Railway line Berlin Frankfurter Allee – Berlin-Rummelsburg

Berlin Frankfurter Allee – Berlin-Rummelsburg
Route number (DB) :	6140 Frankfurter Allee – Rummelsburg 6139 Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg
Route length:	2.7 / 1.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	D4
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Top speed:	100 km / h
Train control :	PZB
Legend Ringbahn from Gesundbrunnen 0.000.0 Berlin Frankfurter Allee 0.0 Berlin Ostkreuz (Ringbahn-F) Ringbahn from Treptower Park 0.600.0 Berlin-Lichtenb. B1 (fork branch) Ostbahn from Berlin Ostkreuz Ostbahn from Berlin Ostbahnhof Nöldnerplatz 1.9 Berlin-Lichtenberg Ostbahn to Strausberg / Kostrzyn from Berlin Ostbahnhof 1.700.0 from Berlin Ostbahnhof 2.700.0 Berlin-Rummelsburg depot VnK route to Frankfurt (Oder)

The Berlin Frankfurter Allee – Berlin-Rummelsburg railway line is an electrified main line in Berlin . It connects the Berlin Ringbahn with the Berlin-Rummelsburg depot . Except for a short section, the line is double-track. The route, which was originally designed for freight traffic, is now mainly used to transfer empty passenger trains that are maintained in the Rummelsburg depot. The line is also connected to a double-track line from the Ringbahn from the south ( Berlin Ostkreuz station ) to Berlin-Lichtenberg station .

Route

Signal box Lichtenberg B1 (junction) with the crossing of the Frankfurter Allee – Rummelsburg line (right, by train) with the Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg line

The line branches off at the junction in Berlin Frankfurter Allee about 400 meters south of the Frankfurter Allee train station behind the overpass over the Gürtelstrasse from the long-distance tracks of the Ringbahn to the east. From there to Rummelsburg it runs exclusively on the embankment, there are a total of nine overpasses via roads and paths and two via other railway lines.

After almost 600 meters, the line reaches the B1 signal box at the western end of the Berlin-Lichtenberg train station at the level of the bridge over Pfarrstraße. In the past, the signal box was known as a fork junction , the label Gab can still be found on the building. Here it crosses with a double-track and electrified, 1.9 km long line, which, coming from the south, branches off the Ringbahn in the area of the Ostkreuz station at the Ostkreuz Nord junction and leads east into the main part of the Lichtenberg station. Both lines are linked by two double track connections.

The route to Rummelsburg continues to the southeast on the northeastern edge of the Victoria city . It crosses the Ostbahn and several streets in the area of Nöldnerplatz . As a result, the S-Bahn and most of the long-distance tracks on the railway line to Frankfurt (Oder) will also be crossed on a bridge. This bridge is the only single-track section of the route. To the south of the bridge, the line joins a track that comes from the Stadtbahn and leads to the southern part of the Rummelsburg marshalling yard. The end of the line is only one kilometer further in the central area of ​​the marshalling yard. There is no direct connection to the VnK line branching off to the east in Rummelsburg .

history

The connecting routes between the Berlin Ringbahn (left) and the train stations Lichtenberg-Friedrichsfelde (today Lichtenberg, top right) and Rummelsburg (bottom right) on a map from 1896.

Emergence

In 1871, the new connection line Moabit – Stralau – Schöneberg in the eastern part of the city was the first part of the ring line around Berlin, which was initially intended primarily for freight traffic. In 1877 the ring was closed. At the same time, other important freight customers settled in the Ringbahn area, such as the central cattle and slaughterhouse north of Frankfurter Allee.

Also at the same time, new marshalling yards were built outside of what was then Berlin's urban area, such as the Lichtenberg-Friedrichsfelde marshalling yard (now Berlin-Lichtenberg) on ​​the Eastern Railway and the Rummelsburg marshalling yard near Berlin (now Berlin-Rummelsburg) on ​​the Lower Silesian-Märkische Bahn. This made a connection from these two lines to the Ringbahn necessary. In 1879 the two connecting lines from Friedrichsberg (today Frankfurter Allee) and Stralau (today Ostkreuz) to Lichtenberg-Friedrichsfelde and Rummelsburg were inaugurated and in 1880 they were expanded to two tracks. The routes were also referred to as the Rummelsburg track loop (or track loop ) . The connection was mainly used for freight traffic. It contributed to the growing traffic on the Ringbahn, which was therefore expanded to four tracks in this area between 1880 and 1882, with passenger and freight tracks being separated.

