Underground line 4 (Hamburg)

Subway line

Route of the U4 line

Route length:

13.318 km, of which together
with U2: 8.048 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Power system :

side busbar 750 V =

Top speed:

80 km / h

Dual track :

continuous

	6.268	Billstedt (BI) U2
	5.367	Legienstrasse (LE)
	5.295
		Horner Geest
		Stoltenstrasse
		Relocation of the U4 line under construction
	4.145	Horner Racecourse (HN)
	2,950	Rauhes Haus (RH)
	2.302	Hammer Church (HK)
	2.095
	1,540
	1.354	Burgstrasse (BG)
		U3 from Barmbek
	0.012	Berlin Gate (BT) U3 S.
	0.000 0.000
		U3 to Hauptbahnhof Süd


	1.142	Central Station North (HX) ( Hamburg Central Station ) ( Central Station South )F. R. S. U1 U3


	1.780 0.000	U2 to Niendorf Nord
	0.165	Jungfernstieg (JG) U1 U2 S.
		(via transit from the Town Hall : )
	3.202	Überseequartier (UR)
	3.858	HafenCity University (HC)
	4.988
	5.270	Elbe bridges (EB)S.
	5.349	End of the line, extension towards Harburg considered

The U4 is a line of the Hamburg U-Bahn that connects HafenCity , the city center with the central traffic junction Jungfernstieg and Hauptbahnhof and the eastern districts of the Hanseatic city.

Under the project name U4, there was already a largely elaborated plan in the 1960s and 1970s for another route that was to connect the city center with the districts of Lurup and Osdorf in the far west of the city and with the City Nord office district in the north of Hamburg. After budget savings were deemed necessary in the wake of the first oil crisis , the project was postponed indefinitely. According to current plans, a larger part of the route corridors planned for the old U4 will be connected to the rapid transit network as part of a new U5 underground line by the mid-2030s.

route

The U4 line is around 13.3 kilometers long, making it by far the shortest underground line in Hamburg. The U4 is at the same time the youngest line in the network and the first, which was essentially developed as a branch line of an older line ( U2 ), the route of which it divides between its eastern end point Billstedt and the inner-city traffic junction Jungfernstieg . The jointly operated section is around 8 kilometers long, the route from Jungfernstieg to HafenCity , which is exclusively served by the U4, is around 5.4 kilometers long. With the exception of a section between Burgstrasse and Horner Rennbahn , the section between Legienstrasse and Billstedt, as well as the tunnel ramp leading to the Elbbrücken terminus above ground , the route of the U4 runs completely underground.

The route begins in the east of Hamburg in the Billstedt district and runs together with the U2 via Horn and Hamm in a westerly direction to the Berliner Tor rapid transit station in Borgfelde and further west to the main station on the eastern edge of the city center. The route continues west to Jungfernstieg in the center of the city center. About 165 meters before the entrance to the station, the U4 leaves the U2 route (zero point of the U4 route) and uses two separate platform tracks next to those of the U2 at the station.

The new U4 line begins to the west of Jungfernstieg and crosses under the Neustadt in a wide 180 ° curve and after around 3 kilometers reaches the Überseequartier stop below the central area of HafenCity, which includes a retail focus, a multiplex cinema and a Cruise terminals are planned. The HafenCity University station in Elbtorquartier follows around 650 meters further east . It opens up u. a. the eponymous university and Lohsepark as the largest green space in HafenCity. From there, the line continues in an easterly direction, initially through an approximately 230-meter-long, four-track tunnel that has a double-track sweeping and parking facility next to the two main tracks. This tunnel system is followed by a further 710-meter-long section tunnel, which then opens into a roughly 215-meter-long ramp that runs parallel to the long-distance railway line to the north and rises to the level of the Norderelbbrücken and here finally the Elbbrücken terminus reached. The station opens up the easternmost quarter of HafenCity as well as parts of the adjacent Rothenburgsort district and the planned development area on Kleiner Grasbrook as a logical extension of HafenCity . In the HafenCity itself in the vicinity of the station u. a. Workplaces for around 13,000 people, 1,100 apartments and a congress hotel with around 500 rooms are planned. In terms of urban planning, the area is to be characterized by a cluster of high-rise buildings, including the 245-meter-high Elbtower .

