnen - Leinestrasse |
| E. | Alexanderplatz - Friedrichsfelde |
In the last years of the Weimar Republic , the north-south subway was extended and line E was opened under Frankfurter Allee. The network reached a distance of 76 kilometers. In 1931 265.5 million passengers were carried. During the Great Depression, the city lacked the money to build new underground lines. In the 1930s, the new underground north-south S-Bahn was primarily built.
In addition, the individual underground lines were given line names, as has long been the case with buses and trams. So far, these routes have only been named after the planning name, for example "GN-Bahn" or "Nord-Süd-Bahn". But even with the last openings, more and more language problems arose, for example "Wilmersdorfer-Dahlemer-Bahn". In the late 1920s, letters and Roman numerals were finally introduced. However, these only gradually gained acceptance.
The Berlin U-Bahn at the time of National Socialism
New political situation
After Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, the National Socialists intervened in all areas of life. Whether politics, education, health or transport - there have been fundamental changes in general. This also took place at the subway. On December 1, 1933, the BVG 's subway area was completely restructured in terms of building planning / building maintenance, power supply, material procurement and wagon maintenance.
On April 24, 1933, the Reichskanzlerplatz was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz together with the station of the same name (today: Theodor-Heuss-Platz ) . The Schönhauser Tor station (today: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz ) became the Horst-Wessel-Platz station . Bülowplatz bore this name from May 1, 1934. At that time it was common for the national flag ( swastika on a red background) to hang in all train stations . After the end of the war, the old names were initially used again.
Big plans for Berlin
| Planned lines | |
|---|---|
| A I | Pankow (Breite Strasse) - Ruhleben |
| A II | Alexanderplatz - Kleinmachnow |
| B. | Thaerstrasse - Lichterfelde West |
| C I | Otawistraße - Mariendorf harness racing track |
| C II | Ordensmeisterstraße - Hermin Path |
| D. | Christianiastraße ( Osloer Straße ) - Britz |
| E. | Beusselstrasse - Treskowallee |
| F I | Marzahn - Spandau-Johannesstift |
| F II | Weissensee - Lankwitz |
| F III | Pichelsdorf - Kladow |
| G | Lübars - Marienfelde |
| H | Round place - bush mug |
| R. | Ring line |
The planned huge new imperial capital of Germany (planned name: " World Capital Germania ") should have a population of ten million. A considerable expansion of the subway network was planned for this purpose. Numerous underground lines were to be built or extended. Most of the plans were drafted by the new general building inspector Albert Speer . In addition to the existing S-Bahn ring, a Berlin “Circle Line” was planned. This should cross all lines existing at the time and have around 30 stations. There should also be different lines to Spandau , Gatow , Kladow , Lichterfelde , Marienfelde , Weißensee , Karlshorst and Lankwitz . The Senate later implemented parts of this line with the construction of the U7.
The subway construction was suspended from 1930, because the construction of the new underground north-south S-Bahn and the Olympic Stadium was given priority. It was not until the summer of 1938 that the first construction work began on Reichskanzlerplatz , the Reichstag and Tempelhofer Damm . However, there was no extension of the subway network.
Olympic games
On May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee announced that the XI. The Summer Olympics were to be held in Berlin from August 1 to 16, 1936.
The German stadium on the Reichssportfeld was demolished in favor of a new Olympic stadium ; in Döberitz the Olympic Village was built for the participants .
Since a high volume of traffic was only expected for a short period of time, the decision was made not to build any new routes, but to cope with the traffic flows with the S-Bahn ( Spandauer Vorortbahn ) and the U-Bahn line A (today: U2 ) . However, construction work was carried out on the individual train stations: The Reichssportfeld underground station at the new stadium was expanded with three tracks and a new reception building. The S-Bahn station Olympiastadion (until 1935: Stadion - Rennbahn Grunewald ) got four additional platforms with eight tracks ending there. This service is still used by football fans today. The additional manpower requirements during the Games were offset by a 46-hour week and a lot of overtime. In 1937 working hours were increased to 48 hours per week.
War destruction
Even before the beginning of the Second World War , there were noticeable changes in the subway. So the brass door handles were replaced by wood. The cast-iron brake pads on the small-profile cars were also replaced with wood. In addition, the BVG route network plans, which almost exactly represented Berlin, disappeared.
After the National Socialists had started the Second World War on September 1, 1939, the order to blackout was immediately given. Lights were no longer allowed to be on in the evenings or at night on the open stretches of the subway. For better orientation for the passengers, the platform edges, which have long been common today, were painted with white paint. Blackout panes were also used in front of the signal lamps.
On August 29, 1940, the first bomb hit the underground tunnel at Kottbusser Tor . Since the bomb was a dud , however, it caused only minor property damage. As a result, the Reich government ordered that air raid shelters should be set up in some underground stations . This happened at the train stations Alexanderplatz , Ruhleben , Friedrichstraße , Gesundbrunnen , Gleisdreieck , Hermannplatz , Moritzplatz , Nollendorfplatz and Seestraße , in the Waisentunnel , in the Eisack tunnel , in the unused tunnel under the Dresdener Straße as well as at the underground station Hermannstraße, which is partly still under construction . - The bunkers in the Alexanderplatz, Gesundbrunnen, Hermannstrasse and the Waisentunnel stations have been preserved and can be viewed.
Another consequence of the war was that most motor vehicles , including buses, were confiscated. This meant that the Berliners were dependent on rail-based means of transport, i.e. S-Bahn , U-Bahn and tram. So the number of passengers rose dramatically. In 1942 the S-Bahn carried around 700 million passengers, the U-Bahn around 405 million. This was a new record for both modes of transport. But these no longer only transported people, freight traffic also shifted to the railways. Food, paper and newspapers, machine parts and mail were also transported.
In the following years, the bomb damage increased. First, the routes that were not used were marked on the route network. Later only those on which trains were still running were marked.
The worst day for the underground was February 3, 1945: 27 direct hits on stations and facilities were registered. The tunnel ceiling at Halleschen Tor station was hit by a bomb, killing 43 people. The station Bayerischer Platz , where just two trains were, was destroyed by several bombs, where 63 people were killed. The northern section of Moritzplatz station was also hit, killing 36 people. The most terrible event, however, happened at the Memeler Strasse train station (today: Weberwiese ), where around 200 people were killed by several bombs falling at the same time.
Although it was like pure Sisyphus work, the construction crews tried to repair any damage. The aim was to keep operations going for as long as possible, whether as a shuttle service or with transfers from station to station. Gradually, however, the damage became so great that operations were no longer possible on many sections and traffic came to a complete standstill. In addition, parts of the underground tunnels were rededicated. For example, the Grenzallee train station and the adjacent tunnel section were closed and rented to an armaments company.
Finally, on April 25, 1945, the news reported that the BVG- owned power station Unterspree in Ruhleben had been shelled . This cut off the power supply at around 6 p.m. On this day, there were only two routes with shuttle trains: Wittenbergplatz to Kaiserdamm and from Kaiserdamm to Ruhleben. This could no longer be operated either. The traffic was now quiet in all of Berlin.
The subway underwater
Shortly before the end of the Battle of Berlin , SS troops caused one of the greatest damage to Berlin's local transport network: on May 2, 1945, they blew up the tunnel ceiling of the north-south railway between the Anhalter Bahnhof and Yorckstraße (Großgörschenstraße) stations of the S -Bahn . The information on the date and cause has been controversial since the post-war period.
The water from the Landwehr Canal poured into the S-Bahn tunnel and ran at Friedrichstrasse station via the crossing that had just opened a few years earlier into the tunnel of the north-south subway ( line U6 ) to behind the Wedding stations in the north and Belle-Alliance-Straße (today: Mehringdamm ) in the south. From the then underground station Leipziger Straße (today: Stadtmitte ) of the north-south subway, the water ran over the route of line A (today: U2 ) to Alexanderplatz station and from there into the tunnel of line D (GN line , today: U8 ) to behind the Rosenthaler Platz station . Line E (today: U5 ) under Frankfurter Allee was also under water as far as Samariterstraße station . Of a total of 63.3 kilometers of tunnel, around 19.8 kilometers were flooded by over a million cubic meters of water. In relation to the entire network, almost a quarter of the routes were affected. At Potsdamer Platz station , the maximum water level was still visible until the renovation after 1989.
Years of division
reconstruction
When the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht came into effect, the Second World War ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. The damage balance for the Berlin subway was considerable: a total of 437 damage points and 496 damaged vehicles were counted. 144 direct hits on underground, 33 on above-ground routes.
The Frankfurter-Allee-Line (today: U5) and the Schöneberg U-Bahn (today: U4) were hit hardest. But other parts of the route were also destroyed: between the city center and Hallesches Tor (today: U6), from the city center to Gleisdreieck and from Nollendorfplatz to the Zoo station (both: U2). In addition to the numerous bomb hits, there was also the mass of water from the Landwehr Canal. About a third of all routes and 26 train stations were flooded. A total of about 400 victims were accepted on the Berlin subway.
The extent of the damage was unimaginable for today's times. Nevertheless, the Berliners did not give up, but committed themselves to the repair and repair of the damage, so that the reconstruction was done by 1950. There were also repeated delays, especially when pumping out the flooded tunnels, because the necessary fuel was often lacking.
But as early as May 14, 1945, two sections of the line could be opened in single-track shuttle operation due to a still functional substation. The first U-Bahn trains ran between Hermannplatz and Bergstraße (part of today's U7) and between Boddinstraße and Schönleinstraße (part of today's U8).
Over the next few weeks and months, more and more new sections of the route could be reopened, so that on June 16, 1945, the entire line D (today U8) could be used again in circulation. The Adolf-Hitler-Platz and Horst-Wessel-Platz train stations were renamed again. You simply unscrewed the existing signs, underneath the original names Reichskanzlerplatz and Schönhauser Tor came to light again.
