Trams of the city of Berlin

The trams of the city of Berlin (SSB), also known as urban trams in Berlin , were the first municipal tram operation within the then borders of Berlin . In order to counter the monopoly position of the private company Große Berliner Straßenbahn (GBS), the Berlin city council passed the resolution in October 1900 to operate trams for its own account in the future. The first lines went into operation on July 1, 1908 and were then expanded rapidly. On December 1, 1910, the municipal trams took over the so-called flat railway , which had previously been operated by the elevated railway company. The network expansion came to a preliminary conclusion with the commissioning of the Lindentunnel in December 1916. After the formation of the unified community of Greater Berlin on December 13, 1920, the urban trams and the Berlin electric trams were combined with the large Berlin tram to form the Berlin tram . At that time, the SSB had a route length of 31.2 kilometers and had a total of 193 cars (115 multiple units and 78 sidecars) in their inventory.

Urban tram network development

history

prehistory

At the beginning of the 1890s, there were three horse-drawn railway companies in Berlin: the Berlin Horse Railway (BPfE; from 1894 as Berlin-Charlottenburg Tram , BCS), the Great Berlin Horse Railway (GBPfE) and the New Berlin Horse Railway (NBPf). Of these companies, the GBPfE was by far the largest, in 1890 it provided around 60 percent of the transport services in Berlin (including the city and ring railways and horse-drawn buses). In 1894 she expanded her position by taking over management of the NBPf. In the following year Siemens & Halske opened the electric trams in Berlin (from 1899 as Berliner Elektro Straßenbahnen AG , BESTAG), the first electric tram line within the then borders of Berlin. The GBPfE, which initially shied away from the high costs of network electrification, followed suit in 1896 and opened its first electric lines on the occasion of the Berlin trade fair in Treptower Park . After the company realized that the advantages outweighed the advantages of horse-drawn tram operation, on July 2, 1897 and January 19, 1898, the GBPfE and NBPf on the one hand and the city of Berlin on the other hand signed a new consent agreement. The key point of this paper, known as the "Conversion Agreement", was the electrification of the horse-drawn railway network. The city forbade the hanging of overhead lines in representative places, the wagons should bridge the corresponding sections by means of accumulators . The company was allowed to operate trams until December 31, 1919. On the occasion of the upcoming electrification, the general assembly of the GBPfE changed its name to Große Berliner Straßenbahn A.-G. (GBS) around.

In an earlier version of the conversion agreement, several new lines were included in the GBS network as a construction obligation. The Social Democrats in the Berlin city council expressed concerns because they feared a strengthening of the GBS. The city wrote out these routes separately, whereupon offers were received from GBS and the Continental Society for electrical companies . From the negotiations with the latter, the city hoped for permanent competition between two transport companies and favorable traffic development. The Continentale Gesellschaft refused, however, to give a permanent guarantee of independence from the GBS. Instead, the city council learned that the company was already negotiating a merger with the companies behind GBS.

On the advice of the negotiating commission, the urban transport deputation then considered building and operating its own routes. In addition, it was hoped to gain sufficient experience in the tram sector, since the option to acquire GBS existed after the approval agreement expired in 1919. The decision made was confirmed a short time later by two essential measures:

1. On May 4, 1900, the Berlin police chief, on the instructions of the Prussian Minister for Public Works, granted GBS the concession to operate trams until December 31, 1949. The city only found out about this process from the press and felt that it was being ignored by the state authorities. Since the consent agreement expired in 1919, the lack of clarity resulted in a series of lawsuits between the company and the city, which worsened the relationship with one another.
2. After the harsh winter of 1898/1899, the city, police headquarters and GBS agreed on a shortening of the sections of the route used in battery operation. At the request of the GBS, the police chief then ordered the complete cessation of battery operation on September 26, 1900. Although the city recognized the need, it felt once again passed over by state authorities.

On October 18, 1900, at the request of the magistrate , the city council passed the resolution to set up an urban tram network with a vote of 113: 9.

Network planning and opening

The resolutions passed by the Transport Deputation initially envisaged the establishment of three routes:

• Zoological Garden - Landwehr Canal - Mariannenstrasse - Manteuffelstrasse - Manteuffelbrücke (planned) - Küstriner Platz - Landsberger Tor
• Landwehr Canal - Alexandrinenstrasse - Dresdener Strasse
• Seestrasse - Torfstrasse - Heidestrasse - Reichstagufer - Iron Bridge

At the suggestion of the police chief, four more routes were included in the planning:

• Potsdamer Strasse at the corner of Winterfeldtstrasse - Hafenplatz - Dönhoffplatz
• Neustädtische Kirchstraße - Dönhoffplatz (crossing the street Unter den Linden )
• Stettiner Bahnhof - Bernauer Strasse - Danziger Strasse - Petersburger Strasse - Warsaw Bridge
• Weddingplatz - Voltastraße - Wattstraße - Bernauer Straße