Stations

The U4 has twelve stations, making it the smallest line in the network in terms of the number of stops. The nine stations between Billstedt and Jungfernstieg are served jointly by the U2, with the lines on Jungfernstieg each having two separate platform tracks, while otherwise using the same tracks. The three stations in HafenCity are served exclusively by the U4.

With the exception of the Legienstraße and Rauhes Haus stops in the cut and the Elbbrücken station above ground , all of the U4 stops are in the tunnel. The rough house is a special case, as the station is completely enclosed, the Billstedt station is actually also in the cut and is only built over with the area of the bus station belonging to the station.

Accessibility

The U4 was the first rapid transit line in Hamburg whose platforms were continuously accessible and equipped with a tactile guidance system for visually impaired people. The stations in HafenCity were already barrier-free when they were first put into operation, some of the stations on the existing route were adapted later. With the completion of the barrier-free expansion of the Rauhes Haus station on December 10, 2015, the adaptation of the existing route was completed.

Nevertheless, only the stations Hauptbahnhof Nord , Jungfernstieg , Überseequartier , HafenCity University and Elbbrücken have platforms that allow stepless boarding and alighting of the trains over their full length. The other stations only have the partially raised platforms that are customary at most of the stops that were subsequently expanded, which only allow stepless entry and exit in a limited section.

Typology

The U4 mainly has central platforms, at the stations Billstedt , Berliner Tor and Jungfernstieg there are two of them. Only Legienstraße , Rauhes Haus and Hauptbahnhof Nord and Elbbrücken have side platforms. A special situation can be found at Legienstrasse , where the side platforms are separated from one another by a wide green lane.

The platforms of all stations are around 120 meters long and thus allow the use of eight-part double units from the DT4 series and nine-part triple units from the DT5 series . However, due to the pending final expansion of HafenCity, shorter train sets have been used in regular traffic so far.

draft

Robust station design from the 1960s at the Burgstrasse stop, which is also served by the U2

There are more than fifty years between the opening of the section served jointly with the U2 and the new line to HafenCity, which is also reflected in the station design. The stops on the existing route show the objectivity and design restraint characteristic of the 1960s, just as the height of the platform halls is largely limited to the dimensions of the clearance profile of the trains. The stations newly built for the U4 in HafenCity, on the other hand, are characterized by a much more complex design and extremely generous dimensions due to the depth of the port basin.

The design requirements of the new stations are, on the one hand, to be seen against the background of the Free and Hanseatic City's goal of making local public transport a main carrier of transport in HafenCity, which is directly supported by an attractive station design. On the other hand, the design of the celebrities and the level of the overall HafenCity project aimed for by Hamburg takes into account, which is reflected in other areas, for example in the design of the public open spaces and the selection of street furniture . Despite the overall very different designs of the three stations in HafenCity, they all have in common that they take up elements of the neighboring port and thus create a link back to their location. What is also noticeable is the extensive absence of advertising media in the stations, which is limited to a few systems along the central axis of the platform at the underground stops and is completely omitted at the Elbbrücken station above ground . In particular, the platform rear walls of the tunnel stations are kept completely free of advertising space so that the architectural and design effect is not negatively impacted by advertising messages.

The generous layout of the Überseequartier and HafenCity University tunnel stations was made possible or considerably simplified in particular by the fact that the route in this area runs at a relatively great depth of up to 20 meters below the surface and could also be constructed using an open construction method, as the route surrounding the At the time of construction it was still free from development. With ceiling heights of up to 10 meters, the platform halls of the stations in HafenCity are among the highest in the entire network. The Elbbrücken station also benefited from the fact that there were no buildings in the surrounding area during construction that should have been taken into account during construction.