At the end of 1945, 69.5 kilometers of the route and 93 underground stations were already passable again, about 91.6 percent of the network at that time. Since the Stadtpark (today: Rathaus Schöneberg ), Kaiserhof (today: Mohrenstraße) and Hausvogteiplatz stations were totally destroyed, they were not opened for the time being and the trains simply passed through there. The Osthafen station was not rebuilt due to its proximity to the Warschauer Brücke station (today: Warschauer Strasse) as the only Berlin underground station.
The underpassing of the Spree between the Märkisches Museum and Klosterstraße stations caused great difficulties. At first only a provisional track could be used. The second track was opened on November 17, 1946. The last section of the underground was reopened on April 27, 1947 between Gleisdreieck and Hallesches Tor (today: U1). And on August 18, 1950, the last not yet restored Mohrenstrasse station was now able to go into operation with the new name Thälmannplatz .
The shortage of vehicles was a major problem in the immediate post-war period and could only be remedied gradually. The reason for this was on the one hand the order received from the Soviet occupiers on July 11, 1945 that 120 C-cars from the Friedrichsfelde workshop were to be confiscated. The BVG's protest was in vain. The withdrawn underground trains were now in service in Moscow , and between 1949 and 1966 the Berlin C-cars were now on the Moscow Filjovskaya Line . On the other hand, a fire in the Tempelhof parking facility further decimated the number of cars. Thus, very few large-profile vehicles were available for Line E (Frankfurter Allee Line). Therefore, as in the 1920s, existing small-profile vehicles had to drive on this large-profile line with additional wooden boards (also called "flower boards").
Split of the BVG
After the Western Allies decided to implement currency reform in the Western Zones on June 20, 1948 , the USSR reacted and did the same in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany , including the Soviet sector of Berlin . As a result, the Westmark was also introduced in Berlin. In response, the Soviets sealed off the transit routes between parts of Berlin with the Berlin blockade on June 24th . The road, rail and ship connections to the surrounding area were not blocked. On June 26, the American General Lucius D. Clay ordered the establishment of the Berlin Airlift . This existed until the Soviets abandoned the closure of the transit routes on May 12, 1949.
From July 9, 1948, the West Berlin subway had to stop operating at 6 p.m. due to a lack of electricity because the West Berlin power plants could not produce enough electricity. In East Berlin all routes were used. Trains also ran on the later transit lines (Line C, later: U6; Line D, later: U8).
This event put a considerable strain on the BVG, in addition to the current split between the magistrates . The seat of the BVG was since 1945 in the Potsdamer Straße. To prevent the two halves of the city from separating, a contact office was set up on Stralauer Strasse in East Berlin. The manager at that time was Wilhelm Knapp , and so the office was only called "Büro Knapp". This was the de facto split of the BVG. From September 19, 1949, the “Büro Knapp” was now called “BVG-Ost”. So the separation of the city's own operations was also carried out de jure .
A big problem developed for BVG-Ost: The maintenance of the small-profile vehicles. Because all small profile workshops were located in West Berlin ( Bw Grunewald and Bw Krumme Lanke ). From then on, the vehicles had to be brought to the Friedrichsfelde large-profile workshop by low-loader . In order to eliminate this problem, BVG-Ost decided to build a tunnel from Line A (today: U2) to Line E (today: U5). Construction work began in 1951 and was completed in time for the 50th anniversary of the underground in 1952. The first post-war new tunnel in Berlin had severely damaged the remains of the Gray Monastery planned for reconstruction . The in-house route was called the “Klostertunnel”.
Third construction phase
200-kilometer plan, guidelines and new transport policy
Since large parts of Berlin had been destroyed, there was a great opportunity to rebuild or rebuild some routes. Among the first suggestions, the elevated railway viaducts should be removed, because some of them were perceived as ugly, still annoying and annoying. However, the then city councilor for transport issues, Ernst Reuter , rejected this:
Once these viaducts are already so old that they have got used to it, which should not be touched; But then, if you want to spend a lot of money on the underground, you should use it to build new underground lines that would also bring the population new transport connections.
Now that this was off the table, a plan for expanding the metro network was presented:
| 1st construction phase | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| formerly | today | status | route |
| Linie C |
|
realized | Seestrasse - Scharnweberstrasse |
| Linie A |
|
realized | Vinetastraße - Pankow |
| Linie E |
|
changed realized | Friedrichsfelde - Karlshorst |
| Linie CI |
|
realized | Grenzallee - Blaschkoallee |
| Linie D |
|
partially realized | Leinestrasse - Britz |
| Linie CII |
|
realized | Tempelhof - Teltow Canal |
| 2nd construction phase | |||
| formerly | today | status | route |
| Linie C |
|
realized | Scharnweberstrasse - Tegel |
| Linie D |
|
changed realized | Gesundbrunnen - Wilhelmsruh |
| Linie B | unrealized | Warsaw Bridge - Bersarinstrasse | |
| Linie CI |
|
realized | Blaschkoallee - Rudow |
| Linie D | unrealized | Gradestrasse - Mittenwalder Kleinbahn | |
| Linie AII | unrealized | Krumme Lanke - Zehlendorf West S-Bahn station | |
| Linie BII | unrealized | Uhlandstraße - Halensee S-Bahn station | |
| Linie AI | unrealized | Ruhleben - Spandau | |
| Linie F | unrealized | Alexanderplatz - Molkenmarkt - Spittelmarkt - Leipziger Strasse - Potsdamer Strasse - Hauptstrasse - Rheinstrasse - Schloßstrasse | |
| 3rd construction phase | |||
| status | route | ||
| Linie F | unrealized | Alexanderplatz - Rennbahnstraße - Weißensee | |
| Linie G |
|
changed realized | Steglitz - Schloßstraße - Kaiserallee - Zoological Garden - Alt-Moabit - Putlitzstraße S-Bahn station - Augustenburger Platz |
The plan was drawn up from 1953 to 1955 and was adapted every few years to the current situation. The aim was to extend the Berlin subway network to a length of 200 kilometers. This is where the name 200 kilometer plan comes from . This plan is still valid today because it was included in the Berlin zoning plan . What was special at the time was that the plan was based exclusively on the flow of commuters and not on the borders of the time. The top priority in the 200-kilometer plan was the expansion of Line C to Tegel and Mariendorf . That is why these sections of the route were built first.
In addition to the 200-kilometer plan , guidelines for the construction of subways were also adopted . The new transport policy envisaged that the subway and the bus would become the two main modes of transport, while the tram would be replaced by them. This decision was not made from the start, it only crystallized gradually.
It began with an order for new trams and buses, which were now urgently needed and for the financing of which a loan of twelve million marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 31 million euros) was applied for for the purchase of 40 trams and 20 buses. At the top of the BVG , more and more concerns were expressed, because firstly the tests for the new type of tram were not promising and secondly they pointed to other European metropolises in which the trams were also discontinued. The tram was seen as superfluous because Berlin already had a good basic underground network at that time. The then rapidly growing surface traffic would only hinder the tram (which at that time mostly ran without its own track structure). This problem can only be counteracted with tunnels. Based on these arguments, the loan was finally converted and, with the approval of the Berlin Senate, used to buy 120 double-decker buses . While this was not a direct decision to abolish the tram, it was the logical consequence of not renewing the rolling stock.
In the guidelines for the construction of subways it was decided that there should be no line junctions in the future, which were very common back then. The guidelines also dealt in detail with what the train stations should look like, the geometry of the tunnels, and that new lines should only be built with large profiles. It was also determined that tower stations or directional platforms should be built in the future. T- or L-shaped transfer stations should be avoided if possible.
The networks separate
The founding of the GDR caused great uncertainty among Berliners. Many West Berliners avoided the eastern part of the city and so new traffic flows were formed that bypassed the eastern sector. At the beginning of 1953, the BVG set up loudspeakers at the last train stations in the western sector to warn of the crossing of the Soviet sector (example: "Kochstrasse, last train station in the western sector"). Turnouts were installed in front of or behind these stations so that the trains could turn there if necessary. In addition, the West Berlin BVG designed the timetable so that at the same time an underground train went east and another train returned. Thus, in the event of an incident, the west would lose few vehicles to the east.
This proved its worth in June 1953, when East Berlin workers reacted with protest to the increase in the labor standard . During June 17, 1953 , a general strike developed . The BVG East and the German Reichsbahn presented the operation of the subway or the opposite about 11:00 train one. The west trains now turned over the prepared turning facilities. In total, the West Berlin BVG only lost 18 trains due to the well thought-out timetable. BVG (West) also shut down the northern section of Line D with the Voltastraße and Gesundbrunnen stations , as this was unimportant in terms of traffic without a network connection.
A few days later, the situation returned to normal. Now the S-Bahn and U-Bahn were running again in East Berlin. As a result of the uprising on June 17th, a new route from Krumme Lanke to Kottbusser Tor was set up. In addition, the Schöneberg subway now only ran to Nollendorfplatz , not to Warschauer Brücke as before .
The first new underground line to Tegel
When Line C was built in the 1920s, it was planned to extend it to Tegel . Now these plans could finally be realized. In 1929, 400 meters of tunnel had already been built for this.
Since no tunnels have been built in Berlin for a good 20 years, the subway builders practically had to start from scratch. The route from the already existing Seestrasse station to the center of the Tegel district should not have any serious obstacles, and with the construction some bus and tram lines could also be closed. So it was decided to use this route as the first post-war new building in the western part of the city.