After 1945

After the Second World War and the division of Germany and Berlin, the Berlin-Lichtenberg station became one of the most important Berlin train stations for passenger traffic, especially after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. At the end of the 1950s, the Berlin outer ring was created, which carries the bulk of passenger traffic after Lichtenberg coped. Because, on the one hand, the outer ring often reached its capacity limits and, on the other hand, in order to save some through trains in north-south direction from changing direction at Lichtenberg station, some express trains from Lichtenberg were led over the ring line and thus used part of this connection.

The Frankfurter Allee container station was particularly important for freight traffic. Some freight trains used the connection from there via Lichtenberg to the outer ring. Some passenger trains ending in Berlin-Lichtenberg were also parked in this area and transferred there via the connection. After the Central Cattle Farm no longer had a washing facility for railway wagons after the Second World War, empty freight trains were transferred from there to Rummelsburg for washing three times a day.

In December 1984, electrical operation began on the Ringbahn from the south to Frankfurter Allee and on the two connecting lines.

After 1990

After reunification, the flow of passenger traffic changed. The through traffic through Berlin in north-south direction, which was very heavy until 1990, decreased significantly. Added to this was the decline in freight traffic by rail. The Frankfurter Allee container station was closed at the end of 1999. The central cattle yard was closed in 1991 and the former Berlin-Pankow marshalling yard in 1997. For several years, the connection further north near Pankow was also blocked. With the reopening of the Berlin light rail for long-distance traffic, the Lichtenberg station also lost its importance. This had significant consequences for the connections from Rummelsburg and Lichtenberg to the Ringbahn. The traffic to Rummelsburg was even completely stopped.

Since 2004 the connection in the direction of Ostkreuz has also been closed due to preparations for the renovation of the station. There was only some freight traffic from Lichtenberg to the Greifswalder Strasse freight yard.

Since the completion of the new Berlin Central Station and the north-south long-distance line , a number of long-distance trains heading south have started and ended at Berlin Gesundbrunnen station . These trains are serviced at the Rummelsburg plant. To transfer these trains from Gesundbrunnen to Rummelsburg, the connection from Frankfurter Allee to Rummelsburg was necessary again. The line was renovated from 2004 to 2006. The crossing structure over the Frankfurter Bahn in Rummelsburg was replaced by a single-track new building, which was completed at the end of 2005. The connection towards Ostkreuz has been in operation again since December 2015.

passenger traffic

Scheduled passenger traffic on the connecting routes only existed since the 1950s and only in the direction of Lichtenberg, never in the direction of Rummelsburg. Some of the long-distance trains stopping in Berlin-Lichtenberg used the connection to the Ringbahn. This concerned both trains going north (here mainly to Schwerin ), which used the ring as far as Schönhauser Allee and continued via Pankow to Karower Kreuz, and to the south, which went via Berlin-Schöneweide station to Grünauer Kreuz.

In 1985, some passenger trains, which connected the places on the northern Berlin outer ring with Lichtenberg station during rush hour, were extended over the connection in the direction of Ostkreuz to Schöneweide. Although this connection was discontinued soon after the fall of the Wall in 1990, in the following years up to 2003 there were repeated regional trains on this section.

From Lichtenberg in the direction of the northern ring there has been sporadic passenger traffic again since 2006. In the 2009 timetable, the connection was used as planned by a pair of trains in the summer season from Berlin-Lichtenberg to Rheinsberg . There are also some connections in the night train service.

In December 2015, after several years of closure due to the renovation of the Ostkreuz station, the connection from the fork in the direction of Ostkreuz went back into operation. Since then, three regional train lines per hour have been running between Berlin-Lichtenberg and Ostkreuz via this section. Since the end of 2017, part of it has been relocated to the parallel line of the Eastern Railway.

Web links

Commons : Frankfurter Allee – Rummelsburg railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Bley, 150 Years of the Berlin – Frankfurt (Oder) Alba Railway , Düsseldorf, 1992, ISBN 3-87094-347-5 , pp. 70/71
2. ↑ Peter Bock, cattle stations in Berlin . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter , 4/1995, p. 97
3. ^ DB project construction for Deutsche Bahn, Berlin – Frankfurt (Oder), project section Berlin Ostbahnhof – Erkner , p. 4.