Design idea of the platform as a white sandbank on the sea floor

Color gradient from the platform level to the surface at the Überseequartier station

The Überseequartier design comes from netzwerkarchitekten (Darmstadt), the lighting design from Schlothfeld Licht (Hamburg / Berlin). In terms of design, the stop consists of two units, both of which are intended to represent an underwater scene using similar means. The first unit consists of the access systems including the distribution levels, the second unit consists of the platform hall. The design of the staircases and distribution levels is essentially based on small-format tiles in various shades of blue that get darker from the surface to the distribution level. This is intended to symbolize the loss of sunlight when entering the station when diving into higher depths of the sea and when leaving the station the appearance or reaching the sun-drenched upper water layers are symbolized. The platform hall, on the other hand, consists of three design elements, the interplay of which is intended to give the impression of a white sandbank on the bottom of the sea. The sandbank is represented by the brightly paved platform; the platform rear walls, clad with lacquered metal panels, show, similar to the tiles in the access systems, a color and brightness gradient from bottom to top from dark, rich blue to silver white. Finally, the ceiling of the platform hall is clad with stainless steel plates that take up the silver-white coloring of the upper end of the platform rear walls and show an irregular hole pattern that is intended to represent the movement of the sea surface from the perspective of a diver.

Interplay of lights and wall cladding at HafenCity University station

The design by HafenCity University was developed by raupach architects (Munich), the lighting design comes from pfarré lighting design and d-lightvision (both also Munich). While a more general aquatic theme was chosen for Überseequartier , the architects at HafenCity University took up specific motifs and impressions of the port and gave the station a more technical-industrial look. The design essentially uses two design elements. On the one hand, the walls and ceilings of the entire station are clad with large-format panels made of etched, dark brown steel, which achieve an ambiguous quality between rust and polished leather. On the other hand, there are twelve light fixtures hanging above the platform, each of which has the same dimensions as a standard container . Using 280 LEDs each, these bodies, in conjunction with the ceiling and wall cladding, which diffusely reflects the light, create differentiated color and light moods, which, according to the architects, relate to the different moods of the port at different times of the day and in different weather conditions. The platform directly below the light fixtures is continuously illuminated with warm white light, while the walls and ceilings are illuminated in a permanent color change. The harbor motif is acoustically supported by a sound collage made up of typical harbor noises such as ship's horns, sloshing waves, screaming gulls and the like.

Elbbrücken underground station

The design of the Elbbrücken station was developed by gmp (Hamburg). The office addresses less abstract or general water and harbor-related topics, but refers specifically to the eponymous Norderelbbrücken south of the station in its design. The design is also extremely reduced in terms of design and the number of elements used and essentially consists of a net-like steel girder construction that surrounds the platform like a tube. In this way, gmp takes up the steel framework of the Elbe bridges and arrests the station in its environment in terms of design. The inside of the steel structure is covered with a closed glass skin to protect it from the weather. The design achieves a high level of transparency, which underlines the spacious impression of the station hall and provides a view of the entire area around the station. A special element is a viewing platform at the southern end of the station, which allows a view over the Elbe and towards the Kleiner Grasbrook and at the same time serves as a connection between the two side platforms of the station.

Use of preliminary construction work

Until the opening of the U4 unused Gleistrog on Jungfernstieg

Still unused track trough at the north station

A special feature of the U4 is that the line at the Jungfernstieg station uses preliminary structural work that was made in the early 1970s as part of the planning for the original U4 (Winterhude - Hauptbahnhof - St. Pauli - Altona - Lurup). These are the outer track troughs on the platforms of the U2 line, which were supposed to accommodate the tracks of the old U4. Since these plans were never implemented, only the U2 had been using the inner tracks on this section on June 3, 1973, while the outer track troughs remained inoperative for almost four decades until the new U4 went into operation on November 29, 2012.