The first ramming took place on October 26, 1953 in Müllerstrasse north of Seestrasse station. The 6.9 kilometer route was to be built in two sections: Seestrasse - Kurt-Schumacher-Platz and Kurt-Schumacher-Platz - Tegel. For cost reasons, an embankment was chosen north of the Kurt-Schumacher-Platz train station, because the very high groundwater level spoke against an incision path. Behind the aforementioned station, a ramp rises to the 15-meter-high dam and reaches the first large-profile dam station, Scharnweberstrasse. Behind the Holzhauser Straße train station, the route goes underground again and follows the important Berliner Straße to the center of Tegel .
The stations were designed in the pre-war style with light, pastel-colored ceramic tiles. The embankment stations were built from prestressed concrete , which was very popular at the time . Today these only appear very bulky and do not exude the flair of the suburban train stations, such as on the southern U3.
The first section opened on April 23, 1956, the second on May 31, 1958. With the opening of Line C, a far-reaching restructuring of the northern BVG network took place. Numerous tram lines were shut down in this area.
The new G line - from Steglitz to Wedding
As already mentioned, the West Berliners now fixated on buses and trams that bypassed the eastern sector. In addition, the densely populated districts of Steglitz , Wedding and Reinickendorf needed a rapid-transit railway connection to the then newly established West Center around the zoological garden . However, it was not possible to meet these traffic requirements with route extensions, so that a new building was necessary. Therefore, a new line G (today: U9) was designed based on the letter concept that was in effect at the time. It was to be led from Osloer Strasse ( Gesundbrunnen ) via Moabit , the zoo center and Kurfürstendamm , Bundesallee and Schloßstrasse to Steglitz Town Hall on Hermann-Ehlers-Platz. This line was now the third north-south line, after lines C (U6) and D (U8).
The first ramming for the construction of the new line took place on June 23, 1955 in the Großer Tiergarten . This underground line had four underground lines (today's lines U1, U2, U3 and U6), two S-Bahn lines ( ring and city railways ) and three watercourses ( Spree , Landwehr Canal and Berlin-Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal ) cross under.
In 1960, the trains on line C (today: U6 ) ran through without stopping at Leopoldplatz station for six months . During this period, the old central platform was demolished and two new side platforms were built for Line C. Line G was given a central platform directly below. In addition, an operating track was added to the main and operating workshop in Seestrasse. To the south of Leopoldplatz, the route follows Luxemburgerstrasse and Putlitzstrasse. Some of the obstacles mentioned had to be crossed here: the Berlin-Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal , the Ringbahn and a very massive city block. These challenges were successfully overcome.
The next major obstacle was the new West Center around the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church , Kurfürstendamm and the Zoo station. In addition, the heavily used line A (main line, today: U2 ) ran between Ruhleben and Pankow (Vinetastraße) , the operation of which was not allowed to be disrupted. On Kurfürstendamm, where today's U1 with the Uhlandstraße terminus was already , the tunnel construction was much easier. This small-profile route as part of Line B was temporarily shut down and the new Kurfürstendamm transfer station was built at the intersection with Joachimsthaler Straße .
This situation was repeated at the provisional endpoint of line G in Bundesallee . Since there was no train station at the crossing with today's U3 line in the Bundesallee / Spichernstrasse area, the new Spichernstrasse transfer station was built and the nearby Nürnberger Platz station for the U3 was closed in mid-1959 . Now, however, the distance of 1106 meters between the Wittenbergplatz and Spichernstrasse stations was no longer acceptable, so the new Augsburger Strasse station was built to replace it. These two underground stations were given side platforms in order to keep interference with the existing substance as low as possible. They were opened on June 2, 1959 (Spichernstrasse) and May 8, 1961 (Augsburger Strasse).
All of the newly built stations were very much based on Grenander's example. They followed the style of New Objectivity , which was carried out by the then underground architect Bruno Grimmek .
Ultimately, these stations were expanded or newly built:
- Leopoldplatz (extension)
- Amrumer Strasse
- Putlitzstraße (today: Westhafen , later with transition to the Ringbahn )
- Birkenstrasse
- Turmstrasse
- Hansaplatz
- Zoological garden (extension, transition to the U2 and the tram )
- Kurfürstendamm (transition to U1)
- Spichernstrasse (transition to U3)
- Augsburger Straße (on the U3 line)
Line G was scheduled to go into operation on September 2, 1961. However, on August 13th, the GDR government ordered the wall to be built . Therefore, the opening date was brought forward to August 28th, which proved the necessity of this new subway line.
"Nobody has the intention to build a wall"
GDR state and party leader Walter Ulbricht replied on June 15, 1961 to journalist Annamarie Doherr's question as to whether the GDR wanted to build the wall at the Brandenburg Gate :
“I understand your question to mean that there are people in West Germany who would like us to mobilize the construction workers in the GDR capital to erect a wall. I do not know that there is such an intention, since the construction workers in our capital are mainly concerned with the construction of houses, and their manpower is used to the full, is fully employed. Nobody has the intention to build a wall!"
But a few weeks later the SED Secretary General ordered the wall to be built around West Berlin, belittling it and declaring it factually incorrect as an " anti-fascist protective wall ". Walter Ulbricht had cleverly engineered this coup together with Erich Honecker . The interior minister at the time, Karl Maron , had this announced in point 3 of command 003/61 (also known as the “Maron command”):
“The underground trains of line A from and towards Pankow end and start at the Thälmannplatz underground station and from and towards West Berlin at the Potsdamer Platz underground station . The subway trains of line C only stop at Friedrichstrasse station in democratic Berlin . All other subway stations in democratic Berlin will be closed to all public traffic. Line D subway stations in democratic Berlin will be closed to all public traffic. The Warschauer Brücke station on the B underground line will be closed to all public traffic. "
With this decision, the stations on lines C and D in the eastern sector became so-called “ghost stations”. The transfer options at Alexanderplatz and Stadtmitte stations were bricked up.
However, the BVG did not have its trains sweep at Potsdamer Platz as planned by Karl Maron, but rather one station earlier at Gleisdreieck . As a precautionary measure, the sweeping tracks had been installed there in the early 1950s . For example, BVG-Ost used Potsdamer Platz station as a sweeping system after consultation with West-BVG .
With this decision, the last common Berlin means of transport, the underground and the S-Bahn, were separated, because the tram had been running since 1953 (the reason was that the West Berlin police stopped tram trains with drivers ) and the buses had not been for a long time more about the sector boundary.
The consequence of August 13, 1961 was that in West Berlin a boycott of the S-Bahn was called for the lines operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn . It was not uncommon for the slogans to be chanted: “The S-Bahn driver pays the barbed wire” or “Not a penny more for Ulbricht”. Berliners traveled more by subway, bus and - if still available - by tram.
The West Berlin Senate paid the GDR 20 million marks annually for the use of the two north-south routes, on whose "ghost stations" the trains could only pass slowly and whose platforms were guarded for a long time by armed "border organs" .
U-Bahn construction to Rudow
In the south of West Berlin , two huge new housing estates named Britz and Britz- Buckow - Rudow (BBR), today's Gropiusstadt , were built. The best possible rapid transit connection to the center of West Berlin was to be built for these major projects. For this purpose, line C I was planned, which was to be operated as a separate line in the future. The 6.2 kilometer route was built in three sections to the south. Grenzallee - Britz-Süd (1963), Britz-Süd - Zwickauer Damm (1970) and Zwickauer Damm - Rudow (1972). The first ramming for the extension took place on November 2, 1959 near what was then the Grenzallee terminus. At that time there was heated debate as to whether the line in the south should not be laid out as an embankment or an incision line. The planners, especially Professor Walter Gropius , and the BVG fended off this on the grounds that the settlement would be divided in this way, which would not be the goal.
The route follows the Buschkrugallee under the Teltow Canal , turns under the Fritz-Reuter-Allee and goes under it to the Britz-Süd underground station . This is where the first hall of the new Britz-Süd workshop was built during the construction of the subway, as this was now necessary due to the extensions and the vehicles procured for them. The line was directly connected to the Britz-Buckow-Rudow housing estate; there were no streets to cross under, as these had to be built later. Another consequence was that the exits could now be conveniently placed and no distribution floors had to be provided.
The only structural obstacle on this route was the Teltow Canal , but it was mastered well. Werner Düttmann took over the design of the stations up to Britz-Süd after Bruno Grimmek finished his work at the subway. Düttmann mainly worked with small and rectangular tiles. From Johannisthaler Chaussee the architect Rainer Gerhard Rümmler was responsible for the stations. This in turn used larger ceramic tiles, but designed the stations darker than the previous Berlin stations. Rümmler was responsible for all new Berlin subway stations to be built until 1998.
Line C to Mariendorf
Since the construction of line C (today: U6) it was planned to extend this line to Alt-Mariendorf . The National Socialists also planned to build this line up to the Mariendorfer Trabrennbahn . Now that the money from the federal budget was plentifully available, the long-awaited extension could be built. Nevertheless, the costs were often discussed, for example it was proposed to build the route next to the Tempelhofer or Mariendorfer Damm as an incision track. The BVG resisted on the grounds that they wanted to connect the Tempelhof town hall and the important shopping street and that this would only be possible with an underground line.
The first ramming for the 3.5-kilometer route took place on March 6, 1961. It was opened to the underground station Alt-Marie village on 28 February 1966. The route follows the S- and U-Bahnhof Tempelhof straight south of the temple Damm and then hits the Teltow Canal . Similar to the construction of today's U7 line in the direction of Rudow, this body of water was the biggest problem on the route. Since it is generally much cheaper to build a bridge than a tunnel, but the subway should run under the Tempelhofer Damm or Mariendorfer Damm streets, a double-decker bridge was chosen , with the subway going below and the street above runs. In the eastern part of today's Stubenrauchbrücke there is even part of the Ullsteinstraße underground station. However, since the passage height of 4.6 meters had to be maintained for the ships, ramps were built for the road. With this construction, the street level was 1.2 meters above the original level.
