Potsdam tram
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| Basic information | |
| Country | Germany |
| city | Potsdam |
| opening | May 12, 1880 |
| operator | ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH |
| Transport network | VBB |
| Infrastructure | |
| Route length | 30.0 km |
| Gauge | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Power system | 750 volts DC overhead contact line (until October 2015 600 volts) |
| Stops | 129 |
| Tunnel stations | no |
| Depots | 1 |
| business | |
| Lines | 5 (2 amplifier lines ) |
| Line length | 74.46 km |
| Clock in the peak hours | 20 min, 10 min (line 96) |
| Clock in the SVZ | 20 min |
| vehicles | 22 Tatra KT4 Dm, 17 Siemens Combino , 18 Variobahn |
| Top speed | 60 km / h |
| statistics | |
| Reference year | 2014 |
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The Potsdam tram is the most important public transport system in Potsdam . The forerunner was the horse tram since 1880, electric trams have been running since 1907. The operator is ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH , a subsidiary of Stadtwerke since 1994 .
Routing
Line network
The Potsdam route network is standard gauge and 30.0 kilometers long. It is of five major and two amplifiers - lines busy. It is almost completely double-tracked, the Nauener Tor is crossed by means of a track loop.
Currently, the lines are as follows:
| line | course |
| 91 | Pirschheide station ↔ Rehbrücke station |
| 92 | Bornstedt, Kirschallee ↔ Schlaatz, Bisamkiez (↔ Kirchsteigfeld, Marie-Juchacz-Straße) 1 |
| 93 | Glienicker Brücke ↔ Rehbrücke station 2 |
| 94 | (Pirschheide train station ↔) Charlottenhof Palace ↔ Babelsberg, Fontanestraße 2 3 |
| 96 | Jungfernsee Campus ↔ Kirchsteigfeld, Marie-Juchacz-Straße |
| 98 | (Charlottenhof Palace ↔ Rehbrücke train station) 4 |
| 99 | Babelsberg, Fontanestrasse ↔ Platz der Einheit (↔ S Hauptbahnhof) 5 |
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| As of December 10, 2017 | |
The central transfer point of the tram network is the place of the unit , which is served by all lines.
The tram lines on all weekdays basically in the 20-minute cycle .
Line 96 runs every 10 minutes during the day. In the rush hour is considered the so then a 5-minute intervals, there is also the line 92, on the joint portion between Bisamkiez and campus college.
Lines 98 and 99 are repeater lines that only run at certain times. They are only part of the timetable to a limited extent. Line 99 runs the entire route to the main train station every day in the evening, on weekdays it runs shortened to Platz der Einheit during the day and not at all on the weekend during the day. Line 93 stops operating at around 9 p.m.
The power is with facility vehicles traveled. There are reversing loops at all end points . Exceptions are the Glienicke Bridge, where you turn around using a turning triangle , as well as Charlottenhof Palace and the main train station, where you can turn around by bypassing the block.
Expansion plans
The route in the north of Potsdam to the Jungfernsee campus is to be extended: initially via Neufahrland to the future Krampnitz district and from there to the rainbow school in Fahrland . The Potsdamer Verkehrsbetriebe want to complete the draft planning by the beginning of 2019 and expect the opening of the first section to Krampnitz between 2026 and 2028. A guided tour on its own route with seven stops to the new terminal Krampnitz-West is planned, only on the island of Fahrland double-track route run directly on the carriageway.
In the long term, the following projects are also in public discussion:
- Am Stern : Direction Stahnsdorf / Teltow. For the expansion Potsdam - Stahnsdorf - Teltow , ViP presented a route from Am Stern along Potsdamer Allee through Stahnsdorf and Teltow to the local S-Bahn and regional train stations in May 2010 . Alternatively, a route along Großbeerenstraße to the main station is being considered. The costs for the expansion were put at 50 to 60 million euros.
- Golm : Connection of the Golm district and university location via Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse. In January 2011, ViP presented plans for a route extension to Golm , favoring a route starting from Charlottenhof Palace and past the New Palais . In November 2012, the project was put on hold again for cost reasons.
- August-Bebel-Straße : Alternative route to the so-called "Media City Route".
- Potsdam-Rehbrücke : Tramtrain in the direction of Beelitz- Heilstätten based on the Karlsruhe model .
History until 1949
Horse tram
After a horse-drawn tram had already successfully started operation in neighboring Berlin in June 1865, the question of establishing such a modern means of local transport also arose for the residential and garrison city of Potsdam . The first concession went to the Berlin company Gülich & Co in May 1879, but was withdrawn from it in December of the same year because it was unable to raise the required deposit of 35,000 marks. In March 1880 the concession went to the company Reymer & Masch , which could fall back on the planning and surveying work of Gülich. The first horse-drawn tram line was opened by the Potsdam Tram Company on May 12, 1880 , and further lines followed three days or a month later. At the beginning there was a small hall with stables at the Berliner Tor, which was used as a provisional facility until a suitable area could be found in Königsstraße 79/80. This was not far from the Glienicke Bridge on Mühlenweg.
The starting point for all three lines was the Old Market, not far from the old Potsdam City Palace. All lines lead through one of the Potsdam city gates . The route was single-track and provided for several evasions. The designation of the lines was indicated with colors:
- the red line from the Alter Markt through the Berliner Tor to the Glienicker Bridge (from May 12, 1880)
- the White Line from the Old Market through the Nauener Tor to Alleestrasse in the Nauener Vorstadt (from June 15, 1880)
- the green line from the old market through the Brandenburg Gate to Viktoriastraße in the Brandenburg suburb (from May 15, 1880)
The Red Line drove straight from the Alter Markt along the front of the Barberini Palace to Berliner Strasse. The other two lines initially took this route as well, after crossing the canal, turned at an acute angle to the left and drove on the north side of the canal to Wilhelmplatz . After completion of the Kaiserbrücke on July 3, 1880, according to another source not until 1882, the white and green lines now ran directly from the Alter Markt via Kaiserstraße to Wilhelmplatz.
Early on, there was a wish that the horse-drawn railway company would expand the network in a southerly direction in order to reach the station south of the Havel over the Lange Brücke . The long bridge from 1825 was not able to cope with the additional load from the horse-drawn tram in terms of its construction, which is why a new construction or reinforcement of the bridge was necessary. It was decided to use so-called Copenhagen wagons , where it was possible to mount wooden wheels over the wheel tires in order to pass the bridge without rails.
Since the number of wagons on the Long Bridge increased significantly in the years to come, the construction reached its capacity limit even without horse-drawn railway tracks, so that the royal government also endeavored to expand it. However, the horse-drawn railway company should be involved in this. However, there were still concerns about a possible obstruction of the railway with the wagons and the passing military departments. Both objections prompted the royal government to rebuild the Havel bridge, which began in 1886. On July 19, 1888, the extension of the line to the station went into operation via a stronger bridge. After the death of two rulers in the three emperor year , a ceremonial opening was waived.
Electrification plans
As early as 1899, it was suggested that electrical operation should be introduced in Potsdam, similar to that in nearby Berlin. It was not only hoped to get a more modern and faster means of transport, but on the other hand, the dirt on the streets caused by the horses was perceived as a nuisance. The tram company was faced with another problem until 1905. The license granted from 1880 was limited to 25 years. Since the city was now considering taking over the horse-drawn tram, an extension of the concession for the previous operator was rejected. With an urban operation of the railway, however, one burdened oneself with high investment requirements for the next few years, since electrification was still urgently needed.
The problem of the expiring concession could not be solved easily. Tough negotiations took place between the city council and the tram company regarding the extension of the concession or the takeover of the private company. In addition, there were dubious banking transactions of the tram company, which led to considerable financial damage. Hermann Friedmann, who was not only chairman of the supervisory board, but also acted as director of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Bank , caused a loss of one million marks through financial speculation .
On January 1, 1904, the operation was taken over by the city for a sum of 450,000 marks (this corresponds to around 3,011,000 euros today) and run as the Potsdam municipal tram . After neighboring Berlin had had an electric tram for years, the seat of government in Potsdam was confronted with further problems. The tracks led directly along the city palace and on the Long Bridge his Majesty Wilhelm II saw himself disturbed by possible masts , already in Berlin an overhead line was prevented beforehand on the street Unter den Linden . In March 1906, Wilhelm II succeeded in convincing Wilhelm II of the need for a modern electric tram. Electrification of the Long Bridge was also approved. The future depot should be between Türkstrasse and Holzmarktstrasse.