The deputation presented these plans for an expanded network to the police chief for state approval. In consultation with the Royal Railway Directorate in Berlin, he expressed concerns about the inner-city lines, as the streets in question could not take any further traffic. Only the northern routes from the Szczecin railway station or Weddingplatz to the Warschauer Brücke were certified as being possible. The German Emperor and Prussian King Wilhelm II had previously refused to cross the street Unter den Linden in April 1901. Since the remaining routes were expected to be of insufficient use, the city expanded the network planning by three more routes:

• Großgörschenstrasse - Dönhoffplatz
• Kreuzberg - Dönhoffplatz
• Hermannplatz - Dönhoffplatz

After approval by the magistrate, the project was presented again to the police chief. This prohibited use of the Augustabrücke over the Landwehr Canal, so that the Großgörschenstrasse - Dönhoffplatz line had to be postponed. In addition, the city was refused to build tracks on Petersburger Strasse. A joint use of the tracks of the GBS failed because it made excessive financial demands. The end point of this line was therefore initially on Elbinger Strasse. There were other changes in Friedrichstadt , where GBS successfully intervened against the track construction in Friedrichstrasse , and the end point of the line coming from Kreuzberg was relocated to Behrenstrasse.

Opening train of the city trams, July 1, 1908

Based on the revised draft, the city was granted building permission by royal cabinet order on October 24, 1906. With regard to the inner-city terminus in Krausenstrasse (Dönhoffplatz) and Behrenstrasse, the city was obliged to relocate them if the supervisory authority - the Royal Railway Directorate Berlin - deemed it necessary. Since the tracks of GBS and its subsidiaries had to be used in this area, but no agreement had yet been reached, the city initially concentrated on the construction of the northern lines from Weddingplatz and Stettiner Bahnhof to Landsberger Allee, corner of Elbinger Straße. The police chief granted approval on January 10, 1907, and the city approved the necessary funds a month later. Meanwhile, the plans for an extension of these lines matured. For the extension to the south, an agreement was made with Neue Berliner Straßenbahnen Nordost A.-G. the use of their tracks in Landsberger Allee. In the further course, the route should be led through Ebertystraße and thus parallel to Petersburger Straße to the Zentralviehhof . The approval was received on October 31, 1907, the necessary funds approved the city on December 12, 1907. In November of the same year, construction work on the line began.

Line overview August 29, 1908

Line / signal board	course	Length (in km)
	Virchow Hospital (Augustenburger Platz) - Triftstraße - Tegeler Straße - Fennstraße - Am Nordhafen - Sellerstraße - Schulzendorfer Straße - Grenzstraße - Hussitenstraße - Voltastraße - Wattstraße - Strelitzer Straße - Bernauer Straße - Eberswalder Straße - Danziger Straße - Elbinger Straße - Landsberger Allee - Viehhof (Ebertystraße and Thaerstraße)	09.5
	Stettiner Bahnhof (Borsigstrasse and Elsasser Strasse ) - Invalidenstrasse - Gartenstrasse - Bernauer Strasse… Viehhof (Ebertystrasse and Thaerstrasse)	06.6

The work was carried out quickly, so that the official acceptance could take place six months later on June 19, 1908. The official opening of the city's tram operation took place on July 1st, in the presence of Lord Mayor Martin Kirschner and City Planning Officer Friedrich Krause . The first scheduled train left the depot on Kniprodestrasse shortly after noon. The line was identified by means of colored signal boards on the front of the vehicles, green for the Stettiner Bahnhof - Landsberger Allee line and red / white for the Weddingplatz - Landsberger Allee line. A few weeks later, the extensions from Weddingplatz to the Rudolf Virchow Hospital and from Landsberger Allee to the Zentralviehhof went into operation. The route length was thus 10.4 kilometers in the first year. The construction costs, including the extensions, amounted to 3,106,465.75  marks .

Expansion to the south

Railcar 8 on Großbeerenstraße, around 1913

Since 1905 the city has been negotiating with the elevated railway company to take over the flat railway it operates . This tram line ran after the elevated railway between Warschauer Brücke and Zentralviehhof and thus played a central role in the expansion of the urban tram network to the south. On October 28, 1909, the city council approved funds totaling 700,000 marks to purchase the route. The takeover and simultaneous extension of the urban lines took place on January 1, 1910. At the same time, the elevated railway company put a new tram line between Warschauer Brücke and Lichtenberg into operation. This had previously been contractually guaranteed.

On January 1, 1911, the city opened the extension from the Warschauer Brücke to Wiener Straße near the Görlitz train station . Negotiations followed with the then still independent town of Neukölln about an extension of the railway to Hermannplatz , which could go into operation on December 20, 1912. The route length was now 15.3 kilometers.