South of the Teltow Canal, the subway follows Mariendorfer Damm to the Alt-Mariendorf terminus, which was built at the intersection of Reißeckstraße or Friedenstraße and Mariendorfer Damm. Today, numerous bus lines run from this place to the loosely built-up area, which does not necessarily justify a subway line. With this expansion, today's U6 line was completed. No further extensions are planned today.
With the exception of Alt-Tempelhof station, all stations were designed by the senate architect Rainer Gerhard Rümmler . As with the southern U7, he used large rectangular ceramic tiles here. These stations are not very popular with passengers because they are kept quite dark. In addition, the stations are now in urgent need of renovation.
The zoo is getting a subway
An extension of line E (today: U5) beyond its endpoint at Friedrichsfelde has been planned for a long time . This line should even lead to the district of Karlshorst , which was mainly known for its villa colony. The Soviet military administration was established there in the post-war period . But both reasons were not enough to justify the extension of line E there. Because the only thing the GDR built at that time were apartments of unimagined dimensions. The first areas to be built on were areas around the zoo . 9,000 apartments were to be built here for around 25,000 residents. This residential area should of course also have a public transport connection. The best option was to extend Line E by one station. In addition to the future residents of the district, around 2.5 million zoo visitors were added each year. For these expected passenger flows, the extension of the underground was worthwhile.
Construction work on the GDR's first new subway project began in 1969. The route runs northeast past the Friedrichsfelde workshop and then reaches Am Tierpark street. The new terminus of the Tierpark was built there . The design of the station was based on the stations in front of it designed by Grenander. Cream-colored tiles and turquoise-colored supports characterize the station image today. The station was built with a large, three-aisled hall, which was provided with two rows of columns. Then as now, the check-in booth was raised, so that the staff has a good overview of the station, but the view through the hall is blocked for the passengers.
The 1.2-kilometer route was opened on June 25, 1973. The long construction period of four years arose on the one hand from the shortage economy in the GDR and the lack of precast concrete parts, on the other hand from the necessary relocation work in the workshop and a fire in the Alexanderplatz parking facility .
The new line 7 and changed line names
In 1924, today's Mehringdamm underground station was opened as Belle-Alliance-Straße . This station had two platforms: a side platform and a central platform. Lines C I and C II drove from the central platform in the direction of Seestrasse , departing from the side platform they separated. This line branching later turned out to be problematic, so that in the 1950s in the guidelines for the construction of subways the abolition of the line branching was decided. In addition, these lines led the traffic flows past the center around the Zoo station. This would put a lot of strain on the Hallesches Tor transfer station , which it was not designed for. Therefore, the Neukölln branch was to be separated from the north-south subway and converted into an independent subway line.
The 200-kilometer plan stipulated that the separate line H (today: U7) should go to Wilmersdorf , but this could not be implemented as quickly as desired. One end of the line at Mehringdamm station was also unfavorable, because there would still have been a lot of transfer traffic at Hallescher Tor. That is why the existing Möckernbrücke high station was selected as the junction. The future line H would now run on its own route to Möckernbrücke station and line C would also run on its own route from Tegel to Mariendorf . In addition to the construction of the Möckernbrücke underground station, it was also necessary to convert the Mehringdamm station, which should now be a one-way station. Construction began in the summer of 1962 and was completed on February 26, 1966.
From March 1st, the line names and routing in the west network were changed in accordance with the underground guidelines, the letters were abolished as early as 1958.
| Small profile network | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| B I | → | 1 | Schlesisches Tor - Ruhleben |
| A II | → | 2 | Gleisdreieck - Krumme Lanke |
| B IV | → | 3 | Wittenbergplatz - Uhlandstrasse |
| B III | → | 4th | Nollendorfplatz - Innsbrucker Platz |
| A III | → | 5 | German Opera - Richard-Wagner-Platz |
| Large profile network | |||
| C II | → | 6th | Tegel - Alt-Mariendorf |
| C I | → | 7th | Möckernbrücke - Britz-Süd |
| D. | → | 8th | Gesundbrunnen - Leinestrasse |
| G | → | 9 | Leopoldplatz - Spichernstrasse |
The Möckernbrücke station is right next to the Landwehr Canal, so that expensive undercutting of the canal could be avoided. This station is delimited by a sheet pile construction , similar to what is now the U2 at Spittelmarkt station. A covered bridge over the Landwehr Canal connects the underground station with the high station. At the same time, the elevated station of today's U1 line received four escalators. When Line 7 opened, the Berlin subway network was 93 kilometers long and had 105 stations.
Passengers could never use line H because the letter system was replaced by a system with Arabic numerals on February 28, 1966, the day the line to Möckernbrücke opened. Line H was now called "Line 7". The line numbers were arranged according to the complicated chronology. After the commuter line to Richard-Wagner-Platz was shut down due to the construction of the U7, number 5 was always kept free for the East Berlin subway line to the zoo, which was later extended to Hönow . In 1984, when the BVG also took over the West Berlin S-Bahn, a “U” for U-Bahn or an “S” for S-Bahn was added in front of the line number, following the West German model.
Underground construction boom in the west
Since the subsidies from the federal budget continued to flow to Berlin, the subway was built as before. On January 29, 1971 one of the largest route extensions to date was realized. The U7 line now ran from Möckernbrücke to Fehrbelliner Platz , and the U9 from Spichernstrasse to Walther-Schreiber-Platz . Eleven new stations with a distance of nine kilometers went into operation that day. Both new buildings of the driving operation on 1 July 1962. This was received Steglitzer and Neukölln residents a new connection into West Berlin center and did not have to use the slower bus.
The U7 line runs behind the Möckernbrücke underground station with large curves under the Anhalter Güterbahnhof and the Yorkstrasse and Großgörschenstrasse S-Bahn stations . In addition, a transfer station to the S-Bahn lines S1 and S2 was built. The route now leads under Wilmanndamm to the newly built Kleistpark underground station . Here, the BVG administration, which was based directly on Kleistpark in Potsdamer Strasse , finally got a direct underground connection. As provided in the 200-kilometer plan at that time , a line U10 was to be run from Weißensee via the S-Bahn station Greifswalder Strasse , Alexanderplatz , Leipziger Strasse , Potsdamer Platz , Potsdamer Strasse, Schloßstrasse to Lichterfelde . Lines U7 and U10 should cross at Kleistpark station. Therefore, next to the platform, which was to be built anyway, a station was built for the U10. Since this planning has become obsolete due to the parallel S-Bahn traffic , the empty rooms were used for a security and information center of the BVG.
The U7 line continues under Grunewaldstrasse to Bayerischer Platz . During the construction of the former Schöneberg subway (today: U4), the building supervisors requested a bridge construction for a future line. This could now be used for the construction of the U7. The station, like the existing small-profile station, was decorated with white and blue color elements in memory of the Bavarian state coat of arms .
The following station was built as the first planned junction station in Berlin that was not subsequently converted into a transfer station. The lines U7 and U9 now cross here. The lower platform is a central platform, but that of the U9 is a side platform. But not in the usual sense: At a side platform, passengers usually get off on the right-hand side, but at Berliner Straße station this happens on the left-hand side. You could also see the platforms as central platforms pulled apart. Only a corridor at the northern end of both platforms connects them. The reason for this was that with the construction of the subway, a road tunnel was also built between the two side platforms.
The route of the U7 now follows the Brandenburgische Straße and was provisionally terminated at Fehrbelliner Platz station . This is where the U3 and U7 lines meet today. When the station was built, a new entrance structure was built for both lines in order to reach a traffic light-free intersection of Hohenzollerndamm and Brandenburgische Strasse.
The U9 follows the Bundesallee directly from the previous Spichernstrasse terminus and crosses the U7 line as described. Similar to the Berliner Straße station, the newly built Bundesplatz station also houses a car tunnel. Therefore, no central platform could be built here either. The tracks separate shortly before the station and two side platforms were built. Since the reconstruction of the Ringbahn and the relocation of the former Wilmersdorf station over the Bundesallee, it has been possible to transfer directly between the U9 and the Ringbahn since December 1993.
The U9 was provisionally closed at Walther-Schreiber-Platz . It was not until 1974 that this line could be put into operation further south from here.
All the stations that were built were designed by Rainer Gerhard Rümmler . But instead of using large ceramic tiles as before, he also used large-format, colorful metal plates, for example at Eisenacher Straße station. New associations should also be aroused in the color design . From the station Berliner Straße the colors white and red to the intended Berlin Landeswappen remember to stop at Eisenacherstraße the green areas at the Thuringian Forest in Eisenach . Just like the stations on the southern U7, some of the stations are very dark and in poor condition. According to Berlin traffic experts, renovation would also be necessary here.
Final expansion of line 9
While the U9 ran to Walther-Schreiber-Platz from 1971, construction work to the south was in full swing. At the intersection of Bundesallee / Rheinstrasse , the two streets connected to form Schloßstrasse . According to the 200-kilometer plan, the U10 should meet the U9 here. Due to the limited space in Schloßstraße, the two lines should cross one another in one-way traffic. This can still be seen today very well at the Schloßstraße station: On the upper platform, the U9 goes in the direction of Zoologischer Garten , on the lower platform in the direction of Rathaus Steglitz . The track troughs of the U10 are, similar to the Jungfernheide station , cordoned off with fences. The sign “No train traffic” hangs there to this day. As a result of this enormous advance construction work , the costs for one kilometer of the underground line rose to around 78 million marks, which was exorbitant heights.