The electrical operation was prevented until 1907 by the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam on the Telegrafenberg . This feared that its measurement results would be impaired by the electric currents of the trams. The objections of the research institute could only be dispelled by means of strong current return lines and rail joints welded according to the new thermite process.The observatory succeeded in introducing a clause in the licensing agreement for electrification of 1907 that limited the permissible magnetic effect of stray currents to 1 gamma. This enabled the observatory to block future network expansions, which it did several times in the following years. The observatory wanted the Potsdam tram to pay for its necessary move to Lake Seddiner, which the tram refused. The situation only eased from 1930, because with the electrification of the Wannseebahn , which was not subject to this clause, the required limit value could no longer be complied with anyway. The clause became permanently obsolete in 1938 with a new licensing agreement.
The following horse-drawn tram lines operated until 1907:
| line | course | |
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Railway station ↔ Alleestraße | (every 8 min.) |
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Railway station ↔ Sanssouci | (every 8 min.) |
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Railway station ↔ Glienicke Bridge | (every 15 min.) |
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Wilhelmplatz ↔ Glienicker Bridge | (every 15 min.) |
Electrification in 1907
Electrification not only required the construction of overhead lines. Instead of the existing horse-drawn railway tracks, stronger tracks had to be laid on a new substructure. In addition, the lines, which were previously single-tracked with a turnout, are now almost entirely double-tracked. The costs for this amounted to 1.325 million marks (about 8,069,000 euros). The Gottfried Lindner AG from Ammendorf supplied the vehicles; some older horse-drawn tram cars were converted into sidecars.
In the course of electrification, the following route changes were made:
- The direct route of the Red Line between Altem Markt and Berliner Straße was abandoned. The new route led first together with the other lines through Kaiserstraße over the Kaiserbrücke on Wilhelmplatz and then along the city canal , today's street Am Kanal, to the Berliner Tor.
- The single-track section of the Green Line through Brandenburger Straße was replaced by a double-track section in Charlottenstraße, one block south. This no longer led through the Brandenburg Gate, but past it to the side.
- The Green Line was extended a short distance from Victoriastraße to Charlottenhof station.
The electric operation of the Potsdam tram was opened on Sedan Day on September 2, 1907 with patriotic celebrations. Only the last section of the white line from Holzmarktstrasse to the Glienicke Bridge , which was then under construction , was only opened together with the bridge in November 1907, with rails being laid on the bridge.
Expansions and plans up to the First World War
Against the expansion of the tram network, the observatory on the Telegrafenberg often voiced its concerns about falsification of its research results through electric current.
Even before the First World War, a large number of different plans were drawn up for possible expansion of the network. An extension of the route from Alleestraße in a northerly direction to the Pfingstberg and the barracks area in Bornstedt was proposed . After a residential area was built east of Nowawes on Griebnitzsee , an extension of line D to Neubabelsberg station was suggested. From the Glienicke Bridge, they wanted to reach the Wannsee train station along today's Königsstraße . But also in the inner city of Potsdam there were plans to expand the network, whereby a stretch along today's Hegelallee and Kurfürstenstraße, which should affect the inner city, was to be built.
Not only in Bornstedt, but also in the neighboring municipality of Bornim , people wanted a connection to the tram network. Even if all these projects were discussed again and again, until today only the extension to Bornstedter Feld, which was realized in 1999, has been made.
Since 1908 the lines were no longer marked with colors but with letters. In 1909 the following lines operated:
| line | course |
| A. | Train station ↔ Charlottenhof |
| B. | Railway station ↔ Glienicke Bridge |
| C. | Railway station ↔ Alleestraße |
| D. | Wilhelmplatz ↔ Plantagenstrasse |
Line A was extended in 1911 and 1913 (see below), due to the war, no further expansion of the route network could be made during the First World War . There were bottlenecks in the energy supply and staff shortages. In addition, the lack of spare parts put a strain on smooth operation.
From 1930 to 1949
From 1930 the line designation was done with numbers instead of the letters previously used.
As early as 1938 there were first restrictions on traffic due to a lack of staff, in 1942 the timetable was thinned out to save electricity, although the number of passengers increased. Towards the end of the war, forced laborers from the occupied Netherlands were also used as drivers and conductors. In 1943, goods traffic was started on various routes, and old sidecars from the horse-drawn tram era were converted into freight carts. From December 1944, the timetable for passenger trains was thinned out due to a lack of coal, from January 1, 1945, it was limited to morning and evening rush hour traffic, and passenger traffic was completely stopped on February 5, 1945. Only the freight trains continued until April. At that time, there was only minor war-related damage in the urban area.
In the last days of the Second World War , on April 14th and 15th, Potsdam was destroyed by bombing, which had serious effects on the trams. Both car hangars were badly damaged and large parts of the track and contact line systems were destroyed. The long bridge was also badly damaged. In order to make it more difficult for enemy troops to penetrate the city, older tramcars were erected as barricades , fortified and later mostly destroyed in battle.
Before operations were resumed, trams parked on the routes were pulled and pushed into the depots by horses and people. In August 1945, minimal operations could be resumed in Potsdam-West. In September 1945 it was extended to Wilhelmplatz, in October to the ramp of the makeshift bridge at the blown Long Bridge. At this point in time, there were great difficulties with a stable energy supply. As early as May 1946, the entire network was open to traffic again, with only two exceptions: in Babelsberg, the short stretch from Plantagenstrasse to Fontanestrasse was not rebuilt until 1952, and the route to the Schützenhaus remained permanently closed.
In 1949 the following lines operated:
| line | course |
| 1 | Airship port ↔ Plantagenstrasse |
| 2 | Rehbrücke ↔ Glienicke Bridge |
| 3 | Alleestraße ↔ Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (Babelsberg) |
| 4th | Unity Square ↔ Plantagenstrasse |
| 5 | Railway station ↔ Glienicke Bridge |
History of the route
From Unity Square to the Central Station
The central transfer point within the tram network is the unit's place through which all lines are routed. Regular traffic takes place on the west and south sides, on the other sides there have been tracks since 1929, which can be used as turning points by trams that end here in an anti-clockwise direction.
The most important transfer point to the long-distance train today is Potsdam Central Station , which was called Potsdam City at the time of the Berlin Wall and was of little importance at the time. The tram line passed it some distance away. Before the station was rebuilt, there was a track loop that could only be used by journeys that ended there and was shut down in 1997. In 2000, the route in front of Potsdam Central Station was swiveled instead, so that all trains now stop in front of the entrance. In addition, there is a bypass track along Heinrich-Mann-Allee, which makes it possible to use the swivel both out of town and inward as a turning loop.
The line in between has always been the most important line in the Potsdam network. It leads over the Long Bridge , the most important and, before 1985, the only Havel crossing in the city. More than 70 percent of Potsdam's residents live south or south-east of the Havel, even though the city center is north of the Havel. This ensures enormous traffic flows on just a few axes in the city.
The route was completely re-routed twice and each time moved to the west. First, the city palace was bypassed on a narrow and winding route to the east. After the city palace was demolished, the tram has been running across the now empty property since 1961. Since 2009 she has bypassed the property to the west, so that reconstruction was made possible.
After the city palace was demolished, many streets were changed in 1961. The Kaiserstrasse, through which the tram drove, disappeared completely, and the old market was no longer used. Instead, the tram was relocated to the parallel Hohewegstraße, which was widened and is now called Friedrich-Ebert-Straße. The Unity Square, which was called "Wilhelmplatz" until 1961, was also given its new name. The canal on its south side was filled in, the street "Am Kanal" there was renamed "Heinrich-Rau-Allee", after the fall of the Berlin Wall it was renamed again.
Since 2008 and 2009, as part of the establishment of the new Brandenburg State Parliament, the route between the Platz der Einheit and Lange Brücke stops has been changed. The northern part of the Long Bridge was rebuilt and widened and now offers space not only for the north carriageway of the motorized vehicle, but also for a new local public transport route to the north of it in a lateral position. This is used by trams and numerous bus routes. In the area of the Old Market the route now runs a little south and west, which frees the Landtag building field.
In the west: Potsdam Pirschheide
The first line to the west was the Green Line as a horse-drawn tram in 1880 , electrified in 1907, from 1908 also Line A , renamed Line 1 in 1930 . The original terminus was Viktoriastraße, which was extended to Charlottenhof station in 1907.