Line overview October 1, 1913

Line / signal board	course	Length (in km)
	Virchow Hospital (Augustenburger Platz) … Ebertystraße - Thaerstraße - Baltenplatz - Petersburger Straße - Warschauer Straße - Oberbaumbrücke - Falckensteinstraße - Wrangelstraße - Taborstraße - Görlitzer Ufer - Wiener Straße - Grünauer Straße - Friedelstraße - Weserstraße - Hermannplatz	15.3
	Stettin Station (Borsigstraße corner Elsasser street) ... Hermann space - Urban road - Tempelherrenstraße - Johanniterstraße - Alexandrinenstraße - New Straße - Old Jakobstraße - Hollmann road - Lindenstraße - Markgrafenstraße - Behrenstraße corner Charlotte Street	17.3
	Kreuzberg , Großbeerenstraße - Königgrätzer Straße - Hedemannstraße - Wilhelmstraße - Zimmerstraße - Markgrafenstraße - Behrenstraße at the corner of Charlottenstraße	03.7
	Großgörschenstrasse - Steinmetzstrasse - Kurfürstenstrasse - Dennewitzstrasse - Flottwellstrasse - Schöneberger Ufer - Koethener Strasse - Königgrätzer Strasse - Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse - Zimmerstrasse… Behrenstrasse at the corner of Charlottenstrasse	04.8

The city and GBS agreed on a new consent agreement on August 18, 1911, largely settling their disputes. Now the city could start building the southern sections of the route. For the line from Großgörschenstrasse, however, the construction of the Köthener Bridge offered a new crossing over the Landwehr Canal. Instead of Dönhoffplatz, Behrenstrasse was now planned as the common endpoint of the southern routes. Work on the Hermannplatz - Behrenstrasse route, which the green line was to use, began on October 1, 1912. This section went into operation on May 8, 1913, according to other information on May 10. The Kreuzberg - Behrenstraße (signal color green / white) and Großgörschenstraße - Behrenstraße (signal color blue / white, according to other information yellow or orange) followed on August 23, 1913 and October 1, 1913. All three lines used several shorter sections of the others Companies with (see below). At the end of 1913, the city trams had 26.7 kilometers of their own routes and a track length of 58.6 kilometers. The trains ran on the tracks of other railways over a length of 11.2 kilometers.

The two youngest lines had to be discontinued with the outbreak of the First World War on August 2, 1914, as a large part of the personnel was called up for military service. Although the city planned its extension to the north, they never went back into operation. On the other lines, the timetable had to be thinned out despite the increasing number of passengers due to the lack of staff. As in other companies, the municipal tram increasingly used women in the conductors and in the driving service. In 1916, 177 of the 564 employees were women.

Ring closure in the center

Overview map of the Lindentunnel

The final stops of the green line in Borsigstrasse and Behrenstrasse were about one and a half kilometers apart as the crow flies. The next project was therefore to connect these two routes to the ring line. Crossing the Unter den Linden boulevard was still problematic . Unlike most streets in the city, the "Linden" were directly subordinate to the German Emperor and Prussian King, so that crossing was only possible with his express permission. The monarch strictly rejected requests for a further intersection next to the existing GBS route at the level of the opera house. He is said to have provided a corresponding application with the remark “No, it will be made underground!”.

The city and GBS then worked out their own tunnel plans independently of one another, whereby GBS also provided for further underground routes along the boulevard and Leipziger Strasse in addition to the linden tunnel . The city, on the other hand, planned a four-track tram tunnel at the level of the existing linden tree crossing. In addition to its own lines, this should also be able to include those of GBS and the city's BESTAG. Another location of the building was out of the question, as the required ramps could not have been built elsewhere or the necessary land acquisition would have been too expensive. In 1909 the Prussian minister for public works rejected the concept of the GBS. With the consent agreement of 1911, both sides agreed to build a joint tunnel under the direction of the city of Berlin.

Line overview December 17, 1916

Line / signal board	course	Length (in km)
	Ottostraße at the corner of Alt-Moabit - Oldenburger Straße - Wiclefstraße - Wilhelmshavener Straße - Birkenstraße - Putlitzstraße - Föhrer Straße - Augustenburger Platz… Hermannplatz	17.6
	“Städtischer Ostring” Stettiner Bahnhof (Borsigstrasse corner Elsasser Strasse) … Behrenstrasse - Lindentunnel (west tunnel) - Dorotheenstrasse - Universitätsstrasse - Prinz-Friedrich-Karl-Strasse - Artilleriestrasse - Stettiner Bahnhof	19.8

The tunnel was built between 1914 and 1916. The northern four-track ramp began near Dorotheenstrasse at the chestnut grove between the university and Neuer Wache . At the height of the northern edge of the lime tree, the tunnel was divided into an east and a west branch. The west tunnel led in a counter curve to Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Platz , where a ramp followed. The east tunnel continued almost in a straight line and ended east of the opera house . The lines of the municipal trams and BESTAG were to be run through the west tunnel, the lines of GBS and its subsidiaries through the east tunnel. In order to avoid a crossing on the northern ramp, the city of GBS allowed its lines coming from the northwest to also run through the west tunnel. After problems with the signaling system, the west tunnel went into operation on December 17, 1916, the east tunnel followed two days later.