The outer platforms of the Hauptbahnhof Nord station, planned and built in the same way as the situation on Jungfernstieg , are not used by the U4. The main argument against activation is that the platforms have no track connections or connections to the U2 line and the subsequent creation of these connections with the tunneling measures required for this would have been extremely time-consuming. Furthermore, the elevators that had meanwhile been built into the track troughs would have had to be removed.

business

The journey between Billstedt and Elbbrücken takes 21 minutes. This results in an average speed of 37.6 km / h, which means that the U4 reaches the highest value of all Hamburg underground lines. On the 5.3 km long section of the route, which is only used by the U4, the average speed is around 45 km / h. The average distance between stops is also noticeably large at around 1.2 km, with the two aforementioned values being explained by the unusually long, stationless section of the route between Jungfernstieg and Überseequartier . It is also noteworthy that the HafenCity University station is only around 1.7 km as the crow flies from the starting point of the HafenCity route on Jungfernstieg after a 3.9 km construction section, so the route has a long detour.

Timetable

Section of the U4 line	Monday - Friday	Sunday and holiday	Off-peak hours: Sunday to Thursday from 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday until 7 a.m.	Night Fri / Sat and Sat / Sun as well as on the nights before public holidays
Elbe bridges - Jungfernstieg	10 min		20 min
Jungfernstieg - Horner Rennbahn	10 min		20 min	no operation
Horner Racecourse - Billstedt	10 min	no operation	20 min	no operation

Remarks

Individual journeys lead beyond Billstedt to the eastern end of the U2 in Mümmelmannsberg .

On Saturdays (from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.) as well as Sundays and public holidays (from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.), trains only run between Elbbrücken and Berliner Tor . In night traffic, d. H. On the nights before Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays in Hamburg, the U4 only runs between Jungfernstieg and Elbbrücken .

From the opening of the line on November 29, 2012 to August 12, 2013, the new line was only operated in regular passenger service as far as Überseequartier , while the HafenCity University station, which was also completely completed and operational, was not used. The reason given for this was that the urban development in the vicinity of the station had not progressed far enough to justify regular operation. HafenCity University was only served between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekends and public holidays to enable the public to visit the lavishly designed station. However, it was not possible to leave the stop. On August 12, 2013, HafenCity University began regular passenger operations, as the Baakenhafen Bridge, which was considered a new attraction, was opened to traffic on the same day. The university , after which the station is named, started operations at the site about six months later on April 1, 2014.

Rolling stock used

In normal operation, the U4 is served by double traction units from the DT5 series . In event traffic, for example during the port birthday or at the Cruise Days , triple traction units consisting of DT5 and double traction units DT4 have so far been used, which represent the longest vehicle groups that can be used on the line.

From the opening of the line on November 29, 2012 to the beginning of November 2015, the route was operated exclusively with individual DT4 units in normal operation. At the beginning of November 2015, the elevated railway responded to the increased number of passengers since opening and increased the capacity of the line by replacing three DT4 single units with the same number of DT5 double units. With the timetable change on December 9, 2018, the elevated railway increased capacity again with the switch to the exclusive operation with DT5 double traction that is customary today.

Passenger numbers by section

Number of passengers on the U4 by section
			Passengers / working day in the section
HafenCity University - Überseequartier			5400
Überseequartier - Jungfernstieg			13200
Jungfernstieg - Central Station North			11800
Central station north - Berliner Tor			13500
Berliner Tor - Burgstrasse			17100
Burgstrasse - Hammer Church			15500
Hammer Church - Rough House			14000
Rauhes Haus - Horner Rennbahn			12200
Horner Rennbahn - Legienstrasse			8600
Legienstrasse - Billstedt			7300
Values for an average working day (Mon-Fri) 2018, sum of both directions of travel. Inaccuracies due to rounding errors are possible.