After the Schloßstraße station, the U9 ends at Rathaus Steglitz station. Here, too, a platform was built for the future U10 in the direction of Weißensee . To this day, however, the U9 uses the platform of the U10, as an agreement was not reached at the time due to unsuccessful negotiations with the Deutsche Reichsbahn , which operated the Berlin-Steglitz S-Bahn station here . After the BVG took over the S-Bahn operations on January 9, 1984, the western side platform was expanded as a connecting passage to the S-Bahn station. At the Steglitz underground station you can still change to numerous bus lines that stop in a specially built bus station in the Steglitz roundabout .
As an exception, the Schloßstraße station was not designed by Rainer Rümmler, but by the architects from Schüler & Witte . The station walls were designed relatively sparingly with red, yellow and blue wall elements. However, the bare concrete dominates . The Rathaus Steglitz station, on the other hand, was given a typical design by Rainer Rümmler. Huge white and red wall elements were attached, and these were also provided with large, matt silver-colored letters that form the station name. The new line is 1.6 kilometers long and was opened on September 30, 1974. To this day there are plans to extend the U9 towards Lankwitz .
In the north of the U9 line was also continued. An extension of the line to Pankow was planned. Since this could not be realized due to the political situation, the U9 was built to the intersection Osloer / Schwedenstrasse . Two new stations were planned: Nauener Platz and the new tower station Osloer Strasse. Until then, the U8 should also be extended. The situation here was ideal, because the tower station could be built without taking other underground traffic into account, the station did not have to be retrofitted. A spacious, bright mezzanine was also built with numerous shops and snack bars. The Nauener Platz station was designed with large wall elements and silver letters similar to the Rathaus Steglitz station. The colors red, white and blue dominate here. This should evoke an association with the balance of power, because the station is located in the former French sector. The route from Leopoldplatz to Osloer Strasse was 1.5 kilometers long and opened on April 30, 1976. Now the U9 was in its preliminary final state. This line has not been extended to this day.
In February 1989, the CDU / FDP senate , which had already been voted out, decided to continue building the U9 to Lankwitz instead of expanding the southern ring . This decision was withdrawn shortly afterwards by the then new SPD / AL Senate and it was decided to restart the S-Bahn ring.
Bad fate for Line 8
After 1961 things were not good for line 8. Starting in the south with six stations, a very long transit section under East Berlin followed (also with six stations) and ended at Gesundbrunnen station . As a result, the market value of this line was very low, especially since it was always exposed to disturbances from the GDR. In 1962, plans emerged for a new residential area in West Berlin. The Märkische district should like the Gropiusstadt get a subway connection. The S-Bahn to Frohnau passing nearby was not taken into account by the planners because the Berlin S-Bahn was operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Instead, the U-Bahn line 8 should be extended.
When line 9 was extended to Osloer Straße, an underlying platform for the U8 was also built. The first construction work took place in 1973, the 1.4 kilometer extension was opened on October 5, 1977. The line runs behind the Gesundbrunnen train station and continues under Badstrasse . A station with the same name was built at the intersection with Pankstrasse . The Pankstraße underground station was built in such a way that it can also be used as a shelter, for example in the event of war. The station has sanitary rooms, an emergency kitchen, a filtered fresh air supply and so on. In an emergency, exactly 3339 people can find shelter here. The additional costs were paid by the Federal Ministry of Finance . The walls were decorated with brown tiles , the supports were clad with aluminum sheets.
The route now follows Schwedenstraße and meets the prepared underground station Osloer Straße . In addition, an operating track was built here so that trains could now also be transferred from the U8 to the U9.
It was not until ten years later, on April 27, 1987, that the next section of the stretch to the Paracelsus pool could be put into operation (construction work started in 1980). While the extensions on the other lines went much faster, it took an unusually long time for the new line here. This also shows that the U8 was not really under a good star.
After the Osloer Straße station, the U8 continues on Schwedenstraße, which is called Residenzstraße from the intersection with Reginardstraße. An underground station was also built near the Schäfersee . There were many disputes about what the name of the station was. Finally, they agreed on ' Franz-Neumann-Platz (Am Schäfersee) '. Like the following stations, this station has been given the unmistakable signature of Rainer Rümmler . On the walls you can see trees, which are supposed to illustrate the park landscape around the Schäfersee.
The route continues under Residenzstraße, where a train station of the same name was built, then makes a long curve under the Residenzstraße / Lindauer Allee intersection and ends after a few meters at Paracelsus-Bad train station . The Residenzstrasse train station , which was supposed to be a reminder of the Berlin Residence, is provided with city maps of the Berlin City Palace . The supports are extremely colorful and are supposed to be reminiscent of the rich carpets in the residence. The Paracelsus-Bad train station should evoke associations with the nearby swimming pool. In addition, pictures were attached, one of which shows the doctor and philosopher Philippus Aureolus Theoprastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. However, this is better known under the name Paracelsus . The new section was actually supposed to open on April 30, 1987, just in time for Berlin's 750th anniversary . It is still not clear why it went into operation three days earlier than planned.
The next extension towards the Märkisches Viertel took a long time again. In order to achieve better connections to the Reinickendorf district , the U8 line makes a small detour to the Märkisches Viertel, i. H. the subway route does not go under the industrial area around the Wilhelmsruh S-Bahn station , but takes a detour via the Karl Bonhoeffer Hospital and Reinickendorf Town Hall. It was not until 1994 that it was possible to take the U8 to Wittenau S-Bahn station .
In three stages to Spandau
Already at the time of the elevated railway company there were plans to build an underground line to Spandau . The first steps were taken at the end of the 1920s with the extension of today's U2 line to Ruhleben . However, the Ruhleben terminus is located directly on the district border with Spandau in a sparsely populated area and was only of traffic importance as a transfer point to the tram and bus network.
At the end of the 1960s, these plans became topical again, because there were now sufficient financial means to deal with an underground train to Spandau. An extension of the Ruhleben subway was considered. However, there were alternatives: The line, which ends at Uhlandstraße station today, could have been extended via Adenauerplatz , Messe , Theodor-Heuss-Platz and further on to the existing line 1. The last option was to extend line 7 via Mierendorffplatz , Jungfernheide and Nonnendammallee . This variant was preferred by the planners and ultimately also built because it opened up Siemensstadt with its many workplaces. Construction work on the section from Fehrbelliner Platz to Richard-Wagner-Platz began in 1969.
This route continues under Brandenburgische Straße and crosses Kurfürstendamm at the Adenauerplatz underground station . This is already laid out as a crossing station, because even today there are plans to extend the current U1 to Adenauerplatz. The line then swings under Wilmersdorfer Straße and crosses under the tram a few meters further . In this context, Wilmersdorfer Strasse was converted into a pedestrian passage. This was more important than the possibility of changing to the nearby Charlottenburg S-Bahn station . In 2006, the construction work to fold down the S-Bahn platform was completed, the transfer routes have been shortened.
As a crossing point with the small profile section of the former line A (today: U2 ), the Bismarckstraße station was designed as a completely new tower station. However, the existing tunnels on Bismarckstrasse were in poor condition. At that time they had no experience with this problem and therefore tore down the whole structure and rebuilt it from steel. Behind Bismarckstraße, the U7 makes a big swing from Wilmersdorfer Straße to Richard-Wagner-Straße. 23 houses had to be driven under, which is why shield tunneling was chosen here.
Until 1970 line 5, the shortest underground line in Berlin, shuttled between the Deutscher Oper and Richard-Wagner-Platz. Understandably, this line did not bring much profit. The extension of the U7 line should create a more economical route. At that time the old line was closed and a new underground station was built several meters below the old station. The remaining tunnel system was converted into an operational route , which is the second exchange route between small and large profiles.
The stage from Fehrbelliner Platz to Richard-Wagner-Platz was opened on April 28, 1978. This also enabled the connection to the Charlottenburg town hall, because the small-profile line 5 was actually only built for this. The stations, all designed by Rainer G. Rümmler, got very different faces. The black, orange, red, yellow and white vertical stripes at Konstanzer Straße station , which are supposed to remind of the Konstanz coat of arms, represent the speed of the underground. On the other hand, the Wilmersdorfer Straße station got a completely new wall design. Small rectangular tiles are arranged in patterns that show the stylized lilies that were in the coat of arms of the Wilmersdorf district that gave it its name .
Construction work for the next stage in the direction of Spandau began in 1973. The subway runs behind Richard-Wagner-Platz station and continues under Sömmeringstrasse. Halfway to Mierendorffplatz , the Spree is crossed again. This route was built using caisson construction. After a few meters, the Mierendorffplatz train station follows. Behind this, the route makes a large curve to reach the existing Jungfernheide S-Bahn station on the Berlin Ringbahn . Similar to the Schloßstraße train station in Steglitz, a two-level platform was built here. The other tracks were intended for a possible extension of the U5 line. Coming from Alexanderplatz, this should lead to Tegel Airport via Turmstrasse and Jungfernheide . However, following the Senate decision to shut down Tegel Airport after the new major Berlin Brandenburg Airport went into operation , an extension to Tegel Airport is no longer expected. The current planning discussion is based on the assumption that the U5 will end at the main train station and possibly later at Turmstrasse.
Behind the Jungfernheide station, the tunnel of the U7 line and the stump of the U5 line cross under the Westhafenkanal . Then the route of the U7 line makes a large curve to Jakob-Kaiser-Platz . The Jakob-Kaiser-Platz underground station, which was also built during the construction of the Berlin city ring , has meanwhile been used as a pedestrian underpass. Behind the Halemweg station , the subway runs under Nonnendammallee . There was great criticism from environmental and passenger associations as well as the taxpayers' association , as the route could also have been run above ground. However, the Berlin Senate had remained stubborn on this matter. At the intersection of Nonnendammallee / Rohrdamm, the second stage of the underground construction to Spandau ended with the provisional terminus at Rohrdamm
As before, Rainer Gerhard Rümmler designed all the stations, but much simpler than before: Mierendorffplatz station received the same tiles as Wilmersdorfer Strasse station. The Jakob-Kaiser-Platz, Halemweg and Siemensdamm train stations contained many complementary contrasts . The Siemensdamm station, like the Pankstrasse station , could be used as a shelter for 4,500 people. The Rohrdamm station is adorned with images of gears and pipes, which are intended to indicate the surrounding industry. In addition, the ceiling was not clad, which means that the cables of the lighting system are also visible.
