Track systems of the Berlin subway

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The track systems of the Berlin U-Bahn are routes used in regular service, operating routes that only serve internal purposes, parking and turning systems and systems in the depots.

Routes used in regular services

Gleisdreieck, 1901
The subway network in 1914 - the Schöneberg and Wilmersdorfer routes orange

When building the Berlin elevated and underground railway, no distinction was made between lines and routes. From the junction at Gleisdreieck , one branch each led to the west, north and east. On February 18, 1902, the route from Stralauer Tor to Potsdamer Platz was opened, and on March 11, the Potsdamer Platz - Zoological Garden section went into operation. From March 25, 1902, after the southern tracks of the Gleisdreieck went into operation, trains ran from the Stralauer Tor to the Zoological Garden. The branches of the route were used in a line every ten minutes, so that there was a five-minute train sequence in each direction at each station. Designations for the lines in the form of letters or numbers did not yet exist.

The line names A, B, C and D appear for the first time in 1928 in an annual report of the Hochbahngesellschaft . The line from Alexanderplatz to Friedrichsfelde was already opened under the name "Line E".

The line names were included in passenger information products from the mid-1930s. From the beginning of the 1950s, the line designation was specified with branching lines by appending Roman numerals . The line designations A I , A II , B I , B II , C I , C II , D and E were used, whereby the line branches to Ruhleben and Richard-Wagner-Platz both initially ran under the line designation A I. A few years later, the route to Richard-Wagner-Platz was given the designation A III . The lines of the small profile lines changed frequently until the mid-1960s.

The possibility of changing the line did not exist in the large profile. The only branching line was line C, which was south of the Belle-Alliance-Straße station (today: Mehringdamm ) and split into two branches to Neukölln (line C I ) and Tempelhof (line C II ). Line C I merged with the new line H on February 28, 1966 (immediately thereafter referred to as line 7) , from this point on line C II became line C and immediately thereafter became line 6.

On March 1, 1966, the line designations in West Berlin were changed from letters to numbers. From this point onwards, the lines were operated in one line, there were no longer any overlaps. Thus for the first time the lines with the routes traveled were the same without exception, whereby two sections were shut down due to the division of the city. This changeover was not carried out in East Berlin , the network plan from 1988 shows no line designations. Due to the existence of only one small and one large profile line, the lines also coincided with the routes.

In March 1966 the following routes and lines existed:

line Route used
routes
1 Schlesisches Tor - Ruhleben B; A I
2 Gleisdreieck - Krumme Lanke A; A II
3 Wittenbergplatz - Uhlandstrasse B II
4th Nollendorfplatz - Innsbrucker Platz B I
5 German Opera - Richard-Wagner-Platz A III
6th Tegel - Alt-Mariendorf C; Mehringdamm - Tempelhof until 1963 C II
7th Möckernbrücke - Britz-Süd H; Mehringdamm - Grenzallee until 1963 C I
8th Gesundbrunnen - Leinestrasse D.
9 Leopoldplatz - Spichernstrasse G
Pankow (Vinetastraße) - Thälmannplatz A.
Alexanderplatz - Friedrichsfelde E.
Museum tram on route A, 1987

Line 5 was shut down on May 2, 1970 due to the extension of line 7 beyond its western terminus at Fehrbelliner Platz . The route A III was retained, however, in order to enable work vehicles to be switched between the small-profile and large-profile networks as an operating route .

After the construction of the Berlin Wall initially only the two sections of the route Schlesisches Tor - Warschauer Brücke (can still be used as a parking facility up to the border in the west) and Thälmannplatz - Gleisdreieck (the route from the Potsdamer Platz underground station to Thälmannplatz was used by BVG-Ost as a Parking yard used) were out of service, the section Gleisdreieck - Wittenbergplatz of line 2 / route A was shut down on January 1, 1972 for economic reasons. Parts of the route were then temporarily used for a museum tram and as a test route for a magnetic levitation train ( M-Bahn ) before the route went back into operation as the U2 line from Vinetastraße to Ruhleben in the 1990s .

Apart from these exceptions, the route and line names remained unchanged until after German reunification . In both halves of the city, the existing large-profile routes were lengthened several times, with the small profile a "clasp" between lines 3 and 4 (Wittenbergplatz and Viktoria-Luise-Platz ) was discussed. As a result of the takeover of the S-Bahn by the BVG on January 9, 1984, the previous line numbers in West Berlin were preceded by a “U”.