As early as 1906, the Potsdam city council wanted to build a route through Victoriastrasse to the Wildpark train station . The demand arose from the already then considerable tourist traffic to the palace park, but also from the expected transfer of the Jüterbog – Nauen railway line , who would take the tram from there to downtown Potsdam. In order not to jeopardize electrification as a whole, initially only the route to Charlottenhof station was requested and built. In 1909 the magistrate again applied for the concession of a route to the Wildpark train station. The terminus would have been near the newly opened Kaiserbahnhof , and from the perspective of the emperor and his court that was "simply impossible", as the chief ceremonial master, Count zu Eulenburg, literally wrote in his reply. A route up to Werderschen Weg would have been accepted, but hardly any passengers would have been expected there. So in March 1910 the city applied for a single-track route to today's Kastanienallee and then through it to Charlottenhof station, which enabled the existing route to be looped. This was approved in June 1910, and on August 30, 1910, the new line was opened as an extension of Line A.
The installation of the airship port in 1911 gave rise to the need to provide the workers and the many onlookers with better transport connections. The imperial court had no objections, but the observatory did. Finally, it was agreed to build the line with only a provisional operating license. The branch to the airship port was built with a turning loop, opened on July 6, 1913 and served by line A. The new route ran through a sparsely populated area and remained unprofitable. In 1917 there were only a few daily trips, the airship port no longer existed in 1918, and tram operations on this section were completely stopped. Only in November 1920, meanwhile the development of the area slowly began, the tram traffic was resumed, initially only with a shuttle car from the Kastanienallee to the "Luftschiffhafen", the name of the stop was kept.
At Luisenplatz , since electrification in 1907, when the horse-drawn tram line was relocated from Brandenburger Strasse to Charlottenstrasse, the tram had to drive through a tight double curve in Hohenzollernstrasse (today Schopenhauerstrasse), which became increasingly dangerous with the oncoming motor vehicle traffic. That is why it was planned to straighten the route as early as the 1920s, negotiations about the acquisition of the road land dragged on, and in March 1929 the Potsdam magistrate wrote that it was “no longer to be expected this year”. In February 1931, Luisenplatz was expanded so that a stop with two pedestrian islands could be built at least in the middle of the street. This solution lasted for almost 70 years; the route was not straightened until May 2000.
On January 11, 1958, the tram network was extended from the airship port to a newly opened train station. This was initially called "Potsdam Süd" for a short time and then from 1960 onwards "Potsdam Hauptbahnhof". This resulted in a connection from East Berlin via the southern outer ring and the tram to downtown Potsdam. This was much longer than the direct route, but from the perspective of the GDR rulers it had the advantage of not passing through West Berlin territory. Initially only a few tram shuttle cars ran here, but in the course of 1958 the line from the airship port was regularly extended.
With the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the railway line became the only connection to Berlin, and traffic on the tram line became correspondingly important.
On June 10, 1975, the route out of town was shortened. Instead of taking the Nansenstrasse as before, the trams drove from Leninallee after the Feuerbachstrasse stop diagonally right into Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse. This saved two turns. There was no connection to the Charlottenhof train station , which was called "Potsdam West" from 1952 to 1993, in this direction.
After the opening of the wall, the importance of the route decreased again. In 1993 the now completely decentralized "Potsdam Hauptbahnhof" was given its current name Bahnhof Potsdam Pirschheide , which has since also been the name of the tram terminus.
The connecting curve at the Charlottenhof train station in Nansenstrasse, which could also be used as a turning triangle, existed until around 1995. The old turning loop at the airship port was dismantled in 1997. In April 2000, the Luisenplatz - Auf dem Kiewitt section in Zeppelinstrasse was relocated to a separate public transport route.
In the north: Kirschallee and Jungfernsee
The first line to the north was the White Line as a horse-drawn railway in 1880 , electrified in 1907, from 1908 also Line C , renamed Line 3 in 1930 . The original terminus was Alleestrasse.
From November 1954, the tram went a short distance further north, because the previous coupling point "Alleestraße" in Friedrich-Ebert-Straße was abandoned due to increasing individual traffic and relocated to Puschkinallee.
In order to be able to use one-way vehicles here, the route was extended in December 1963 from Puschkinallee to Kapellenberg. There was no space for a turning loop there, but a triangular track could be built to turn the trams. This remained in operation at this point until 1999.
In 1999 and 2001, the route was extended just in time for the opening of the 2001 Federal Horticultural Show . From the outset, two branches of the route were planned, which should fork at the new Campus / Fachhochschule stop . In a wood near the later Am Schragen stop, specimens of the endangered species of beetle large oak beetle were found , which is why the forest was bypassed in a wide arc to the south. In the vernacular, this section should be known as the Beetle Curve in the future .
Initially, the route was only built with the western branch that extended the tram network on December 4, 1999 from Kapellenberg to Kirschallee in Bornstedt . This made it possible to implement the long-planned connection from Bornstedt. The area of the Federal Horticultural Show was only affected to the south.
The so-called Buga-Nordast branching off from it between the campus / technical college and the Viereckremise through Bornstedter Feld was opened shortly before the start of the Federal Horticultural Show on April 7, 2001. It also provided a direct connection to the main entrance of the exhibition. Today the Volkspark Potsdam is located here with the Tropical House Biosphere Potsdam . The route also opened up a new residential area at what was then the Viereckremise terminal .
On December 9, 2017, the route from the Viereckremise was extended by 1.1 kilometers to the new terminus at Campus Jungfernsee . The route is double-tracked in Georg-Hermann-Allee, then single-tracked for 330 meters in Nedlitzer Straße to Fritz-von-der-Lancken-Straße and further north it is double-tracked again. At the end of the line, a building built by the software manufacturer SAP in 2014 will be developed, as well as other buildings with offices and apartments. The new building cost € 7.5 million. The financing came from a special budget from the city of Potsdam, which in 2014 (according to another source: 2015) made available € 50 million for this purpose and for the modernization of the existing network. The groundbreaking ceremony was planned for the "first quarter of 2016" and took place on October 25, 2016.
The two turning loops Kirschallee and Campus Jungfernsee are the newest in the Potsdam network and the only ones that can be driven clockwise. This means that the buses that run here can stop on the same platform directly opposite (vis-a-vis).
In the northeast: Glienicke Bridge
The first line to the northeast was the Red Line as a horse-drawn tram in 1880 , electrified in 1907, from 1908 also Line B , renamed Line 2 in 1930 .
The Glienicker Bridge terminus is the oldest in the Potsdam network. The first horse-drawn tram line ended in front of this bridge in 1880. After 1907 the tram drove over the then newly built bridge and ended immediately afterwards in the area of the Wannsee community , which was not yet part of Berlin , but was withdrawn again to the Potsdam side from 1916. According to another source, this route was built, but never used. An extension to Wannsee train station, which was already desired at the time , always failed because the route would lead several kilometers through a forest area in which hardly any passengers would be expected.
With the renaming of the Glienicke Bridge to "Brücke der Einheit" in December 1949, the terminus was also renamed. On July 3, 1953, the bridge was completely closed to civilians as one of the last connecting routes from Berlin to the surrounding area, which put the tram stop in a remote location. On October 15, 1956, the tram was withdrawn to Holzmarktstrasse, with buses running on the last stretch to the bridge. On December 16, 1962, it was reopened to Ludwig-Richter-Strasse, and on August 15, 1965, it was reopened to Menzelstrasse after a reversing triangle had been installed. Because of the cramped space, there was no space for a turning loop.
On August 14, 1991, a new turning triangle was built in front of the Glienicke Bridge, so that the line vehicles can maneuver closer to the bridge in reverse. Some cars were specially equipped with a rear wiper and rear warning bell. Since the abandonment of the Kapellenberg terminal in 1999, this is the only turning triangle used in regular line operations.
In the east: Babelsberg
The municipality of Nowawes (later Babelsberg) was an independent municipality east of the Havel until 1939, which by 1900 already had more than 10,000 inhabitants.
The line from the station to Nowawes was officially opened on October 17, 1908. It led behind the station south of the railway line through Kaiserstraße (today Friedrich-Engels-Straße) and then through Bergstraße (later Moltkestraße, today Daimlerstraße) and crossed the railway line with it at ground level. To the north of the railway line, it followed Lindenstrasse (today Rudolf-Breitscheid-Strasse) to Plantagenstrasse. The construction cost more than one million marks, although the new line was initially set up only as a single track with a turnout. A fourth tram line, the Blue Line , was set up for the route between Wilhelmplatz and Nowawes .