The 4.6 kilometer stretch from Richard-Wagner-Platz to Rohrdamm was opened on October 1, 1980. This gave the Spandau district the first real underground connection. But it was planned to run the U7 to the Spandau center .
There were several variants along the way. So there were considerations to run the underground through the Haselhorst town center. The disadvantage, however, was that the Havel had to be crossed under at one of its widest points. Another variant was that the subway would cross the existing Spandau suburban line of the S-Bahn and the subway would be led from the south to the Spandau town hall. However, this variant would not have connected the old town of Spandau to the underground network, which was the actual goal of this extension. The originally discussed version with a terminus at Falkenseer Platz was put on file for the same reason, although this project had been part of the 200-kilometer plan for decades . Finally, it was decided on a variant that the route would continue to follow Nonnendammallee or the street Am Juliusturm, south past the Spandau citadel and then directly to the old town and on to the Spandau town hall .
The cost of this extension rose to unimagined heights: this construction project, which could have been built much cheaper, was 680 million marks, expensive. The costs arose mainly from the fact that the Havel had to be crossed under and that the ground in this area was very swampy due to the dead branches of the Spree . That is why five different construction methods were used here: First, the Berlin construction method was used , which was also used very often in the rest of the network. The subsequent section was built using a diaphragm wall-sole construction method . The caisson method was used to cross the Havel . The old town of Spandau with its very narrow streets and alleys could only be driven under with the very expensive shield excavation. The final station at Rathaus Spandau was finally built using the top-down method .
The Senate Building Department again left the station design to Rainer G. Rümmler. Here, too, he continued his “creative” work. The Paulsternstraße station resembles a colorful flower meadow. This shows very clearly the taste of that time. The Haselhorst station, on the other hand, impresses with its simplicity, where the lighting design came into play. The terminus was the highlight of the whole route. The four-track station is very noticeable with its extremely wide columns, lamps and other pompous decorations. The two inner track troughs will be used by the U7, the two outer track troughs will be kept free for the planned extension of today's U2 line.
On October 1, 1984, this 4.9-kilometer stretch was the last section of the complete U7 line. The then Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl also attended the opening.
Underground in the new development areas of the east
At the end of the 1970s, planning began for a new residential area in the newly created district of Hellersdorf . The size of the new development area, roughly twice as large as Gropiusstadt , required a rapid transit connection to the center of East Berlin . Several proposals have been made for this. Building an S-Bahn , as had already been done for the new residential areas in Marzahn and Hohenschönhausen , was discarded because the Stadtbahn was already fully used and could no longer accommodate another group of trains. However, an express tram , as already implemented in Potsdam , did not have the required capacity. Ultimately, the only option was the subway, which was to be further extended from the former terminus at the Tierpark . There were also several route variants here. The decision was made for the subway above ground on the disused railway line the VnK Railway ( V Getting Connected n oh K aulsdorf) to let go. In addition, a crossing of the Ostbahn , which was used by the S-Bahn, was planned.
The route was planned in 1983/1984. The route should be 10.1 kilometers long and have nine stations. The new building, which was to be built almost exclusively above ground, was opened in two sections. Construction began on March 1, 1985.
The route begins directly behind the Tierpark train station and then makes a very sharp curve to the east, comes out of the tunnel and then drives on the VnK route. After crossing the Berlin outer ring , the U5 reaches the Biesdorf-Süd station . This was designed as a three-track system in order to allow amplifier trains to end here. At the western end of the station, a transfer option for a station on a possible S-Bahn route was planned. This is followed by the premature terminus for the line, Elsterwerdaer Platz, located on a dam. The end of the line was from July 1988 to July 1989. The Tierpark - Elsterwerdaer Platz section was opened on July 1, 1988.
Behind Elsterwerdaer Platz station, the route continues in a north-easterly direction and reaches Wuhletal station. This station, as an intersection with the S-Bahn , is still unique in the Berlin subway network. A passenger-friendly transfer point was created here thanks to the state-controlled transport policy. There, the underground and S-Bahn stop at a platform; you can change trains in the same direction on the same platform. There are comparable systems in Germany only at the Munich-Neuperlach Süd terminus of the U5 there , in the Konstablerwache station in Frankfurt am Main and at the terminus of the Hamburg subway line U1, Norderstedt Mitte station . When the transfer point was built, a connecting track to the railway was created at the same time. This made it possible to abandon the cumbersome and expensive train transfers by low-loader. This track is still used today for the delivery of new underground trains, such as the type H , for example .
To the north-east of the Wuhletal train station, there is a necessary tunnel under Gülzower Straße. This is followed by six more stations: Albert-Norden-Straße (today: Kaulsdorf-Nord ), Heinz-Hoffmann-Straße (today: Kienberg [Gardens of the World] ), Cottbusser Platz , Hellersdorf , Paul-Verner-Straße (today: Louis- Lewin-Straße ) and the Hönow terminus . The last two stations were briefly located in the Frankfurt (Oder) district and were incorporated into Berlin after German reunification in 1990. A large sweeping system was built at the Hönow terminus, and a new workshop was planned here. Most of these tracks have been dismantled today. The section between Elsterwerdaer Platz and Hönow was opened on July 1, 1989.
All stations were designed and surveyed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (EVDR). For the first time, the stations were equipped with ramps so that strollers and wheelchair users could also use the underground with ease. The ramp system built in the Elsterwerdaer Platz station is almost a curiosity, because passengers need two minutes to get from the platform to the exit. An exemplary transfer station for the local tram was created in Hellersdorf , the islands of the stops can be reached via tunnels, and the annoying crossing of the street is no longer necessary.
The extension of the line to Hönow remained the only underground extension in the GDR.
Fall of the wall and reunification of the networks
On November 9, 1989, SED Politburo member Günter Schabowski read in front of the cameras after a corresponding question and rather irrelevant that "private trips abroad can be requested immediately and without prerequisites such as travel reasons and family relationships". The permits would be "granted at short notice". Leaving the country could "take place via all border crossing points from the GDR to the FRG".
Masses of GDR citizens rushed to the border crossings. The first thing to do was to open the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing at around 10:30 p.m. Other crossings were also gradually opened. There were overflowing scenes of joy. The BVG and the BVB made the trains run around the clock. Even employees who had time off helped to cope with the masses. Some of the platforms had to be closed, and trains passed without stopping, for example from Leopoldplatz to the Zoological Garden . On the same day, the two bosses of BVG and BVB decided, following an IGEB proposal that had previously been discussed in public, to open the Jannowitzbrücke underground station, which was still closed. Employees from both transport companies jointly cleaned the platforms at short notice, so that the station was already available for passenger traffic on November 11th. Since the station had two entrances, the border controls still considered necessary could be carried out here. Since December 22nd, trains have stopped again in the Rosenthaler Platz underground station . On April 12, the gates of the Bernauer Strasse station were opened; until July 1, 1990, it was only accessible from West Berlin.
Many GDR citizens were unfamiliar with the BVG transport routes, as they were not shown on their city maps and the western districts were represented by white areas.
From January 1, 1990, the first cross-border collective bargaining association was formed by the companies BVG, BVB, Deutsche Reichsbahn and VKP Potsdam (VE Verkehrskombinat Potsdam). Initially, this meant that BVG tickets and season tickets were also valid in East Berlin and the surrounding area. Citizens of the GDR did not have free travel on BVG transport. To this end, new tickets have been introduced as two-hour tickets or day tickets in the reduced and normal tariff. This regulation was in effect until August 1, 1991. Then a new tariff came into force with lower fares compared to West Berlin in East Berlin and Brandenburg .
On July 1, 1990, a monetary, economic and social union between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic came into force. In this context, all remaining, still closed stations were reopened. In addition, the east lines A and E were integrated into the (West) Berlin numbering scheme. Line E now got the unused line designation "U5". Line A, which was to be reconnected to the West Berlin subway network, was given the designation "U2". This led to the three-year situation that the "U2" line ran on two separate sections.
Four months later, on October 3, 1990, all station names were changed that were named after communist political figures and were now considered undesirable in the Federal Republic:
- Dimitroffstrasse → Eberswalder Strasse
- Otto-Grotewohl-Straße (until 1986 Thälmannplatz) → Mohrenstraße
- Marchlewskistraße → Weberwiese
- Albert-Norden-Strasse → Kaulsdorf-Nord
- Heinz-Hoffmann-Strasse → Neue Grottkauer Strasse
- Paul-Verner-Strasse → Louis-Lewin-Strasse
At the same time, three other stations were renamed:
- Frankfurter Tor → Friedrichshain Town Hall
- World Youth Stadium → Schwartzkopffstrasse
- Nordbahnhof → Zinnowitzer Straße (today: Natural History Museum)
At the Frankfurter Tor underground station , however, this turned into a political farce . Within a few years the name changed several times: Frankfurter Tor → Rathaus Friedrichshain → Petersburger Strasse → Frankfurter Tor.
In August 1991 the tariffs "A" and "B" were introduced. The “A” tariff applied in West Berlin, the “B” tariff in the eastern part of the city and the surrounding area. Passengers who can be shown to have had their place of residence before October 18, 1989 (resignation of GDR head of state and party Erich Honecker ) in the eastern part were allowed to travel in tariff zone A with tickets for the B tariff. All other passengers were only allowed to use the “B” tariff there themselves. The uniform tariff of the BVB and the zone tariff of the S-Bahn, which were both introduced in 1944 as war tariffs , were thus abolished.