In addition to the “Urban Ostring” that has now been created, plans also included new routes in the west and north of Berlin. Coming from Schönhauser Allee , a route was planned via Bornholmer Strasse , Christianiastrasse and Seestrasse to Oskarplatz , plus a connection from this route over Schulstrasse and Luxemburger Strasse to the existing network. This connection should be operated by the set lines green / white and blue / white. The existing red / white line was to be closed from Augustenburger Platz via Alt-Moabit , Hansaplatz , Großer Stern and Potsdamer Platz to the “Städtischer Großer Ring”. In addition, a “Städtischer Westring” line was to run along this route and through the Lindentunnel. As a result of the First World War, it was only possible to extend the Virchow Hospital to the intersection of Ottostraße and Alt-Moabit on May 1, 1915. For the continuation in the direction of the Großer Stern there was a track connection to the network of the Berlin-Charlottenburg tram . Work on the northern lines continued until the end of 1917; by then they had been completed with the exception of the overhead lines.

Merger to form the Berlin tram and further development

A new agreement of consent was concluded in 1918 between the Greater Berlin Association , which took care of traffic issues in the capital region from 1912, and the Great Berlin Tram and its subsidiaries. The Zweckverband was entitled to the GBS to take over its subsidiaries completely. After this happened, the municipal association acquired GBS and the private Berliner Ostbahnen . When the Greater Berlin Act came into force on October 1, 1920, the Greater Berlin Unified Community became its legal successor. With the exception of the elevated railway company, all tram companies in the city were in municipal hands. In several steps, the GBS then took over the operations of the formerly independent suburban municipalities before then on 13 December 1920, the municipal trams and the Berlin electric trams with simultaneous change of name for this Berlin tram (BSt) melted were.

With the founding of the Berlin tram, the largest uniformly managed tram company in Europe was created at the time. There were still major operational problems due to the lack of track connections in individual sub-networks and the different types of pantographs. For reasons of cost, the roller pantographs used by GBS were preferred, although the yoke pantographs used by the municipal tram allowed a much simpler catenary construction . In the course of the conversion, the Berlin tram shut down a number of parallel lines, for example in Ebertystraße. Further sections followed with inflation in 1923 . Traffic through the Linden Tunnel was suspended for six months from September 10, 1923, and the West Tunnel was permanently shut down.

Linden tunnel, 1950

In April 1921, the two remaining former urban lines were assigned the numbers 13 (red / white) and 9 (green). 13 was renamed to line 4 in the spring of 1922 and connected to the “East-West-Ring” via the Großer Stern, the route of which largely corresponded to the planned “Städtischen Großer Ring”. The route from Seestrasse to Bornholmer Strasse, already built by the municipal tram, went into operation on October 12, 1928. On the same day, line 8 to the “Nordring” was closed.

BVG , which emerged in 1929 from the merger of the tram, elevated railway company and Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus AG , gave up the section from Stettiner Bahnhof to Dorotheenstrasse with the construction of the north-south S-Bahn tunnel in the mid-1930s. The Lindentunnel remained without scheduled traffic after the end of the Second World War until 1950, the route went after the end of the III. World Youth Festival on September 2, 1951 finally out of service. The BVG stopped tram traffic on the sections of the route that remained in West Berlin until 1964.

The sections in East Berlin were retained, with the exception of the inner-city routes around the Lindentunnel and the section in Ebertystrasse and Thaerstrasse. They were mainly operated by line 4 between Eberswalder Strasse and Warschauer Strasse and line 3 created in 1948 (as the successor to line 8) on Bornholmer Strasse to the sector border. After being renamed twice, these lines have been operating as M10 and M13 since 2004. After the fall of the Wall , between 1995 and 2006, individual sections of the route that had previously been used by city trams were rebuilt.

vehicles

Railcar 25, around 1910

Sidecar 89 in the north depot (Kniprodestrasse), around 1910

→ Main articles : BSt Maximum 24  and BSt type U3q

The vehicle fleet of the city trams was designed very uniformly. By 1919 the city had procured 115 four-axle maximum railcars and 78 two-axle sidecars, which were named Type 8 and Type 6 , depending on the number of their windows . There were minor deviations within the series, which were indicated by capital letters in the type designation. The paint was set off in ocher yellow with black. The decorative lines were painted reddish brown, as were the car numbers and lettering. The numbers were written on the front sides and on the side members next to the end entrances, with the words Strassenbahnen der Stadt Berlin in between . In the middle above it was the Berlin city coat of arms . Eight multiple units and ten sidecars of these types were also on the road at BESTAG.