Bergstrasse was interrupted in 1911 to raise the railway line. The tram ran to Lutherplatz and was given a provisional terminus in Eisenbahnstraße (today Karl-Liebknecht-Straße); the route north of the train was not served for two years. In 1913, the underpass of Bergstrasse (now renamed Moltkestrasse) was completed, and the line went back into operation as far as Plantagenstrasse.
An extension beyond Plantagenstrasse to the Neubabelsberg train station (today Griebnitzsee ) was planned at the time, but failed in 1914 because of the purchase price for the necessary land from the state forest administration, which the Nowawes community could not afford. A second attempt by the Potsdam magistrate with detailed track layout plans was given up in 1921 because of the difficult economic situation.
The initially single-track line was expanded to two tracks in 1920 in the area of Alte Königsstraße (this corresponds to today's Friedrich-Engels-Straße to Schlaatzweg), then in 1928 to Nowawes station (now Babelsberg ) and in 1935 completely. The route was extended in 1935, but only by 600 meters from Plantagenstrasse to Fontanestrasse. It ends there today. The reversible loop was added in 1958.
When the Nutheschnellstraße was built in 1985 over the then new Humboldt Bridge, a new tram connection was also created. This initially followed the tracks in the direction of Glienicker Brücke, but turned right at Holzmarktstrasse and crossed the Havel over the new bridge. In Babelsberg the old route to Fontanestrasse was reached. The official opening of this direct connection between the city center and Babelsberg took place on April 30, 1985. This new Havel crossing also made it possible to connect the new residential area Zentrum-Ost , south of Babelsberger Park . The former lines 4 and 9 (later 94 and 99) used the new route and continue to use it today.
The old route to Babelsberg via Friedrich-Engels-Straße was initially served by line 5, later line 95. In 1992 it was given up at short notice, as the tracks laid there on large composite slabs in the winter of 1975/76 were now completely worn out and the particularly sharp drop in traffic on this section did not justify a new construction. Until 1993 it was still open for business trips. In Daimlerstrasse on the corner of Rudolf-Breitscheid-Strasse, the last remains of the track are still to this day and form a track triangle there. There is an opportunity to turn, which was used, for example, during the Babelsberg Live Night . The trains from the direction of the city end at the Rathaus Babelsberg stop, return to Daimlerstrasse and drive forward in the direction of Alt Nowawes and the city center.
Around 2008 the Humboldt Bridge and the Nutheschnellstrasse were expanded further. The route of the tram between the stops Holzmarktstraße and Alt Nowawes was moved from the middle to the side position. One of the goals was to upgrade the Humboldt Bridge and make the Humboldtring stop accessible for disabled people .
In the southeast: Rehbrücke and Kirchsteigfeld
The construction of a tram along today's Heinrich-Mann-Allee to Rehbrücke station was planned as early as the 1920s, but was initially not carried out due to the lack of profitability. In addition, until 1930 all available funds were invested in the new line to the Schützenhaus (see below). In the early 1930s, however, new residential quarters were built in the area of Saarmunder Strasse, and the line was built in 1934 and opened in September 1934. At that time it was only double-tracked as far as Drevesstraße, on the single-track section there were switches on Ravensbergweg and at the terminus at Rehbrücke station. The tracks were then - and still are today - relocated to the level of Friedhofsgasse in the middle of the street, after which they change to the southern side. An extension to 800 meters south of the Rehgraben requested by the Rehbrücke community did not come about because the Reichsbahn strictly ruled out a crossing of the railway at rail height.
On March 12, 1935, the new line was approved for a maximum speed of 40 km / h, making it the fastest in the Potsdam network at the time. In order to be able to use the wagons more freely, a former parade ground near the cemetery on Saarmunder Strasse was used from 1934 to build a second wagon hall.
The number of passengers increased rapidly, and in 1941 the section from Drevesstrasse to Waldstrasse was expanded to two tracks. This was only possible in times of war by removing unnecessary track material elsewhere, especially at the rifle house.
At the end of the Second World War, when the Potsdam tram no longer carried passenger traffic and the Saarmunder Straße depot was used by the Arado works , numerous trams were parked on the route to Rehbrücke, where they carried out the great air raid on Potsdam on April 14, 1945 and survived the end of the war unscathed.
In 1951, the double-track expansion was extended to Ravensbergweg, which resulted in higher punctuality on the line, especially with the cars turning on Ravensbergweg. The remainder of the line to Rehbrücke followed in 1966, and part of this was also re-routed when the two-track expansion was carried out.
In 1952, the Rehbrücke terminal was given a turning loop for the first time. This was rebuilt in autumn 1986 and from then on was double-tracked, the third track, which was also planned at the time, was only added in autumn 1993.
From the 1970s onwards, large new districts were gradually built in the south and south-east of Potsdam, whose transport links to the city center had to be ensured. In addition to the residential area Waldstadt I , which had already been built in 1960, another residential complex, Waldstadt II , was built on March 16, 1977 . There was already a convenient transport connection through the tram route to Rehbrücke station. However, after the completion of the new building area in 1985, the number of passengers increased sharply, with 5,190 apartments with 13,500 inhabitants added.
In addition, the Am Schlaatz new building area was built on the Nuthewiesen with apartments for 16,000 residents and further east of it, beyond the Nuthe, the Am Stern residential area . The routing caused particular difficulties during the planning, as the Berlin - Drewitz - Beelitz - Güsten ( Kanonenbahn ) line had to be crossed. This gave rise to another problem with securing the border with West Berlin. A tram along Ernst-Thälmann-Strasse (today Großbeerenstrasse) would have crossed the railway line in an area in which the transit trains in the direction of West Berlin had already passed the border control (approximately at the level of today's depot Wetzlarer Strasse). Although goods trains ran almost exclusively through this border control point , crossing the already fenced route posed a risk of possible border violations. The route across the Nuthewiesen was therefore the only acceptable option, despite the extensive construction work.
It was decided to branch off the route at Heinrich-Mann-Allee from the route to Rehbrücke, which had existed since 1934, in order to touch the future residential area of Am Schlaatz to the south. After reaching the Nuthe, the following section of the route was planned in the character of an overland tram with excessive curves and according to track construction standards such as those used by the Deutsche Reichsbahn . The track here reached a dam height of up to nine meters. After crossing the railway line, the Nutheschnellstraße to be built should also be crossed in order to finally reach street level again on Turmstraße. From here, the route again had the character of a tram and reached via the Johannes-Kepler-Platz stop , whose surroundings represent a central point in the Am Stern residential area , to the Max-Born-Straße stop and finally to its end point at Am Stern . Work began in 1980. In order to feed heavy track construction equipment, a siding to the railway line was laid between the railway bridge and the expressway overpass. Using Reichsbahn technology (such as class 106 diesel locomotives , tamping machines and elevated tracks) and using helicopters to set the catenary masts, up to 500 meters of track were laid daily. In contrast, a conventional tram overhead line was used, for which 198 masts had to be erected. During the construction phase, a construction track was temporarily set up on the curve at the Gaußstraße stop , which had a more generous radius than the current route, as the equipment used for track construction could not be used with curve radii of 50 meters today. After a branch line had already been served at the Schlaatz with rear-to-rear operation, the entire opening of the section, henceforth referred to as the star route, took place on October 7, 1982. According to official reports, test drives of up to 75 km / h were achieved on the maximum banked curves .
Since another residential area in Neu-Drewitz was built south of the Am Stern residential area from 1988 , there was a need to expand the branch to Robert-Baberske-Strasse. An elevation of the Nutheschnellstraße was inevitable for this.
On February 7, 1993, the expansion to Drewitz was officially opened. The route runs from the Gaußstraße stop in a southerly direction and, after crossing under the Nutheschnellstraße , swings in a south-westerly direction to follow the course of Konrad-Wolf-Allee , which crosses the new development area in the middle. During the planning phase, the Hans-Albers-Straße stop was relocated a little further northeast to its current location. An extension to the planned residential area of Kirchsteigfeld to the south was already being prepared during the construction of the section and corresponding points were installed at the Robert-Baberske-Straße turning loop .
The Stern-Center Potsdam shopping center, which opened in October 1996, also increased the number of passengers in the direction of Stern and Drewitz, as the Stern-Center became the most important shopping center in Potsdam.