After taking the first steps after the session, it was time to think about reactivating closed tracks. There were two: The connection from Wittenbergplatz via Gleisdreieck and Potsdamer Platz to Mohrenstrasse. The others were the rebuilding of the Oberbaumbrücke and the reopening of the Warschauer Straße station . In addition, the platforms of the U6 had to be extended on the former transit section, as they were only built with a platform length of 80 meters for reasons of economy. But now there were capacity problems and so this obstacle had to be removed. In the former West Berlin this had already happened in the 1950s.
When reactivating the U2 between Mohrenstrasse and Wittenbergplatz, a number of obstacles had to be overcome and problems solved. The line between Wittenbergplatz and Gleisdreieck was operated until 1972, after which this line was shortened because it was viewed as superfluous parallel traffic to the U1 . A lot has happened on the section since then. A “Turkish Bazaar” was located in the unused Bülowstrasse station , and the “Nolle” flea market was located in the Nollendorfplatz high station . A museum tram was operated between the two stations on the former elevated railway line . All of this had to be eliminated, and a complete renovation was overdue for both stations, as was the case for the "Potsdamer Platz" station, which had been closed since 1961 . But there was another problem: A magnetic levitation train (called “ M-Bahn ” in Berlin ) was built from the Gleisdreieck in 1983/1984 . However, this partially ran over the site of the former underground railway. The Berlin Senate therefore decided to demolish the M-Bahn and its station buildings in order to rebuild the old underground line. This happened from August 1, 1991.
In the east, however, the numerous security and border installations still had to be removed. Finally, after numerous renovations, conversions and demolitions, the two lines were joined again on November 13, 1993. Simultaneously with the reopening of the U2, a re-sorting in the Berlin small profile network was carried out:
- U1 , previously Ruhleben - Schlesisches Tor, now Krumme Lanke - Schlesisches Tor
- U2 , previously Krumme Lanke - Wittenbergplatz (west) and Mohrenstraße - Vinetastraße (east), now Vinetastraße - Ruhleben.
- U3 , previously Uhlandstraße - Wittenbergplatz, now as U15 Uhlandstraße - Kottbusser Tor
- new line U12 Ruhleben - Schlesisches Tor
The second reactivation project concerned the route from the Schlesisches Tor station over the Oberbaumbrücke to the former Warschauer Brücke station, now Warschauer Strasse . The line, opened in 1902, operated until August 1961. Then the route of today's U1 was shortened to the Schlesisches Tor, because the Warschauer Brücke station was part of East Berlin at the time. Over the years the station fell into disrepair, even if it was partly used by companies in the GDR. Even being included in the list of “National Heritage of the GDR” did not help. In 1992, the first construction work on the line began. Numerous renovation work had to be carried out, including new buildings, as some of the station buildings were demolished during the GDR era. First of all, the Oberbaum Bridge, which was in a desolate state, was renovated. The Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava won the tender and designed the plans for the renovation of the Oberbaum Bridge. In addition to this, the station itself with its three platforms, the old signal box and the car shed on Rudolfstrasse had to be repaired.
Finally, all construction work could be completed, and so on October 14, 1995 the first train drove back to today's Warschauer Strasse station , which was given this new name to make it clearer to change between the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn. There are still plans for the two express train stations to move closer together (as of the end of 2018). The first objective of doing this in connection with the renovation of the Warschauer Strasse and Ostkreuz S-Bahn stations from 2010 onwards was not implemented. With the reopening of the line over the Oberbaumbrücke, the two elevated railway lines at that time, the U1 and U15, were also extended to Warschauer Straße. Today only the U1 leads there.
When today's U6 was built between 1912 and 1923, the First World War ruled on the one hand and the subsequent hyperinflation on the other . Therefore, the city of Berlin, as the owner of the new north-south subway, had to save a lot. While the previously built small-profile stations were ornately decorated, the stations of the U6 only got white plaster as a cladding. The only distinguishing feature was the color code of the pillars and station signs, as the stations were very similar. But most of the savings were made in the length of the platform: platforms between 110 and 120 meters in length are common in new buildings. At that time only 80 meter long platforms were needed and the city of Berlin expected that this would be enough. There were first capacity problems as early as the 1970s because only 4-car trains could be used on these routes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the first West Berlin subway stations were rebuilt so that longer trains could have stopped there. However, since renovations were not possible at the three border stations Friedrichstrasse , Kochstrasse and Reinickendorfer Strasse (no trains stopped at the other stations) or a lot of money would have had to be transferred to the GDR, the operation with 4-car trains remained . The BVG therefore let the trains run every 3 minutes until reunification.
After German reunification , the short platforms were an unacceptable condition in the now no longer divided city. The Berlin Senate therefore decided to invest 250 million marks for the extension of the platforms at Kochstrasse, Stadtmitte, Französische Strasse, Friedrichstrasse, Oranienburger Tor, Zinnowitzer Strasse, Schwartzkopffstrasse and Reinickendorfer Strasse. A construction period of four years was estimated, that is from July 1992 to September 1996. The duration of the construction work results from the fact that the work had to be carried out during ongoing operations.
In order to keep interference with the building fabric as low as possible, the planners decided to extend the platforms on one side only. This could be done due to the following situation: The platforms each end with two flights of stairs in order to accelerate the flow of passengers. Both stairs closed off the platform. The distance from the first to the second staircase corresponded exactly to that of the platform to be extended. After the renovation, the first staircase is therefore still on the platform, while the second staircase now forms the new platform end.
The first work began at the Oranienburger Tor train station, which was completed in April 1994. Most recently, the Zinnowitzer Strasse and Schwartzkopffstrasse stations were expanded, because Berlin's current Olympic bid had to be taken into account here. Work began there in April 1995 and ended in September 1996. Since then, 6-car trains have been able to run on the U6.
Final expansion of the U8
The residents of the Märkisches Viertel had been promised an underground connection since the late 1960s . After examining several options, the planners decided to extend the U8. By 1987, two stages ( Gesundbrunnen - Osloer Straße and Osloer Straße - Paracelsus-Bad) had been reached on the way to the Märkisches Viertel. The third stage was still pending. After the takeover of the West Berlin S-Bahn by the BVG and the reopening of the line on October 1, 1984 towards Frohnau , there was more and more criticism of the extension of the U8, which should run almost parallel to the S-Bahn. The West Berlin Senate was not impressed by this, however, and continued to rely on the underground construction. Even a warning from the then federal capital Bonn to discontinue the subsidies and to invest the money to be built in the S-Bahn that was in need of renovation fell on deaf ears with those responsible for the BVG. The BVG argued that stopping the Berlin subway construction would cause serious economic damage to the city.
The first pile-driving took place on February 27, 1985, at that time the section of the route was still under construction. The Wilhelmsruher Damm station near the Wittenau S-Bahn station was planned as the terminus of the third stage of the U8 . It was obviously used to differentiate oneself from the S-Bahn. The Senate only corrected the station title shortly before the inauguration of the new line. Since then the station has been called “Wittenau (Wilhelmsruher Damm)”, but only “Wittenau” is in use.
The route runs behind the Paracelsus-Bad train station and continues under Lindauer Allee. This is followed by the station of the same name, which is the only station on the U8 with a side platform. After a long curve, the U8 now passes under the S-Bahn. Here the station was placed in such a way that a very long transfer route was created. Here, too, there was a name dispute: the new underground station to be built there was to be called “ Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik ” from the outset. The nearby S-Bahn station was called “Wittenau (Kremmener Bahn)”, which should not be confused with “Wittenau (Nordbahn)”. Because of this risk of confusion, it was also renamed the “Karl Bonhoeffer Nervenklinik”. A real monster of words for geographers, the name only gradually caught on. On the S-Bahn, “Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik” is announced to this day, but only “Karl-Bonhoeffer-Klinik” (without “nerves”) is displayed.
The subway then passes under the clinic. In order not to disrupt operations, the shield drive had to be used here, and even rubber matting had to be used here. This again called the critics on the scene, who favored an open construction with building support. During the construction of this section of the route, there were other problems: The Brandenburg sand made the work particularly difficult and numerous oversized boulders delayed the construction work.
Behind the Karl Bonhoeffer Psychiatric Clinic, the U8 swings to Eichborndamm, where the Rathaus Reinickendorf station was also built. After 1101 meters, the U8 underground line reaches its provisional, but probably final, terminus in Wittenau. To this day it is planned to extend this line into the Märkisches Viertel . However, as with other subway projects, the extreme budgetary emergency in the state of Berlin prevents further construction.
The entire new line, which is 3.6 kilometers long and has four new stations, was opened on September 24, 1994. The construction of the route cost 600 million marks. As with other newly built underground lines of the time, Rainer Gerhard Rümmler took on the design of the stations. Critics think this section would be its climax, Rümmler tended to exaggerate a little. This is particularly evident in the Lindauer Allee underground station. Here he mainly used the symbol of the Lindauer coat of arms, the linden tree. At the underground station, the colors green and yellow should radiate a certain calm, which he associated with the planned station name “Wilhelmsruher Damm”.
Construction plans for a subway to the Hermannstrasse S-Bahn station have been in existence since 1910. Even when the so-called “GN-Bahn” was gradually opened between 1927 and 1930, the plans for an extension were not abandoned. The first work to the south began in 1929, but the economic crisis at the time prevented it from continuing. Ultimately, the city of Berlin, as the client, stopped work in 1931. By then, the tunnel from the Leinestrasse station and around a third of the future Hermannstrasse platform had been completed.