The car bodies were made of oak. The base frame was also made of oak and reinforced with iron. The railcars had two maximum bogies , the sidecars did not have a separate chassis. Those responsible attached great importance to a dignified interior design. The passenger compartment was paneled with polished mahogany wood. Fittings, handrails and handles were made of brass . The ceiling was made of bird's eye maple and was coated with mirror lacquer. The lighting was provided by two two-armed and one three-armed chandelier as well as the lantern roof . The side windows were separated in the upper quarter, the lower larger part could be lowered for ventilation. In addition, the skylights could be opened if necessary. The seats were arranged transversely in a 2 + 1 arrangement. The backrests could be folded down so that the passengers could always sit facing the direction of travel. The railcars had 24 seats, the sidecars 18 seats in eight or six rows. The entry platforms of both car types were open; of the railcars delivered in 1919, at least railcars 50 and 51 had front glazing.

The vehicles were initially numbered consecutively. The railcars delivered in 1913 were given numbers in the 200 range, at the same time the company provided the sidecars with 100 numbers. The resulting gaps in the number range below 100 were partially filled by the railcars delivered in 1919. The main manufacturers were the Falkenried vehicle workshops of the Straßen-Eisenbahn Gesellschaft in Hamburg , four railcars came from Gottfried Lindner AG in Ammendorf near Halle (Saale) and 35 railcars from the Linke-Hofmann-Werke in Breslau . The electrical equipment came from Siemens & Halske .

With the transition to the Berlin tram, the sidecars were given the numbers 1588–1665 and the railcars the numbers 4394–4399 and 5323–5431. In order to reduce the maintenance costs of the numerous series of railcars, the BSt converted small series of railcars into sidecars and, conversely, larger series of sidecars into railcars. The 78 sidecars of the former Type 6 were given the corresponding electrical equipment together with the ten sidecars from the former BESTAG in 1924. Since then, the vehicles have been running as type U3q with car numbers 3102 and 3251–3337. The Berlin tram replaced the open platforms in both car series with the closed Berlin standard platform . There were some renumbering at this time. The maximum railcars were summarized numerically, some of the rebuilt railcars received new numbers to keep the series from 3300 upwards free for the center entry cars ordered in 1927 .

From 1934 the BVG ran the types as TDS 08/24 (maximum railcars) and T 08/24 (converted railcars). After the administrative separation of the BVG, the BVG-West decommissioned its vehicles until 1955, as the use of wooden structures in passenger traffic was no longer permitted. Some of the former sidecars were used in the work car park until the 1960s. BVG-Ost had its vehicles completely rebuilt in the 1950s, replacing the lantern roofs with barrel roofs . T 08/24 gave them to the companies in Cottbus , Dessau , Schöneiche and Zwickau until 1959 , where they continued to operate until 1972. Most of the maximum cars were in use until 1968. 34 railcars served as "donor vehicles" for the recovery program ; the company decommissioned the rest by 1970.

Historic railcar 68 of the SSB on the occasion of the anniversary "100 years of the electric locomotive - 50 years of Raw Dessau - 30 years of the GDR" in Dessau, 1979

Historic railcar 218 during its refurbishment in Woltersdorf, 2012

Two railcars have been preserved as historical vehicles: Railcar 68 (ex BVG 5366) was restored to the delivery condition in 1973 and was in working order until 1990. However, changed legislation led to its decommissioning in 1990. The vehicle has been in the monument hall of the German Museum of Technology in Berlin since 1993 . Railcar 218 (ex BVG 5403) came to Woltersdorf in 2008 and was refurbished there until the 100th anniversary of the Woltersdorf Tramway in May 2013 and then presented. The former sidecar 37 (ex BVG 3225) was used as a sheepfold after its service life in Dessau, but no further information is available about its whereabouts.