On August 12, 1997, the groundbreaking ceremony for the planned extension of the tram into Kirchsteigfeld took place. Starting from the previous terminus at Robert-Baberske-Straße , a 1.1 kilometer long new line was supposed to open up the new building area, whereby the construction costs were put at 7.3 million D-Marks (this is currently around 5,100,000 euros). Problems initially caused the acquisition of the property for the construction of the future turning loop on Marie-Juchacz-Strasse , although an agreement could only be reached in February of the following year. On May 23, 1998, the star route was extended from Drewitz to the Kirchsteigfeld development area . In this construction project, a total of 2500 meters of track were laid, between the Hirtengraben stops and the Marie-Juchacz-Straße terminus, mainly as grass track. The remaining part is paved so that regional and night buses can use the route here.
In the southwest: Schützenhaus (former route)
In 1930 a line to the Schützenhaus was opened and served by the newly created line 5 (Wilhelmplatz - Schützenhaus). The new route followed today's Bundesstraße 2 and should actually only be the first part of a connection to Caputh . The contractual relationships were complicated: Potsdam had committed itself to the Zauch-Belzig district to build the line to Schwielowsee station, but the municipality of Caputh now wanted instead of a tram through its inhabited area only a route to the entrance to its elongated municipality, which in turn was rejected by Potsdam because too few passengers were to be expected here. The earthworks, some of which had already been carried out, were canceled and the line to Caputh never continued.
Line 5 carried only a few passengers on its double-track route to the Schützenhaus from the start. Soon it was downgraded to a pendulum line between Schützenplatz (today the intersection of Heinrich-Mann-Allee / Brauhausberg) and Schützenhaus, on which a small railcar drove every 30 minutes. In 1940 the second track was dismantled, in 1944 the line was only in operation on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the mornings, most recently (until April 1945) only freight traffic took place. Immediately after the end of the war, the dismantling of the track system began in May 1945; the material was installed at other points in the Potsdam network.
The old route is still clearly visible on the side of the street on the Brauhausberg; parts of the former rail line have cross-parking spaces.
vehicles
Vehicles built before World War II
The Gottfried Lindner AG from Ammendorf delivered the first 29 electric-powered tram in 1907 and the 1908th Ten sidecars were delivered for this purpose, five more were converted from horse-drawn carriages. From 1922 onwards, all cars were rebuilt, they were given platform front glazing and a brown paintwork that was characteristic of Potsdam for a long time, which gave them the popular name of the Kakaobahn . Another seven railcars and seventeen sidecars followed from the same manufacturer from 1926 to 1928. For the commissioning of the route to Rehbrücke in 1934, seven identical but more powerful vehicles from the manufacturer Christoph & Unmack were purchased.
Many of these trams were destroyed by the war. In the post-war period there was a great shortage of trams.
Of the very first railcars from 1907 and 1908, eleven were modernized again in 1954. The passenger service of the other railcars ended in 1958, that of the modernized railcars in 1968, three work railcars drove until 1971. None of these vehicles was preserved. A wagon was reconstructed in 2011 on the basis of a preserved goods cart (see under "Historic vehicles").
From 1951 to 1972
The first LOWA railcars reached the city from 1951. Five railcars taken over from Leipzig in 1955 and built around 1910 were not used and were passed on to Schwerin in the same year . From 1958 the first tram cars from Gotha production came to the Havel city. First two type B 57 side cars in 1958, then another six T 57 railcars and three B 57 side cars by 1961. These vehicles were also used together with old-build vehicles. In the same year the first two articulated wagons of the G4-61 type arrived in Potsdam, and by 1965 the transport company had ten articulated wagons of this type. Ten G4-65s were delivered from 1965, which, together with the T2-62 and B2-62 that were also delivered , succeeded in reducing the number of pre-war vehicles to a minimum. The articulated tram 180 of the type G4-65 was the last tram car built in Gotha for the GDR, all subsequent vehicles for companies in the GDR were obtained from abroad.
In 1984 the transport company again took over a series of six used articulated cars (180-186) and eight sidecars (263-271) of the type G4 and B2-64 from the Leipzig tram , which had previously been switched to standard gauge there. Of these vehicles, one articulated car and three sidecars went into service from June 1986. However, in some cases their condition was so bad that some were never used. The unused vehicles were taken out of service in 1989, railcar 186 then together with the last Gothawagen in operation in 1991.
In addition one procured also Rekowagen of types TE 59, TE and TE 63/1 63/2 and sidecar of the type BE 59/1 as used vehicles from Berlin, who were between December 1972 and 1978 in Potsdam in use.
Tatra Mountains
In 1972, there were only trams in Potsdam from pre-war stocks and from Werwohn and Gothaer production, while most other tram companies in the GDR such as Dresden , Leipzig , Halle or Magdeburg were already using modern trams from Czechoslovak production.
It was only with the design of the Tatra KT4 short articulated wagon that a decision was made in Potsdam to purchase trams from Czechoslovakia. The two prototypes of this new type arrived in Potsdam on November 29, 1974 after initial testing on the Prague tram network , after no interest in the vehicles was shown in Berlin. Just two months later, they were used in regular passenger operations. The first series vehicles were delivered from 1977, so that in 1979 there were already 17 KT4D in stock, including the two prototypes 001 and 002.
Between June 1989 and April 1990 a total of 80 KT4D arrived in Potsdam from Berlin. As a result, not only could the Gothawagen T57 and articulated wagons of the type G4-65, which were still in use , be successively replaced, which had been given a red and white paintwork from 1987, but the KT4D prototypes could also be parked. The last time the Gothawagen was used was on January 3, 1990 on line 4, a farewell trip was carried out on March 10, 1990 with cars 186-271. As a result, in Potsdam, before the capital Berlin, the new Tatra trams were used from 1990 onwards.
In 1989, numerous two-year-old Tatras were handed over from Berlin to Potsdam, followed by other, only slightly older cars in 1990. This enabled all older vehicle types to be replaced in Berlin. Around 1992 the fleet of vehicles for regular service consisted exclusively of vehicles from the Czech manufacturer Tatra built between 1977 and 1987.
Most of these were modernized between 1992 and 1995. At the ceremonial opening of the new line to Robert-Baberske-Strasse on February 7, 1993, a modernized Tatra car was presented to the public. Between 1993 and 1995, a total of 85 KT4Ds in Hennigsdorf and Bautzen were fundamentally modernized and henceforth referred to as KT4Dm. The modernized cars were given the numbers 101 to 162 (leading railcars) and 201 to 259 ( guided railcars that only run in second place). Most of these cars were given to other cities by 2009 and are still in operation today.
In the 1980s and again around 2004, attempts were made with KT4D three-car trains in the network, but these were not pursued any further. Almost all of the stops are long enough for this. Only the Abzw. Depot ViP and Glienicker Brücke stops have not been expanded accordingly.
In mid-2011, 37 modernized, high-floor Tatra KT4D multiple units were still in service in Potsdam. In the period that followed, demand fell. Eight of these accelerator-controlled railcars were sold to the Alexandria Tramway in September 2015 .
In August 2015, the remaining KT4Dm were converted: the roll-up display was replaced with the orange-colored LED target display that is common on low-floor vehicles. In addition, the signs attached to the side of the roof (advertising for the special Krongut line tram 92, culture line tram 93 and tropical line tram 96) have been removed.
In November 2015, 21 Tatra cars (including 11 leading railcars) were still in service in Potsdam. All of these cars were delivered to Berlin in 1987, transferred to Potsdam in 1989 and modernized in 1995. Compared to wagons purchased later, they can take more passengers with them, but are not handicapped accessible. Your departure from the company is planned for the year 2022, when the Passenger Transport Act from then on only provides for the use of barrier-free vehicles.
Combino
The Combino was presented in 1996 by Siemens Verkehrstechnik. A system construction of the car with strict modularity and a screwed (instead of welded) aluminum structure should enable 100 percent low-floor space , low acquisition costs and fast delivery. Potsdam was the first city in the world to order the Combino. As the number of passengers was expected to fall, a version was ordered that was significantly shorter than the previously used Tatras in double traction.
The first four Combinos (car no. 401–404) were delivered in 1998. The plan was to purchase four vehicles per year, a total of 48 Combinos, which would have completely replaced the Tatra fleet. Due to financial difficulties, after the arrival of the last Combinos in April 2001 (car no. 413-416), deliveries were initially only temporarily interrupted.
Due to construction defects, cracks appeared in the area of the portal arches between the individual vehicle parts in the summer of 2003, which were repaired by Siemens as part of the guarantee. In addition, there was a complaint about excessive noise. The city considered getting out of the supply contracts with Siemens, but shied away from the high costs that would then be due.