Passenger numbers on the newly built section

The number of passengers at the newly built stations Überseequartier and HafenCity University for the U4 has increased significantly in recent years. In 2016, the HafenCity University stop had 3,900 passengers boarding or disembarking on an average working day (Mon-Fri). In 2018 there were already 5,500. At the Überseequartier stop, the number rose from 8,400 (2016) to 8,700 (2018). No figures are publicly available for the Elbbrücken underground station, which opened in December 2018.

Construction method

Both the closed construction method in shield driving and the open construction method were used in the construction of the new line .

The 2.8 kilometer stretch between Jungfernstieg and Überseequartier passes under mostly densely built-up parts of the city center, which is why only the use of closed construction was considered as an option. The preparation of the tunnels was carried out with the tunnel boring machine VERA ( acronym for V on the E lbe R ichtung A lster) in the shield tunneling method. Two separate, single-track line tunnels were built, which were driven one after the other from HafenCity in the direction of Jungfernstieg. The launch shaft was immediately west of the Überseequartier station .

The 2.6 kilometer long section from Überseequartier to Elbbrücken , including the stations , could, on the other hand, be constructed using the open construction method, since the areas around the underground line were still completely free of buildings at the time the route was built. The main tunnels are double-tracked and have a box profile, with the exception of the 210 m long four-track tunnel east of HafenCity University , which in addition to the two main tracks has a double-track sweeping and parking facility.

Extension to Horner Geest currently under construction

Horner Rennbahn - Horner Geest

Course of the extension in the Horner Geest

		Continuation towards Jenfeld
		Horner Geest
		Stoltenstrasse
		Existing route of the U2
		Existing route of the U2 / U4

Planned location of the Stoltenstrasse station under Manshardtstrasse

Planned location of the Horner Geest train station , looking west

The U4 is to unwind east of Horner Rennbahn from the route used jointly with the U2 and to be led over a new section of around 1.9 kilometers to the northeastern adjacent Horner Geest. The route ran completely underground and essentially followed the course of Manshardtstraße, the two new underground stations Stoltenstraße east of the existing bus stop of the same name and Horner Geest west of the Dannerallee bus stop in the area of a local shopping center are planned . Following Horner Geest , the construction of a double-track parking facility is also planned, which is to be constructed in such a way that it will enable the line to be extended in the direction of Jenfeld at a later date (see below). Overall, the extension to Horner Geest is intended to connect the households of around 13,000 people to the subway network for the first time; the Hochbahn expects 13,600 passengers on the route by 2030. With the opening of the line, Billstedt would be abandoned as the eastern end point of the U4 and instead only the line to Horner Geest would be served.

The Horner Rennbahn station is to be expanded from two to three tracks. In the future, the existing platform tracks will only be used by the U2 and U4 trains going into town or in a westerly direction, while the trains going out of town or in an easterly direction will use a new, single-track platform south of the existing station. For this purpose, the existing track leading out of town to the west of the existing station is to be swiveled into a new tunnel to the south, which led to the new platform. To the east of the new platform, the tunnel section divided into a south section, which merged into the existing line of the U2 in a south-easterly direction, and a north section, which ran in the direction of Horner Geest . In total, the new lines required for the reorganization of the route in the area of Horner Rennbahn would have a length of around 700 meters.

Construction began on April 6, 2020 and the opening is scheduled for the mid-2020s.

The measures are to be implemented entirely using the open construction method, since the necessary inclinations and radii of the route generally only allow the use of the shield driving method for a very limited part of the total route, which is overall too short to economically justify the purchase of a tunnel boring machine. As part of the planning approval procedure , the residents concerned criticized the fact that the open construction method meant that around 770 trees would have to be felled in the alley-like overgrown Manshardtstrasse.