The station, which was still under construction, was converted into a protective bunker in 1940 , as it was very deep because the S-Bahn had to pass under it . Even today, relics are a reminder of the time. After 1961, the extension plans were no longer pursued because a transfer link with the S-Bahn operated by the GDR was not desired. The BVG used the tunnel that had already been built as a storage facility for trains that were no longer in use.
After German reunification , a lot suddenly seemed possible. The S-Bahn-Ring , which was shut down by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1980 after a S-Bahn workers' strike , was to be reopened. The opening was planned for December 17, 1993 - this meant that the Senate and the BVG had to hurry because construction work on the underground station had to start before the S-Bahn ring was reopened.
While working on the station, the BVG also discovered the trains parked there in the 1960s. Many underground enthusiasts were happy that a museum train was found there, a B I train.
The construction work included the renovation of the old tunnel and the existing platform, as well as the construction of the rest of the platform and a 320-meter-long sweeping system . In addition, transitions to the S-Bahn platform above and possible stairs to a planned regional train station had to be taken into account.
Finally, on July 13, 1996, the 168th Berlin underground station was opened. Here, too, Rainer Gerhard Rümmler was responsible for the design of the station for the last time. He oriented himself very much towards the train stations in front of it and designed a very functional train station with turquoise tiles. In some places, tiles were removed in order to integrate the historical bunker information into the station.
With this station the U8 has so far reached its final state. Even if an extension to the Märkisches Viertel is planned, it is unlikely that this will be realized in the next few decades. An extension in the direction of Britz , as previously planned, was abandoned due to the parallel traffic with the U7 .
Two new stations for the U2
When the U2 line reopened in 1993, advance payments for a new station on the line had already been set up. At the time, the ramp between the Gleisdreieck and Potsdamer Platz stations had to be completely rebuilt, as there is a regulation that a 120-meter-long station must be completely horizontal. So the ramp had to be redesigned and built a little steeper. There has only been a need for this station in recent years, since the new area around Potsdamer Platz was built. Allegedly, the then DaimlerChrysler group is said to have paid ten million marks for this new building. The Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park station with two side platforms , which was built by BVG itself, was opened on October 1, 1998 as the “Hafenplatz” (working title) . The construction work was carried out without hindering the operation of the U2 line. The station, designed by the architects Hilmer, Sattler und Partner , is 619 meters from Potsdamer Platz underground station and 469 meters from Gleisdreieck underground station.
For decades there have been plans to extend the U2 to the Pankow S-Bahn station on the Szczecin Railway . In 1930 the line had already been extended to the Vinetastraße underground station. Another extension to the north was no longer possible due to the global economic crisis . Even in the expansion plans of the Nazi era , it was always intended to run the underground at least to Pankow station, if not to the Pankow village church . The same plans also existed in GDR times, and at the end of the 1980s there were even concrete construction announcements. This was mainly due to the fact that the Berlin transport company of the GDR (abbreviated: BVB) lacked a small profile workshop. All trains were serviced both in the Friedrichsfelde large-profile workshop and in the Schöneweide Reichsbahn repair shop, which assumed the function of a main workshop. These conditions were no longer acceptable for a long time, and so they looked for space for a new workshop, as the existing (very small) workshop at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz underground station did not meet the requirements either.
This was to be built east on Granitzstrasse at the marshalling and freight yard of the Szczecin Railway. In connection with this, the subway should also be extended by one station. The tunnel was lengthened until 1988, after the fall of the wall the tunnel was expanded to a sweeping system until 1994.
It was not until the mid-1990s that this topic became topical again. At numerous points in the subway network, gaps between the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn were planned, including the U2 to Pankow. In the summer of 1997, the first construction work for this network expansion finally began. The construction of a new small profile workshop, as planned in GDR times, was also discussed. It was decided not to build it, since the current Grunewald workshop was able to carry out all work without capacity problems, but the construction of the planned workshop was also prepared. Extremely heavy soil conditions, the extremely high groundwater level and finds from a medieval settlement delayed the work considerably. After all, the gap between the S-Bahn and U-Bahn was not opened until September 16, 2000. At times the name “Bahnhof Pankow” was intended, but the BVG decided on “Pankow”.
The 110-meter-long underground station, which is held in the colors blue, white and yellow, received skylights, which are rare in the Berlin underground network, so daylight can also penetrate the station. During the construction work, a spacious reception building was built at the same time, which enables easy transfers to the S-Bahn line S2 to Bernau by means of escalators and an elevator . There are still plans that the U2 would be extended to Pankower Church or Breite Straße. This planning is also provided for in the “2030 financial scenario” of the Berlin Senate. A medium-term realization is very likely.
Both stations were the first new buildings in the Berlin small-profile network for decades. This also makes it clear that the BVG favors the large profile.
Opening dates
The following list contains the opening date and the route section.
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Remarks
- ↑ The post-war director of the BVG, Walter Schneider, who was still in office at the time in an improvised group , wrote about the process : “It was on May 2, 1945, when the BVG management on Kaiserdamm was already sitting at the improvised conference table to take the first steps to advise the damage compositions - then suddenly the rumor spread that the subway tunnels were full of water. What happened? In the city center, in the area of the Anhalter Bahnhof , where fighting was still taking place in individual places, it was feared that the attackers could use the tunnel of the north-south S-Bahn that ran along Unter den Linden to get to the to approach the last pockets of resistance. In order to make this impossible - it is unknown whether it was planned at all - an order had been given to flood this tunnel by blasting the tunnel ceiling under the Landwehr Canal. And this order was carried out literally at the last minute on May 2nd at 7.45 a.m. […] The water that penetrated more and more from the canal spread through the S-Bahn tunnel in a northerly direction and finally reached the point at Friedrichstrasse station where the north-south line of the S-Bahn met the north-south line. The BVG subway crosses and a connecting tunnel facilitates the passage of passengers. The water flowed through this corridor - kilometers away from the blasting site - into the underground tunnel […] ”. Dr. Walter Schneider: The urban public transport of Berlin , edition undated in 12 volumes, volume 9, p. 232. New edition of the historical archive of the BVG, Berlin 2014. (Communication in BVG PLUS 07/14, p. 7.)
- ↑ From March 1, 1966 to May 1, 1970, line number 5 existed for the small-profile route from the Deutsche Oper underground station to the (old) Richard-Wagner-Platz underground station
literature
- Sabine Bohle-Heintzenberg: Architecture of the Berlin elevated and underground railway. Planning - drafts - buildings until 1930 . Verlag Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-922912-00-1 .
- Biagia Bongiorno: Traffic monuments in Berlin - The stations of the Berlin elevated and underground railway . Michael-Imhof-Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86568-292-5 .
- Johannes Bousset: The Berlin subway . Published by Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1935.
- Ulrich Conrad: Planning of the Berlin subway and other tunnel routes . Verlag Bernd Neddermeyer, 2008, ISBN 978-3-933254-87-0 .
- Petra Domke and Markus Hoeft: Tunnel ditches Viaducts - 100 years of construction history of the Berlin subway. Kulturbild Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-933300-00-2 .
- Gustav Kemmann: On the opening of the electric elevated and underground railway in Berlin . Berlin, published by Julius Springer 1902. Reduced reprint ed. from AG Berliner U-Bahn, GVE-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89218-077-6 .
- Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berlin subway . 3. Edition. age-alba Verlag, Düsseldorf 1992, ISBN 3-87094-346-7 .
- Brian Hardy: The Berlin U-Bahn . Capital Transport Publishing, Middlesex / UK 1996, ISBN 1-85414-184-8 .
- Jürgen Meyer-Kronthaler: Berlin's subway stations. The first hundred years . be.bra verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-930863-07-3 .
- Jürgen Meyer-Kronthaler, Klaus Kurpjuweit: Berlin U-Bahn - In service for a hundred years . be.bra verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-930863-99-5 .
- Uwe Poppel: Berlin U-Bahn: Contemporary history in line network plans - from 1902 to today . GVE-Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-89218-488-1 .
- Walter Schneider: The urban public transport of Berlin , edition undated in 12 volumes, vol. 9, p. 232. New edition of the historical archive of the BVG, Berlin 2014. (Communication in BVG PLUS 07/14, p. 7.)
- Klaus Konrad Weber, Peter Güttler, Ditta Ahmid (ed.), Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin (ed.): Berlin and its buildings. Part X, Volume B. Systems and structures for traffic. Vol. 1. Urban transport . Published by Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn, Berlin - Munich - Düsseldorf 1979.
Web links
- Overview of routes, vehicles, history, etc. Numerous documents to download
- Historical documents prepared as websites
Individual evidence
- ^ U-Bahn-Chronik: Since 1931, however, the new subway construction has been completely idle. ( Memento from October 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Draft of a suspension railway for Berlin. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 320, 1905, pp. 705-712.
- ↑ Axel Mauruszat: Berlin's first rail tunnel / The connecting line between the AEG factories in Wedding. In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter , Volume 45, No. 3 (June 2018), pp. 61–66.
- ^ Berliner Unterwelten eV: Tour A - The AEG tunnel
- ^ Hans D. Reichardt: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 21
- ↑ Ulrich Lemk, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 21.
- ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 28.
- ^ Hans D. Reichardt: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 24.
- ^ E. Pavel: The development of the power generation systems of the elevated and underground railway in Berlin , Berlin 1927, online at u-bahn-archiv.de
- ↑ Sigurd Hilkenbach, Wolfgang Kramer: The trams in Berlin , p. 33
- ↑ Axel Mauruszat: Underground and air raid in World War II. In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter , Volume 41, No. 3 (May / June 2014), pp. 57–66.
- ↑ Comprehensive description of all war destruction ( memento of the original from August 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Rudolf Kerger: The S-Bahn tunnel in Berlin destroyed and rebuilt. In: Der Verkehr , Vol. 1, No. 2 (July / August 1947), pp. 59–66.