In other cities, too, there were problems with the Combinos and occasional shutdowns. When a Freiburg car was sent to Prague for inspection at the end of 2003, Siemens discovered that the calculation of the stability of the car body was incorrect. The heavy electrical equipment directly under the roof, a result of the low-floor construction, could fall on the passengers sitting in the tram in the event of a collision or even just emergency braking. Siemens then recommended in March 2004 that Combino railways with a mileage of over 120,000 kilometers be taken out of service worldwide.
As a precaution, all 16 Combinos were taken out of service in Potsdam, as they had all reached this mileage in the meantime. This posed major problems for the transport company, museum vehicles were even used and Tatras that had already been sold were brought back. By relaxing the damage classes in Siemens' recommendations, five Combinos were again provisionally operational in June 2004 and the entire fleet by the end of the year.
The incorrectly designed Combinos were dismantled by Siemens from 2007 and completely rebuilt from the chassis, this time using conventional welding technology and steel construction. In December 2008 all 16 vehicles were available again in Potsdam.
Since the Combinos had proven to be unreliable, the Potsdamer Verkehrsbetriebe did not want to continue the supply contract with Siemens, which was only temporarily interrupted in 2001, and ordered other vehicles from competitor Stadler at the end of 2008. The company Siemens filed a complaint against this, but a corresponding urgent application was rejected by the Brandenburg Higher Regional Court.
In July 2015, ViP submitted an order to Siemens to have eight of the Combinos extended from five to seven parts. The reason was the lack of capacity of the five-car with the meanwhile strong increase in the number of passengers. The first converted Combino was completed in September 2017 and is expected to go into operation in December 2017. Since the two new middle segments were taken over from the Avenio series, the successor to Combino, they protrude a few centimeters above the roof edge of the other elements of the Combinos. The workshop also has to be rebuilt for the wagons, which are now around 10 meters longer. In this way, eight Combinos in Bern had already been extended in 2009.
Combino prototype
The Combino prototype was built by Siemens in 1996 and used in the summer of 1997 on lines 92 (Kapellenberg - Robert-Baberske-Straße) and 95 (Kapellenberg - Fontanestraße). The passengers could use the trips free of charge. The prototype was then presented to potential buyers in various cities as a test car. In 2002 ViP took it over as a historic vehicle for one euro. A deployment was not initially planned.
In contrast to the series vehicles produced for Potsdam, the prototype has only four instead of five segments and is a bidirectional vehicle .
After all 16 series vehicles had been rebuilt by 2008, the Combino prototype was then refurbished in 2009 as an additional 17th vehicle for regular service. After a derailment in the Gleisdreieck Glienicker Brücke in November 2010, the vehicle was not used for several months. After a successful repair, it was back in use to a limited extent. Since 2014 the vehicle has been parked again due to problems with the single wheel single running gear and the poor supply of spare parts.
After 2 years of storage, car 400 was used on a trial basis on December 6, 2015 on the special Advent trips of the mulled wine express , and since December 14 it has been back in regular service. During the two-year stoppage, on the one hand the single wheel single running gear was repaired, on the other hand the power running gears were also subjected to a general inspection. Due to its lower capacity compared to the Combino series vehicles, the vehicle was mainly used on routes 94, 98 and 99.
In April 2018, the conversion of the Combino prototype into the world's first autonomous tram began. Siemens Mobility GmbH started the “Autonomous” project together with ViP. The Combino No. 400 (built in 1996) was fitted with numerous sensors for monitoring the route and the environment, as well as extensive computer technology. Converted in this way, it has been rolling completely autonomously on the section between the ViP depot and the turning loop at Stern since May 2018.
During the test phase, the vehicle will be accompanied by technicians and engineers from Siemens who will evaluate the data collected. To be on the safe side, there is always a ViP driver who can intervene immediately in an emergency. The car does not drive autonomously (as of September 2018) only in the ViP yard and from the junction into the turning loop.
Variobahn
On January 30, 2009, ten low-floor Stadler Variobahn trains with a total value of 25 million euros were ordered to replace the remaining Tatra multiple units , and have been in use as planned since 2011. There was also an option for a further eight vehicles for 20 million euros. This option was exercised, and the last of a total of 18 trains was delivered at the end of 2014. Each Variobahn replaced a KT4Dm double traction.
Between 2011 and 2012, complaints from passengers about the lack of capacity and the cramped conditions inside the new Variobahn, which steadily replaced other Tatra trams in use, increased. From the summer of 2012, this meant that the use of the Variobahn on the star route was refrained from if possible.
In May 2012, the same serial damage occurred on four of the seven Potsdam Variobahns at that time as a few months earlier on the Variobahns of the Munich tram , which led to cracks in the rubber bodies of the wheels. Unlike in Munich, the trains could continue. It was stipulated that a visual inspection had to be carried out every 5000 km or around four weeks and that if the cracks were too large, the wheel had to be replaced, which took about a day per track. An expert report submitted in Munich later named errors in the composition and manufacture of the rubber elements "as the likely cause of the damage".
In 2013, clutch damage occurred in 8 of the 10 vehicles delivered, which meant that all clutch systems had to be overhauled.
During a routine check on January 22nd, 2014, a fault was found on 13 of the 14 Vario railways delivered at the time, which led to a risk of derailment. If the tolerance was not reached, there was not enough play between the wheel and the rail, and problems existed primarily on the non-driven axles. All faulty trains were taken out of service immediately, only the youngest copy was not affected. The ViP demanded proof of safety from the manufacturer before they wanted to put the railways back into operation. Later it turned out that the wheel inclination was slight, so that two opposing wheels had a slight V-shaped position to one another. After the wheels were re-profiled in the ViP workshop, the affected railways could be used again for regular services. In addition, a significantly shortened inspection cycle of 1000 km (about 3 days) was established.
Planned acquisitions
The next-generation vehicles, which will be purchased around 2025, will be 2.4 meters wide and ten centimeters wider than the previous ones.
Historic wagons
In addition to the cars that were used as planned, some historical vehicles have been preserved, which are owned by the heritage preservation association Nahverkehr Berlin e. V. supervised and regularly used for special trips. In 1978, the then operations manager of the Strömbach transport company ordered that all old vehicles that had been preserved up to that point should be scrapped, even though the wish to preserve the vehicles was already there at that time. Due to this fact, almost all of today's museum vehicles represent the operational stock of the 1970s. This also includes the KT4 prototype, a Gotha three-car train and a Gotha articulated car. For anniversary events, vehicles from earlier eras always had to be borrowed from other clubs and companies.
In 2007, a group was formed that set itself the task of rebuilding a historic Lindner railcar as it was in the delivery condition from 1907. The basis for this was an existing freight cart, the origins of which go back to a railcar from around 1907. The construction was completed in 2011, the vehicle is occasionally used at events and special trips.
Depots
In September 2001 the completely newly built depot for trams and buses was opened on Fritz-Zubeil-Straße.
The carriage hall with workshop opened in 1907 on Holzmarktstrasse was abandoned in spring 2001 because the structural conditions no longer met the legal requirements. In 2004, when due to the failure of all new vehicles, many parked old vehicles were suddenly put back into operation, the workshop was reactivated at short notice, although it was already disconnected from the network.
The depot on Heinrich-Mann-Allee, which opened in 1935, was also closed on November 27, 2002 after the new depot was opened in 2001. The last time trams used the depot as a turning loop on the occasion of the pottery market in 2002.
When the new low-floor wagons were purchased at the latest, it became clear that the halls were no longer up to date. Since the technology of these vehicles is not under, but on the vehicle, the maintenance technology had to be significantly modified. In 1998 the car shed in Drevesstraße was given a roof work stand, but this was only a temporary solution. In addition to the narrow entrance gates, the hall could not be heated, which is why the washing facility located here could not be used in winter. The capacity of the sidings was barely enough to park the trams, which often meant that shunting trips were necessary due to blocked tracks.
Former car shed on Holzmarktstrasse in June 2001.
Vehicle parade at the opening of the Wetzlarer Strasse depot, 2001
Rail maintenance vehicle 303 at Platz der Einheit, 2007
Other (after 1949)
GDR time
During the GDR era, the slogan “For Peace and Socialism” was engraved on the window panes of Potsdam trams.
The Potsdam tram carried 38.9 million passengers in 1980, 41.6 million passengers in 1985 and 42.3 million passengers in 1988.
Conductor and validator before 1990
Before 1960 there was always a conductor in every car. This sold the tickets and gave departure signals. In bidirectional operation with a sidecar, the conductors were also responsible for the laborious recoupling that was normally necessary at each terminal.