Vehicle overview

Type	Manufacturer	Construction year	Car no. (until 1913)	Car no. (from 1913)	Car no. (from 1920)	Whereabouts
Railcar (from 1934: TDS 08/24)
8A	Falkenried	1908	01-28		4399, 5323-5349	1928 Tw 4399 into Tw 5437
8C	Lindner	1919	29 II -41 II		5427-5431, 5421-5425, 4394-4396	semi-open platforms; 1927 Tw 4394-4396 in Tw 5432-5434
8A	Falkenried	1909	42-49		5350-5357
8C	Falkenried	1919	50 II +51 II		4397 + 4398	1928 in Tw 5435 + 5436
8B	Falkenried	1910	60-77		5358-5374, 5426
8B	Falkenried	1912	090-100		5375-5385	Tw 90 with 30 seats
8B	LHW	1913	201-235		5386-5420
Sidecar (from 1934: T 08/24)
6th	Falkenried	1908	29-40	144-155	1631-1642	1924 rebuilt into tw 3304–3316; 1927 in Tw 3217-3229
6th	Falkenried	1909	41, 50-59	156-166	1643-1653	1924 rebuilt in No. 3317–3326; 1927 in Tw 3230-3239
6B	Falkenried	1910	78-89	167-178	1654-1665	1924 conversion to Tw 3327–3337, 3102; 1927 in Tw 3240-3250, 3213
6B	Falkenried	1911	101-115		1588-1602	1924 conversion to number 3261–3275
6B	Falkenried	1913	116-143		1603-1630	1924 conversion to Tw 3276–3303; 1927 Tw 3300-3303 in Tw 3212-3216

Infrastructure

Route network

The length of the route increased from 10.4 kilometers in the opening year to 31.2 kilometers in 1917. Most of these routes were double-track. The standard gauge was chosen as the gauge , the power supply was provided by overhead lines and hoop pantographs at an operating voltage of 500 volts direct current . Measured against the total length of the Berlin tram network, the urban routes accounted for less than five percent.

The relatively late expansion of the network meant that the railway had to switch to secondary roads and routes operated by other companies, especially in inner-city areas. Foreign railways such as the GBS could allow the use of longer sections of the route for a corresponding fee or refuse them completely, only on short sections they were required to give a permit. In cases where both sides could not agree, the SSB had to set up appropriate diversion routes, for example in the Petersburger Strasse area and at the Hallescher Tor .

In 1908 the trams of the city trams ran on 1.8 kilometers of foreign tracks, in 1920 it was 13.5 kilometers. Conversely, however, the lines of other companies also used the SSB tracks. Longer shared sections existed mainly with BESTAG, as this was majority owned by the city of Berlin. In addition, the railcars from BESTAG also use U-shaped pantographs. The following tables provide an overview of the routes used by the SSB and the sections of the SSB operated by third-party railways.

Route overview section business Routes used by the SSB Dorotheenstrasse (between Lindentunnel and Universitätsstrasse) BCS Artilleriestrasse - Ebertbrücke - Prinz-Friedrich-Karl-Strasse BESTAG Elsasser Strasse (between Artilleriestrasse and Borsigstrasse) GBS Invalidenstrasse (between Borsigstrasse and Gartenstrasse) GBS Gartenstrasse (between Invalidenstrasse and Bernauer Strasse ) BESTAG Birkenstrasse (between Wilhelmshavener Strasse and Putlitzstrasse) GBS Fennstrasse GBS Hussitenstraße (between Grenzstraße and Voltastraße ) BESTAG Landsberger Allee (between Elbinger Strasse and Ebertystrasse) NöBV Wiener Straße (from Görlitzer Ufer) - Grünauer Straße (to Kottbusser Ufer / Friedelstraße) BESTAG Friedelstrasse (between Kottbusser Ufer / Grünauer Strasse and Pflügerstrasse) GBS Hollmannstrasse BESTAG Lindenstrasse (between Hollmannstrasse and Markgrafenstrasse) GBS Markgrafenstrasse (between Lindenstrasse and Schützenstrasse) BESTAG Königgrätzer Strasse (between Köthener Strasse and Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse and between Hedemannstrasse and Großbeerenstrasse) GBS Schöneberger Ufer (from Köthener Straße) - Flottwellstraße (to Lützowstraße) GBS Zimmerstrasse - Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse BCS Wilhelmstrasse (between Kochstrasse and Anhalter Strasse) GBS Routes used by other companies Lindentunnel (west tunnel) BESTAG, GBS Lindentunnel (east tunnel) GBS, SBV Warschauer Strasse (between Revaler Strasse and Rudolfstrasse) Flb Markgrafenstraße (from Schützenstraße) - Behrenstraße (to Lindentunnel) BESTAG Wilhelmstrasse - Hedemannstrasse GBS Koethener Strasse GBS

Network expansion business jahr¹ Route length (in km) Track length (in km) ² Line length (in km) 1908 10.4 22.6 16.1 1909 12.6 28.4 20.5 1910 13.8 31.0 22.7 1911 13.8 31.0 24.8 1912 14.5 33.1 27.4 1913 22.0 49.0 41.1 1914 26.7 58.6 32.6 1915 29.4³ 64.7³ 34.9 1916 31.2³ 69.5³ 37.4 1917 31.2³ 69.5³ 37.4 ¹ Information relates to the end of the financial year ² including operating and hall tracks ³ including completed, not yet operated lines