At the time of reunification in 1990, the following routes and lines existed:

line Route used
routes
U1 Schlesisches Tor - Ruhleben B; A I
U2 Wittenbergplatz - Krumme Lanke A II
U3 Wittenbergplatz - Uhlandstrasse B II
U4 Nollendorfplatz - Innsbrucker Platz B I
U6 Tegel - Alt-Mariendorf C.
U7 Town hall Spandau - Rudow H
U8 Paracelsus-Bad - Leinestrasse D.
U9 Osloer Strasse - Steglitz Town Hall G; F.
Pankow (Vinetastraße) - Thälmannplatz A.
Alexanderplatz - Hönow E.

From November 13, 1993, the gap in the A route between Wittenbergplatz and Mohrenstraße (formerly: Thälmannplatz ) was driven again. In this context, the small-profile line network was adapted and has been slightly changed several times since then.

Small profile lines and routes in the mid-1990s:

HK train of the U12 at the exit from the terminus Warschauer Strasse; on the left the hall of the former Warschauer Brücke workshop
line Route used
routes
U1 Schlesisches Tor - Krumme Lanke B; A II
U12 Schlesisches Tor - Ruhleben (late traffic on weekends) B; A I
U15 Kottbusser Tor - Uhlandstrasse B; B II
U2 Vinetastraße - Ruhleben A; A I
U4 Nollendorfplatz - Innsbrucker Platz B I

After the reopening of the B-route between Schlesisches Tor and Warschauer Brücke ( renamed the local S-Bahn station to Warschauer Straße on this occasion ) on October 14, 1995, the small-profile network again corresponded to the state before the wall was built.

The following lines currently operate:

line Route used
routes
U1 Warschauer Strasse - Uhlandstrasse B; B II
U2 Pankow - quiet life A; A I
U3 Warschauer Strasse - Krumme Lanke B II ; A II
U4 Nollendorfplatz - Innsbrucker Platz B I
U5 Alexanderplatz - Hönow E.
U55 Central station - Brandenburg Gate E.
U6 Alt-Tegel - Alt-Mariendorf C.
U7 Town hall Spandau - Rudow H
U8 Wittenau - Hermannstrasse D.
U9 Osloer Strasse - Steglitz Town Hall G; F.

Since the U3 line coming from Wilmersdorf at Wittenbergplatz could no longer use the tracks of the restored ramp section A for line U2 in the direction of Nollendorfplatz (above) as a parking and turning facility, it was extended to Nollendorfplatz via the tunnel tracks on route B II . On May 7, 2018, the U3 was extended over the elevated railway line through Kreuzberg from Nollendorfplatz to Warschauer Straße, which was previously only used by the U1. This section is the only one in the Berlin underground network to be used by two lines again.

Operating routes

Southern connecting track at Gleisdreieck underground station , 1988
Operational route A III in the Deutsche Oper underground station
Class EIII train on the connecting tracks at the Wuhletal underground station (behind it a train on the main track), 1990

The track to the Warschauer Brücke workshop and the track harp within the 90-degree curve to the eight-track wagon hall built there in 1909 are to be regarded as the first operating lines of the Berlin U-Bahn.

The town of Schöneberg , which was independent until 1920 , had its own workshop in Eisackstrasse for the route from Nollendorfplatz to Innsbrucker Platz (then: Hauptstrasse ), which opened on December 1, 1910 . Starting from the parking facility at the end of the line, a single-track operating line led to the workshop area at ground level.

In 1912, the main and operating workshop in Grunewald (at that time Grunewald depot ) with operating tracks parallel to the Stadion underground station and an extensive track apron was added.

The first line-connecting operating lines were created when the track triangle was rebuilt from previously regular tracks. A year before the accident of 1908, the elevated railway company had decided to turn the Gleisdreieck into a crossing station in the sense of today's construction and to run a relief stretch over Kurfürstenstrasse to Nollendorfplatz. The reconstruction of the track triangle was carried out while the operation was maintained; after the new station was handed over to traffic on November 3, 1912, the previous tracks from and towards the Warschauer Brücke served as connecting tracks for the lines later designated with the letters A and B.

In the large-profile network, as the construction progressed on the respective lines, connecting tracks were created at Hermannplatz (line U8 heading south to line U7 heading west), Leopoldplatz (parking facility northeast of the platform of the U9 to the line heading north of the U6) and Berliner Straße (both line tracks of the U9 towards the main line heading West of the U7).

The two longest operating routes in the network date back to earlier years. Line D was originally not supposed to cross Alexanderplatz , in 1927 a tunnel was built under the Spree to Neue Friedrichstraße, today's Littenstraße. It branches off to the north of the Heinrich-Heine-Straße station and, after being built as a connecting tunnel D / E , leads to a stump track of the U5 sweep (former line E) west of Alexanderplatz. The structure, designed for two tracks, has only one track.