In 1960 the “Z-Operation” was introduced. That meant that only the sidecars were manned by conductors. From 1962 there was the “ZZ-Betrieb”, which meant that only the last sidecar was occupied by a conductor. From 1964 to 1965 all lines were switched to “OS” operation, ie “without a conductor”. Tickets were now obtained from payment boxes . Hole validators were introduced in the 1980s .
Color concept 1990
In parallel to the transformation of the former municipal transport company to Verkehrsbetrieb in Potsdam GmbH , a new color concept in the corporate colors of green and white was introduced at the end of 1990. From then on, the trams were gradually given the new paint scheme, with individual KT4Ds (e.g. car number 100) retaining the orange and white paint scheme that had been taken over from Berlin until 1993.
Condition of the tracks after 1990
Around 1990 the superstructure was in poor condition on many stretches , as large composite panels were often laid, and their condition steadily deteriorated in everyday operation. Therefore, these were replaced in the course of the complete renovation of the tram network, which began in the 1990s. The route on line 95, which ran on large composite panels through Friedrich-Engels-Strasse, was even completely shut down in 1992. The last sections along Zeppelinstrasse and Berliner Strasse were replaced by 2001. As an alternative, the tracks were paved from now on on the sections with the road surface , but this type of superstructure also shows damage in heavily used areas (for example in the curve at the main train station or at the Friedrich-Ebert-Straße / Charlottenstraße junction) and a renewed replacement has been proven only necessary for a few years.
Dynamic passenger information before 2000
From the end of the 1990s, the most important stops were equipped with dynamic passenger information that provides real-time information about the next departures or possible operational disruptions.
Express lines from 2000 to 2010
The pupils and commuters within the schedule concept clock in 2000 appointed quick line X98 took into account the particular importance of the train station and the neighborhoods Drewitz / Am Stern. In the initial phase there were often delays, as the slower liner train of line 96 (with stops at all stops) often left in front of the crash course and this had to follow behind the liner train. Another high-speed line X91 between Bornstedt, Kirschallee and Rehbrücke station (Waldstadt) has been discontinued. The ten-year episode of the Schnelllinien finally ended with the introduction of the City + concept on April 1, 2010. At this point, the X98 was converted back into a normal line with stops at all stations.
Car shortage in 2004
In March 2004, all 16 Potsdam Combino lifts had to be temporarily shut down due to a design error that was only recognized later (see above, section “Combino” ). As a result, the transport company had major problems covering the timetable with the other vehicles. An emergency timetable was drawn up, which came into force on Monday, March 15, 2004, and in which only 15 daily journeys were omitted. Three of the seven KT4Dm that had been sold to the Szeged tram a few days earlier were brought back and used again in Potsdam. In addition, other parked vehicles of the same type were processed, with the necessary main inspections also being carried out in the old depot in Holzmarktstrasse, which was already disconnected from the network. Since, instead of the 32 trains required for the timetable, it was initially only possible to show 27 operational, museum vehicles were also used for scheduled trips during rush hour. After a sufficient number of KT4Dm could be reactivated, the situation relaxed increasingly. A shuttle bus was set up at short notice for passengers with limited mobility. At the end of 2004 all Combinos were ready for use again.
Passenger attendant from 2008
In the summer of 2008, passenger attendants were first used in the evening hours as a measure against vandalism in the vehicles.
See also
literature
- Author collective: Tram archive . tape 5 : Berlin and the surrounding area. . Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport , Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00172-8 .
- The KT4D prototypes - history! Present!? Future? Berlin Heritage Preservation Association (probably 1996).
- Wolfgang Kramer: The tram to Kirchsteigfeld . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . July 1998.
- Wolf-Dietger Machel , Michael Günther: Potsdamer local transport: trams and trolleybuses in Brandenburg's state capital . Geramond-Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-932785-03-7 .
- Jörg-Peter Schultze: On new tram tracks to the north . In: ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (Hrsg.): The tram arrives in the new north of Potsdam . Special publication on the occasion of the opening of the route to Kirschallee. Potsdam December 1999.
- Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (Hrsg.): Potsdam tram history . Potsdam 2005.
- Holger Schöne, Harald Tschirner: Jubilee in Potsdam: "100 Years of Electricity" . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . 34th year, no. 6 (November / December), 2007, pp. 158-161 .
- Michael Alexander Populorum: Trams of Europe 4: Trams in the Berlin area. Part 3: Potsdam tram. Excursus: Geisterbahnhof Potsdam Pirschheide (= publication series of the Documentation Center for European Railway Research (DEEF) . Volume 11 ). Mercurius self-published, Grödig / Salzburg 2014.
Web links
- Stadtwerke (and transport company) Potsdam
- Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH
- strassenbahn-potsdam.de
- Information on the history and operation of the Potsdamer Tram, as well as extensive photo gallery at tram2000.de
- Line chronicle tram Potsdam on berlin.bahninfo.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Facts and Figures. Useful information. (No longer available online.) Stadtwerke Potsdam, archived from the original on August 7, 2014 ; accessed on April 23, 2015 (as of 2016).
- ^ A b Carola Hein: Last of 18 Vario-Bahnen put into service. In: Märkische Allgemeine . November 24, 2014, accessed April 28, 2015 .
- ↑ Numbers and facts. Useful information. Stadtwerke Potsdam, archived from the original on May 27, 2015 ; accessed on April 23, 2015 (as of 2008. The current network length of 30.0 km was calculated from the then 28.9 km plus 1.1 km extension in 2017).
- ↑ Timetables for trams, daytime and late night traffic. ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH, accessed on December 10, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Holger Catenhusen: Tram route to Jungfernsee: Protests for the premiere trip Potsdamer Latest News December 11, 2017
- ↑ Josefine Sack: Green light for tram to Krampnitz www.maz-online.de November 25, 2015
- ↑ Jürgen Stich: IN ONE WORD. Edge of the plate. Jürgen Stich on rail projects that are still immature. In: Märkische Allgemeine . March 3, 2009, archived from the original on July 10, 2009 ; Retrieved April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ Enrico Bellin: Vip wants tram to Teltow - the head of the Potsdamer Verkehrsbetriebe thinks tram lines are realistic. In: Märkische Allgemeine . May 7, 2010, archived from the original on October 5, 2011 ; Retrieved April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ Public transport company wants tram to Golm. In: Potsdam's latest news . January 31, 2011, accessed on November 23, 2015 (Author abbreviation: GS; presumed author therefore Günter Schenke).
- ^ Erhart Hohenstein: Tram to Golm and Eiche. In: Potsdam's latest news . February 26, 2011, accessed November 23, 2015 .
- ↑ Günter Schenke: Traffic table wants insight into priority list. In: Potsdam's latest news . March 2, 2007, accessed April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ Development plan No. 41 - Media City Babelsberg, 3rd amendment, explanations. (PDF; 1.4 MB) State capital Potsdam, February 21, 2006, accessed on April 7, 2009 .
- ↑ a b c d Chronicle of the Potsdamer Tram on www.tram2000.com
- ↑ a b c Ivo Köhler: History of the Tram in Potsdam, terra press 2018, pp. 11-13. Reading sample on Google
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 11
- ↑ Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (ed.): Potsdamer Straßenbahngeschichte . 2005, p. 6 .
- ↑ a b Alter Markt (old version) ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) and Alter Markt (new version) , both on www.tram2000.com
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 17
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 21
- ↑ a b c Chronicle of local traffic in Potsdam. (No longer available online.) Stadtwerke Potsdam, archived from the original on September 17, 2012 ; accessed on April 23, 2015 .
- ↑ Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (ed.): Potsdamer Straßenbahngeschichte . 2005, p. 8th f .
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 22-24, 28, 48/49, 60/61 and 74
- ↑ a b Machel / Günther (1999), p. 29
- ↑ a b Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (Ed.): Potsdamer Straßenbahngeschichte . 2005, p. 11 .
- ↑ Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (ed.): Potsdamer Straßenbahngeschichte . 2005, p. 13 .
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 76-78
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 82
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Post-war history from 1945 on www.potsdam-straba.de
- ↑ a b Platz der Einheit - the Potsdam tram junction ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on www.tram2000.com
- ↑ Potsdam city center. (PDF; 4.7 MB) City of Potsdam, December 19, 2008, archived from the original on July 30, 2012 ; Retrieved on April 24, 2015 (information leaflet about construction work in the city center).