Depots

The Kniprodestrasse depot is now used as a track storage facility, in 2007

Depot North (Kniprodestrasse)

The SSB initially had a depot in Kniprodestrasse for operation. This went into operation together with the first line on July 1, 1908. The company leased the 8671 square meter land from the city. From 1908 there was initially a car and workshop hall with space for 45 vehicles on 3359 square meters, as well as a two-story residential and service building, a two-story storage shed and a porter's house. By 1912 the facility had expanded to four halls for 120 vehicles. After the transition to the Berlin tram, the yard received the internal number 25. In 1923, the Berlin tram closed the depot and continued to use it as a training workshop. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, in turn, used the facility as a depot for work trucks and as a track construction yard. The site now serves as a track storage facility.

Depot south (Urbanstrasse)

With the expansion of the network towards the south, the administration decided to set up a second depot at Urbanstrasse  167. The yard, which opened on November 25, 1913, was primarily home to the railcars and sidecars of the southern lines. The property with an area of ​​7059 square meters comprised two car halls on 3004 square meters and a capacity of 60 cars, plus a workshop extension, a car shed, sand storage shed and a three-storey service building. The farm was also taken over in 1920 and was given the number 9. It was closed in 1923.

Tariff

Tariff development

date	Single ticket	Double ticket	Collective card (number of trips)	Monthly pass (full paying)	Monthly pass (students)	Worker's week ticket (6 trips)
0Jul 1, 1908	0.10 M.	-	-	06.70 M.	03.00 M.	0.50 M.
0Jun 1, 1918	0.15 M.	0.25 M.	1.00 M (8 trips)	09.75 M.	04.00 M.	0.50 M.
Jan. 24, 1919	0.20 m	0.35 M.	1.40 M (8 trips)	13.70 M.	05.00 M.	0.85 M.
0Oct. 1, 1919	0.20 m	-	-	15.60 M.	05.50 M.	1.00 M.
0Jan. 1, 1920	0.30 M.	-	2.00 M (7 trips)	23.50 M.	08.00 M.	1.50 M.
0Apr 1, 1920	0.50 M.	-	-	40.00 M.	12.00 M.	2.50 M.
May 21, 1920	0.70 M.	-	5.00 M (8 trips)	56.00 M.	15.00 M.	3.50 M.
0Dec. 1, 1920	0.80 M.	-	6.00 M (8 trips)	70.00 M.	18.00 M.	4.00 M.

From the opening, a 10-pfennig standard tariff for an uninterrupted journey was applied on the lines of the city trams. In addition, the company issued monthly tickets at 6.70 marks and weekly workers tickets for six trips at 50 pfennigs and twelve trips at 1.00 marks. From August 1908, student monthly cards were also issued for 3.00 marks. In the beginning there were also monthly tickets for police officers in uniform and in civilian clothes for 2.05 and 3.10 marks respectively.

When purchasing the first flat line, the city and the elevated railway company reached a special agreement. From 1901 onwards, in addition to the 10-pfennig standard tariff, a transitional tariff to the elevated railway at Warschauer Brücke station applied on this route . For continuous journeys from the flat railway to the elevated railway and vice versa, the fare was five pfennigs cheaper than purchasing two tickets. This regulation remained in effect from January 1, 1910 until the end of 1919 and only applied to the section between the Zentralviehhof and the Warschauer Brücke.

Because of inflation , the city had to gradually increase fares from mid-1918. The amount corresponded to the standard tariff, as it also applied to the lines of the Great Berlin Tram and its branch lines. From June 1, 1916, the 12.5-Pfennig standard tariff was in effect. According to this tariff, the single journey cost 15 pfennigs, double tickets cost 25 pfennigs, and trading cards for eight journeys were available for 1.00 marks. The costs rose to 80 pfennigs for a single journey by the beginning of December 1920.

Operating results

Operating statistics 1908–1917

business jahr¹	Operating income (in million marks)	Operating expenses (in millions of dollars)	Net profit (in million marks)	Command pers. (in millions)	Wagon km (in millions)	Person / car km
1908	0.550	0.331	0.128	05.77	1.01	5.71
1909	1.046	0.603	0.254	10.94	1.85	5.91
1910	1.701	0.841	0.568	18.10	3.03	5.97
1911	2.030	1.071	0.646	22.01	4.04	5.44
1912	2.218	1.304	0.603	23.83	4.69	5.08
1913	2.603	1.609	0.405	27.94	5.96	4.70
1914	2.251	1,480	0.065	24.42	4.81	5.08
1915	2.478	1.618	0.120	26.79	5.19	5.16
1916	2.941	1.674	0.364	31.61	5.43	5.82
1917	3.925	2,390	0.547	40.00	5.30	7.55
¹ The financial year ran from April 1 to March 31 of the following year; 1908 from July 1, 1908 to March 31, 1909