To their low-profile vehicles to be able to maintain in the maintenance workshop Friedrichsfelde, the LOB Ost required a connection from the section A to the leading thereto route E. in 1952 by means of a 220-meter-long tunnel to the tunnel connecting D / E realized. Because of the different type of power supply, it has a section without power rails in which the small-profile vehicles to be transferred could be converted.

The route A III (formerly line 5) has served since the commissioning of the U7 in this area (on April 28, 1978) as a connection between the small-profile and the large-profile network used by work vehicles. It includes the two inner tracks of the Deutsche Oper underground station , which run parallel next to each other to a parking facility just before Richard-Wagner-Platz. Here a track branches off to the right from the track that used to lead out of town, which joins the track in the direction of Spandau behind the underground station .

Between the Elsterwerdaer Platz and Wuhletal stations, a connection with a three-track transfer group branches off the route of the U5 as a connection to the railway network.

There were also two track connections between the underground and tram networks. The older connection was at the Warschauer Brücke station between the elevated railway tracks and the flat railway line . The connection was abandoned at the latest when the Warsaw Bridge was rebuilt in 1938. The second connection existed from 1988 between the Friedrichsfelde workshop and the tram route in the street Am Tierpark and was given up in 1996.

Track connections

Trapeze of switches at the former terminus at Schlesisches Tor, 1986

Track changes or track connections are usually short track systems that make it possible to move from one track to the other via two switches. A double track connection enables this without sawing in both directions; it can be a trapezoidal switch with two simple track connections one behind the other or in the form of a double track connection with an additional crossing. With the usual track spacing in the subway, the latter solution, however, requires numerous large turnout parts such as frogs in a special design.

Track connections are located in front of some terminus stations to enable trains to turn around on the platform. They are indispensable at terminal stations without a subsequent sweeping system. They also appear on the heads of stations on the way ( emergency sweeping systems ) so that trains can sweep, for example, during construction work, disruptions or in repeater traffic . Branch tracks or connecting tracks can also make it necessary to install track connections on open routes.

  • A simple track connection is located between the stations Elsterwerdaer Platz and Wuhletal, in order to enable the journey from the transfer tracks to the railway to the route towards the city ​​center on the right track.
  • There are double track connections, for example, in the terminus at Warschauer Straße, Innsbrucker Platz and Ruhleben as well as in the area of ​​most of the double-track sweeping systems at subway stations.
  • A switch trapezoid is located, for example, in the Krumme Lanke terminus.

Parking and turning systems

In the Berlin subway network there is a large number of parking and turning tracks in front of or behind intermediate stations, mostly in the form of one or two butt tracks between the main tracks.

At some terminal stations, the trains turn to butt tracks on the platform (example: Hönow ), sometimes although there are parking or turning tracks behind the station (example: U4 in Nollendorfplatz station). The large-profile lines U6 to U9 have two to four-track (parking and) turning systems behind the terminal stations, which are also used as such to avoid the blocking times that arise when turning on the platform.

Noteworthy systems outside of the company workshops are:

  • the eight-track wagon hall along Rudolfstrasse at the Warschauer Strasse terminus of the U1
  • the double-track system under Genthiner Straße, which is used by the U3 and U4 lines and is underpassed by the northern track of the U1
  • the three-track parking facility of the Schöneberg subway under Eisackstrasse, used from 1910 to 1932
  • the former workshop (1929–1968) and later the Krumme Lanke car shed, meanwhile unused
  • the facility under Rathausstrasse , which is used by the U5 and was also intended for the planned line to Weißensee . This is where the operating track from the U2 and U8 lines ends.
  • the extensive parking facility at the Hönow terminus

  • Car hall I at the Warschauer Strasse station

  • Car hall Krumme Lanke and A3L railcars, 1987

  • Hönow parking facility with D and EIII trains

Track systems on and in the workshops

The Berlin subway currently has four workshops in which there are also halls for parking trains. All vehicles in the small-profile network are serviced in the main and operating workshop in Grunewald and fully inspected in the main workshop in Seestrasse. The main workshop in Seestrasse and the workshops in Britz and Friedrichsfelde exist in the large-profile network. The small-profile workshops in Schöneberg (1932), Warschauer Brücke (1961) and Krumme Lanke (1968) were given up. Temporary workshops also existed at sidings in the tunnel, for example south of the Boddinstrasse underground station and at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz underground station . Between 2009 and probably 2019 there has been a provisional workshop at the main train station for the wagons operating in island mode on the U55 line.

