Spree tunnel Stralau – Treptow

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Entrance to the Spree tunnel on the Stralau side in the opening year

The Spreetunnel Stralau-Treptow connected Stralau and Alt-Treptow . The so-called Knüppelbahn , an old Berlin tram line, passed through it . The tunnel runs between the tunnel road on the peninsula Stralau and today's range Alt-Treptow / Puschkinallee in Treptow Park (Place on Spreetunnel) and passes under the Spree . The tunnel still exists, but the ramps have been filled in and the tunnel has been flooded.

Planning and construction

Route on a map of the trade exhibition, 1896

In the course of the expansion of the electric Berlin subway network at the end of the 19th century, the companies AEG and Siemens & Halske submitted various plans to the Berlin magistrate in 1890 for the construction of a city-wide line network. In 1895, AEG initiated the construction of an in-house tunnel line under the direction of C. Schnebel and Wilhelm H. Lauter to connect the two company sites south and north of Hussitenstrasse in Gesundbrunnen . In the same year, the AEG finally received the building permit for the construction of an underground test tunnel under the Spree between the rural community Treptow and Stralau. The then municipality of Stralau only approved the construction on the condition that the tunnel had to be suitable for tram operation.

This tunnel was built from 1895 to 1899 by the Society for the Construction of Underground Railways, also according to the plans by C. Schnebel and Wilhelm H. Lauter, using the mining shield driving method . Partners included AEG, Deutsche Bank and Philipp Holzmann  & Co. It was the first underwater tunnel and the first tunnel in Germany built using the shield driving method.

The tunnel is 454 meters long (the entire tunnel section with ramps was 582 meters), 3.76 meters wide and the vertex of the tunnel section is twelve meters below the Spree, which is 195 meters wide at this point. The passage took about two minutes and was considered an attraction in Treptow until traffic ceased.

The originally planned completion for the trade exhibition in 1896 could not be realized because the construction work turned out to be more difficult than expected. Only a 160-meter-long tunnel section could be visited on foot. After the tunnel was completed in February 1899 for a total of 1.7 million gold marks, the first test drive through the tunnel took place on September 16, 1899. On December 18, 1899, the Berlin Ostbahnen began regular service through the tunnel as the first public underground railway in Germany between the Schlesisches Bahnhof (today Ostbahnhof ) and Treptow.

Operation and further development

A median in the tunnel road: the filled up ramp

In 1909 the tram line was extended to Köpenick . From 1920, the Berlin tram took over the operation and thus the tunnel as the successor company of the Berliner Ostbahnen. On February 15, 1932, tram traffic was stopped and the Spreetunnel closed after cracks were found in the tunnel walls and the number of passengers continued to decline. During the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, the Spree tunnel was secured and reopened for pedestrians.

During the Second World War , a provisional air raid shelter was set up in the northern section of the Spree tunnel (Stralau side) . For this purpose, the tunnel below the Spree was divided by a concrete wall in order to protect the air raid shelter from the ingress of Spree water, which mainly seeped into the southern section of the tunnel. As restoration was not possible in the post-war period, the tunnel was completely flooded in 1948 to prevent it from collapsing. In 1968 the driveway and the first meters of tunnel on the Treptower side were removed and the access ramp on the Stralau side filled in.

In December 1996, as part of preliminary investigations for the planned rebuilding of the peninsula, the Stralau access was exposed again for a few days and the water pumped out by the Berlin fire brigade in the area of ​​the former air raid shelter. It turned out that the air raid shelter was still intact and even contained furnishings (park benches, Red Cross boxes, dishes). Since repairing the tunnel is uneconomical and therefore the use as a pedestrian tunnel between Stralau and Treptower Park is no longer an option, the remaining access ramp on the Stralau side was also superficially removed and filled in. The tunnel is completely under water again today.

Only the street name Tunnelstrasse (Stralau) and the space at the Spreetunnel (Treptower Park) reminds of the Spreetunnel, which is no longer visible. On the south side (Treptower Park), however, there is a closed exit, which is probably an entrance to the tunnel and was built in 1968. However, the access stairs are under water, so that it is impossible to walk through or requires diving equipment.

Stick railway

The Billet Railway tunnel was designed for single-track operation. In order to avoid collisions , the signal rod system was used. At the exits of the tunnel, guards were stationed who issued the only one-time signal stick to the driver of an incoming tram and removed it from the outgoing tram. Since the signal rod was only present once on the tunnel, only the tram whose driver was in possession of the signal rod was allowed to enter the tunnel. This signal rod was popularly called Knüppel , the tram line in the tunnel section was called Knüppelbahn by the Berliners .

literature

Web links

Commons : Spreetunnel Stralau – Treptow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 21 ″  N , 13 ° 28 ′ 39 ″  E