The profits of the lines opened in 1908 initially exceeded expectations. Until well into the First World War, the company was able to record substantial net profits, which were used to repay the construction capital and benefit the city coffers. The lines opened in 1913 temporarily diminished this success, as they had a significantly lower volume of traffic. There was serious competition here from the "six-bus", a bus with a standard tariff of five pfennigs (coll. " Six "). In 1918, expenditure exceeded income for the first time. Wage and operating costs had led to this development, plus the steadily rising inflation rate. While the losses in 1918 totaled 35,000 marks, in 1919 it was 2.6 million marks and in 1920 around four million marks. This development finally continued with the Berlin tram.

literature

• Siegfried Münzinger et al .: The trams of the city of Berlin . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issues 6, 8, 9, 10 (1964), 1 (1966).
• Hans-Joachim Pohl: The urban trams in Berlin. History of a municipal transport company . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Issue 5, 1983.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans-Joachim Pohl: The new Berlin horse-drawn railway company. The traffic development of Weißensee and Lichtenberg (part 1) . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Issue 1, 1986, pp. 2-11 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w} Hans-Joachim Pohl: The urban trams in Berlin. History of a municipal transport company . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Volume 5, 1983, pp. 98-106 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Michael Kochems, Ekkehard Kolodziej: Tram and light rail in Germany. Volume 14: Berlin - Part 2. Tram, trolleybus . EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2013, ISBN 978-3-88255-395-6 , p. 109-115 .
4. ^ Author collective: Tram archive 5. Berlin and surroundings . transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00172-8 , p. 55 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Hans-Joachim Pohl: The linden tunnel . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Issue 7, 1980, pp. 134-150 .
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ulrich Conrad: Literally »under the lime trees« . In: Tram magazine . Issue 10, 2012, p. 72-75 .
7. ^ ^{A b c} Heinz Jung, Wolfgang Kramer: The trams of the city of Berlin . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 1, 1966, pp. 42 .
8. ↑ Uwe Kerl: 100 years of the flat railway . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 10, 2001, pp. 179-189 .
9. ^ Author collective: Tram archive 5. Berlin and surroundings . transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00172-8 , p. 140-148 .
10. ^ ^{A b} Gerhard Zeitz: "Nordring" tram. About the earlier tram traffic in Wedding . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Volume 5, 1995, pp. 106-113 .
11. ^ ^{A b} Wolfgang Kramer, Siegfried Münzinger: The trams of the city of Berlin . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Volume 9, 1964, pp. 108/109 .
12. ↑ Heinz Jung: 50 years ago: creation of the “Berlin tram” . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 12, 1970, pp. 241-246 .
13. ↑ Michael Kochems: trams and light rail in Germany, volume 14: Berlin, Part 2 - tram, trolleybus . EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-88255-395-6 , p. 45.
14. ^ Reinhard Schulz: Tram in turbulent times. Berlin and its tram between 1920 and 1945 . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Volume 4, 2005, pp. 94-110 .
15. ^ Heinz Jung: The tram ring lines in Berlin. Line 4 (inner ring, east-west ring) and line 9 (east ring) . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Volume 3, 1961, pp. 20-21 .
16. ^ Heinz Jung: The tram ring lines in Berlin. Line 8 (Grunewaldring, Nordring) . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Volume 6, 1961, pp. 40 + 42 .
17. ↑ Sigurd Hilkenbach, Wolfgang Kramer: The trams in Berlin . alba, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-87094-351-3 , p. 78-79 .
18. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Joachim Kubig: The car park of the urban trams in Berlin . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Volume 1, 1984, pp. 3-9 .
19. ↑ Railcar 68 (type 8B) and 5403 (type TDS 08/25). Monument Preservation Association Berlin, January 25, 2010, accessed on January 4, 2014 . 
20. ^ André Marks: Deserved jubilation for the 100th anniversary . In: Tram magazine . Issue 8, 2013, pp. 16-18 .
21. ^ Author collective: Tram archive 5. Berlin and surroundings . transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00172-8 , p. 149 .
22. ↑ Sigurd Hilkenbach, Wolfgang Kramer: The trams in Berlin . alba, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-87094-351-3 , p. 11 .
23. ↑ Reinhard Schulz: Von der Rolle ... On the history of the overhead contact line and power collection systems in Berlin trams . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Issue 1, 2003, pp. 2-13 .
24. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Siegfried Münzinger: The trams of the city of Berlin . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 8, 1964, pp. 98-100 .
25. ^ ^{A b} Siegfried Münzinger: The depots of the Berlin trams . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 7, 1969, p. 114-121 .

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on January 19, 2014 in this version .