The workshops each have extensive above-ground track systems that are not used in regular service. The operating lines leading there branch off the main tracks in the tunnel (large profile) or above ground (small profile except for the former Bw Schöneberg).

The branches are:

  • Britz: Double-track extension on both sides of the main line south of the Britz-Süd underground station . Both tracks in the direction of Rudow pass under the track coming from the workshop in the tunnel.
  • Friedrichsfelde: Double-track extension between the tracks south of the Friedrichsfelde underground station. Both tracks run over the main track in the tunnel towards Hönow.
  • Grunewald: North of the Olympia-Stadion underground station, a track branches off to the right to Halls 1–4, and to the left to Hall 5, which is between the tracks. Between the two island platforms there is a separate track for the trains from the workshop and the storage halls. Trains from Halls 1–4 must cross the main track to Ruhleben at the same level as they exit, while the test track to the west of the station is reached via a level crossing of the main tracks. The underground station and the workshops including their access roads are in the open area.
  • Seestrasse: The track leading to the workshop branches off to the right at the Seestrasse underground station north of the platform in the direction of Alt-Tegel . The track coming from the workshop crosses the track to Alt-Tegel in the tunnel. It has a separate platform edge on the central platform of the underground station and flows south of it into the directional track to Alt-Mariendorf .

For planned but not completed workshops, there are already subterranean overpass structures south of Grenzallee station and north of Vinetastraße station .

  • Partial view of the main and operating workshop in Grunewald

  • Parking facility of the Friedrichsfelde workshop

  • Company workshop in Britz

  • Main workshop in Seestrasse

literature

  • Johannes Bousset: The Berlin subway . Wilhelm Ernst & Son, Berlin 1935.
  • Hans D. Reichardt: Berlin subway . Alba-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1974, ISBN 978-3-87094-305-9 .
  • Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berlin subway . 4th, revised edition. Alba-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 978-3-87094-353-0 .
  • Brian Hardy: The Berlin U-Bahn . Capital Transport Publishing, Harrow Weald 1996, ISBN 978-1-85414-184-2 (English).
  • Alfred Gottwaldt: The Berlin U- and S-Bahn network. A story in route maps from 1888 to today . 1st edition. Transpress Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-613-71449-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Society for electric elevated and underground railways in Berlin (elevated railway company: Annual report for the year 1928 (32nd business year) . Berlin, May 1929, supplements, p. 3
  2. ↑ BVG / NSAG: For the opening of the subway from Alexanderplatz through Frankfurter Allee to Friedrichsfelde (Line E) and the extension of Line C from Bergstraße station via the Ringbhf. Neukölln to Grenzallee station . Berlin, December 21, 1930
  3. ↑ Berliner Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft: Line network tram, omnibus, subway 1936
  4. ^ Line network of the Berliner Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVG) tram, omnibus, subway 1950
  5. ↑ Overview plan of the Berlin subway 1953 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2006 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.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schmalspurbahn.de
  6. ↑ Senator for Construction and Housing: Lines C, H / Documentation on the construction of the subway in Berlin . Berlin 1966
  7. ^ A b Hans D. Reichardt: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 94
  8. ^ Alfred Gottwaldt: The Berlin U- and S-Bahnnetz , p. 61
  9. ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 65
  10. ^ Brian Hardy: The Berlin U-Bahn , p. 24
  11. ^ Alfred Gottwaldt: Das Berliner U- und S-Bahnnetz , p. 63
  12. ^ A b Brian Hardy: The Berlin U-Bahn , p. 18
  13. ↑ U3 runs from Dahlem to Warschauer Straße from May. In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 7, 2018, accessed March 17, 2018 .
  14. ^ Johannes Bousset: The Berlin U-Bahn , p. 130
  15. ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 4 and 30
  16. ^ Johannes Bousset: Die Berliner U-Bahn , p. 127 and 129
  17. ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , pp. 34/35
  18. ^ Hans D. Reichardt: Berliner U-Bahn , pp. 50/51
  19. ^ Hans D. Reichardt: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 61
  20. ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , pp. 66, 72
  21. ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 67
  22. ↑ Uwe Kerl: 100 years of the flat railway . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 10, 2001, pp. 179-189 .
  23. ^ Sascha Teichmann: Route chronicle of the Berlin tram. The years 1980 to 1989. In: www.saschateichmann.de. Retrieved March 26, 2013 .
  24. ^ Sascha Teichmann: Route chronicle of the Berlin tram. The years 1990 to 1999. In: www.saschateichmann.de. Retrieved March 26, 2013 .
  25. ↑ Ulrich Lemke, Uwe Poppel: Berliner U-Bahn , p. 129 ff