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 42/43
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 45/48
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 63/64
- ↑ Jörg-Peter Schultze: On new tram tracks in the north . In: ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (Hrsg.): The tram arrives in the new north of Potsdam . Special publication on the occasion of the opening of the route to Kirschallee. Potsdam December 1999.
- ↑ a b c Marco Zschieck: Endstation Campus am Jungfernsee Potsdamer Latest News 23 August 2016
- ↑ a b Tagesspiegel: New development areas in the north of Potsdam, article from February 2015 and April 2015
- ^ Potsdam: City gives money for tram expansion. Eurailpress, October 23, 2014, accessed November 30, 2015 .
- ↑ Groundbreaking ceremony for tram to Jungfernsee. (No longer available online.) State capital Potsdam, October 25, 2016, archived from the original on October 26, 2016 ; Retrieved October 26, 2016 .
- ↑ Disused tram routes in Zehlendorf on berlin.bahninfo.de
- ^ Ivo Köhler: History of the Tram in Potsdam, terra press 2018, p. 23f.
- ↑ Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (ed.): Potsdamer Straßenbahngeschichte . 2005, p. 12 .
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 39/40
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 55–57
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 55
- ^ Plan of the royal seat of Potsdam and the surrounding area, mid-1930s, in: Ivo Köhler, Geschichte der Straßenbahn in Potsdam, terra press 2018, pp. 26/27
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 69–73
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 92
- ↑ Route plan around 1986 and timetable 1989
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 125
- ↑ Building description. Expansion of Nuthestraße - L 40. (PDF; 89 kB) City of Potsdam, archived from the original on September 25, 2013 ; Retrieved April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 66-69
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 76
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 86
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 104
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 116
- ^ Waldstadt Chronik - On the history of the Potsdam district Waldstadt II 1979–1999 . Waldstadt Citizens' Initiative (BIWA), 2000.
- ↑ 25 years of tram to the residential area “Am Stern” . Berlin Heritage Preservation Association , 2007.
- ↑ a b Inner-city track and road systems. (No longer available online.) Hastrabau , archived from the original on March 25, 2015 ; accessed on April 23, 2015 .
- ^ Wolfgang Kramer: The tram to Kirchsteigfeld . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . July 1998.
- ^ The disused tram to the Potsdam Schützenhaus on berlin.bahninfo.de
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 59 - 63 and 83
- ↑ a b The first generation cars ( Memento from December 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at www.tram2000.de
- ↑ a b c d car park list on www.tram-info.de
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 139
- ^ Author collective: Tram archive . tape 3 . Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport , Berlin 1984, DNB 850190703 .
- ↑ Christoph Heuer: www.Gothawagen.de - Potsdam. Retrieved April 23, 2015 .
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), p. 148
- ↑ home.arcor.de ( Memento from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ^ Jan Gympel, Ivo Köhler: Rekowagen. The harder way of driving the tram . Society for Transport Policy and Railways (GVE), Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89218-045-8 .
- ↑ a b The KT4D prototypes - history! Present!? Future? Berlin Heritage Preservation Association (probably 1996).
- ↑ Numbers and facts, worth knowing ( Memento of August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) - stated status: April 2010
- ↑ a b c Combino became a worldwide disaster Signal 3/2004 (June / July 2004), pages 30–31
- ↑ a b c d Low-floor articulated multiple unit Combino - Tw-400 to Tw-416 at www.tram2000.com
- ↑ Cracks in the roof: Siemens paralyzes trams worldwide Spiegel Online March 15, 2004
- ^ DVV Media Group GmbH: Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam: First extended Combino-Tram is back . In: Eurailpress . ( eurailpress.de [accessed on October 23, 2017]).
- ↑ From October 17 Combinos. In: Potsdam's latest news . January 22, 2009, accessed April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ One-euro tram “Perugia”. Combino prototype is named for the twin city. In: Potsdam's latest news . January 29, 2010, accessed April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ Combino derailed at Glienicke Bridge. In: Potsdam's latest news . November 22, 2010, accessed November 26, 2015 .
- ↑ World premiere in Potsdam. In: Tagesspiegel. September 4, 2018, accessed January 17, 2019 .
- ↑ AUTONOMOUS - A project by SIEMENS and ViP. In: youtube.com. Retrieved January 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Guido Berg: The ViP wants the Variobahn. In: Potsdam's latest news . October 11, 2008, accessed April 24, 2015 .
- ^ Potsdam orders 19 trams from Stadler. In: Potsdam's latest news . January 20, 2009, accessed April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ Volkmar Klein: Ten Variobahns bought. In: Märkische Allgemeine . January 31, 2009, archived from the original on February 6, 2013 ; Retrieved April 24, 2015 .
- ↑ Interpersonal contacts - the new trams are too narrow for many Potsdam residents / passengers only used the complaint function very sparingly. In: Märkische Allgemeine . January 31, 2012, archived from the original on March 7, 2012 ; Retrieved on December 1, 2012 (according to the web archive page currently available, but in reality it is forwarded to the homepage).
- ↑ Sabine Schicketanz : Potsdam: Serial damage in the Variobahn: cracks in rubber tires. In: Potsdam's latest news . May 31, 2012, accessed May 3, 2015 .
- ^ Frank Schliffke: MUNICH: Variobahns continue to run. In: Der Rote Renner . August 31, 2012, accessed May 3, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Marco Zschieck: Tram crisis: Hope for a quick end. In: Potsdam's latest news . January 25, 2014, accessed May 3, 2015 .
- ^ Nadine Fabian: Variobahn in Potsdam shut down. In: Märkische Allgemeine . January 24, 2014, accessed May 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Rainer Schüler: Further uncertainty about Vario-Trams. In: Märkische Allgemeine . February 5, 2014, accessed May 3, 2015 .
- ^ Rainer Schüler: Potsdam wants to extend tram trains. In: Märkische Allgemeine . January 18, 2015, accessed November 23, 2015 .
- ↑ Potsdam working group. Berlin Heritage Preservation Association, accessed on April 24, 2015 .
- ^ Motor car no. 9. History of a reconstruction. Historic tram Potsdam e. V., archived from the original on February 14, 2015 ; accessed on May 27, 2019 (original website no longer available).
- ^ Robert Leichsenring: The tram depots. The tram in Potsdam, archived from the original on July 15, 2015 ; accessed on May 27, 2019 (original website no longer available).
- ↑ ViP depots - the time for the old depots is coming to an end . In: ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH (Hrsg.): Aims . Passenger magazine. tape 03/1999 .
- ↑ Peter Richter: Second Spring - In Potsdam, the GDR restaurant "Minsk" is to be demolished and suddenly develops identity-creating power even for the city's Baroque faction , In,: Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 2, 2018, page 9
- ↑ Machel / Günther (1999), pp. 117 and 120
- ↑ Robert Leichsenring: From conductors and tickets. The tram in Potsdam, archived from the original on July 14, 2015 ; accessed on May 27, 2019 (original website no longer available).
- ↑ Volkmar Klein: ViP temporarily shut down all Combinos . In: Märkische Allgemeine . March 14, 2004.
- ↑ "Doorman" for buses and trains. In: Potsdam's latest news . June 6, 2008, accessed November 29, 2015 .
| Baden-Württemberg |
Freiburg im Breisgau | Heilbronn | Karlsruhe ( tram and light rail ) | Kehl (Strasbourg) | Heidelberg | Mannheim | Stuttgart | Ulm | Weil am Rhein (Basel) |
|
| Bavaria | ||
| Berlin | ||
| Brandenburg |
Brandenburg an der Havel | Cottbus | Frankfurt (Oder) | Potsdam | Schöneiche near Berlin | Strausberg | Woltersdorf |
|
| Bremen | ||
| Hesse |
Darmstadt | Frankfurt am Main ( tram and light rail ) | Kassel ( tram and RegioTram ) |
|
| Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | ||
| Lower Saxony | ||
| North Rhine-Westphalia |
Bielefeld | Bochum / Gelsenkirchen ( tram and light rail ) | Bonn | Dortmund | Duisburg ( tram and light rail ) | Düsseldorf ( tram and light rail ) | Essen ( tram and light rail ) | Cologne | Krefeld | Mülheim / Oberhausen |
|
| Rhineland-Palatinate | ||
| Saarland | ||
| Saxony |
Bad Schandau | Chemnitz | Dresden | Goerlitz | Leipzig | Plauen | Zwickau |
|
| Saxony-Anhalt |
Dessau | Halberstadt | Halle (Saale) | Magdeburg | Naumburg (Saale) |
|
| Thuringia |
Erfurt | Gera | Gotha | Jena | Nordhausen |