Projected extensions

Horner Geest - Jenfeld

The concept study of the elevated railway for the expansion of the subway network (see below) and the feasibility study for the route into the Horner Geest outline a possible extension of the route from the planned Horner Geest station to the neighboring Jenfeld district to the northeast . As a preliminary service, the parking facility to the east of Horner Geest was designed in such a way that it could be used as a route tunnel in the event of an extension to Jenfeld.

Due to the very general view of the project so far, the concept study and the feasibility study do not explicitly comment on station locations. However, the study names the areas of Dringsheide and Jenfeld-Zentrum as important settlement focal points, which is why it stands to reason that these could be taken into account when determining the locations.

However, the study also points to the possibility Jenfelds SPNV Indexing by a bus connection to the planned S-Bahn to improve -line S4, the adjacent west and north to Jenfeld neighborhoods Wandsbek and Rahlstedt use from the mid-2020s with several stations should. It can also be pointed out that a large part of the settlement areas between Horner Geest and Jenfeld has so far been characterized by a low building density, which should not necessarily facilitate an argument in favor of the necessity and economic efficiency of a subway connection.

Elbe bridges - Grasbrook

		Coming from Elbbrücken
		Elbe crossing

		Grasbrook

		Route continuation towards Wilhelmsburg

For crossing the Norderelbe, the U4 would have its own bridge west of the existing Freihafenelbbrücke.

In the medium to long term, the U4 could be extended from its southern end point on the north bank of the Norderelbe to the Kleiner Grasbrook on its south bank.

As part of the Grasbrook urban development project, apartments and subsequent residential facilities for around 6,000 people, jobs in the service, production and research areas for around 16,000 people and extensive public green spaces and open spaces are to be created there on an area of around 65 hectares by around 2040. The plans also include an optional extension of the U4, for which u. a. the potential subway route is to be kept free from development in order to simplify a later realization of the route. However, there has been no concrete decision to implement the extension.

The route corresponds roughly to the east variant of the Olympic planning (see below) with a station location shifted to the north; Starting from the Elbbrücken station, the route would run parallel to the Norderelbbrücken to the south, swiveled to the south-west and would receive a new station in the south-east of the Vltava port basin. In addition, a possible extension to the southwest in the axis of Dessauer Strasse and further on to the Veddel is indicated.

Grasbrook - Wilhelmsburg (- Harburg)

		Coming from Grasbrook

		Stübenplatz / Mannesallee
		Neuhöfer Strasse (east)
		Wilhelmsburg town hall
		Wilhelmsburg S.
		Karl Arnold Ring
		Route continuation towards Harburg

Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg's largest district in terms of area, has so far only been connected to the local rail transport via an S-Bahn station . (S-Bahn tracks on the left in the picture)

The plans for the Grasbrook urban development project (see above) indicate that the route beyond the Kleiner Grasbrook could be extended in a southerly direction to Wilhelmsburg , without giving any more precise details. So far, an extension to the Elbe Islands has always been dependent on a considerable intensification of the residential construction activity there, as the existing demand was considered to be insufficient for a subway connection.

There have been plans for a southern extension for a long time and provide in particular to connect the previously undersupplied settlement areas to the west and east of the S-Bahn line to the rapid transit network. In the long term, the line could lead as far as the Harburg district south of the Elbe - the route shown here corresponds to the planning status of the 2014 concept study (see below), which named initial considerations for the route in the Wilhelmsburg district.

Planning and construction history

Starting point: connection to HafenCity

The U4 was primarily designed to connect HafenCity to the neighboring city center. (2010)

The starting point for the plans for the U4 was the development of HafenCity . With an area of 157 ha, it forms the largest spatially contiguous urban development project in Hamburg, with which the city center is to be expanded from its previous center around the Inner Alster in a southerly direction to the banks of the North Elbe by the end of the 2020s. The plans include public-related functions from the areas of retail, supply, gastronomy, culture and leisure, which should attract around 100,000 users a day after the project is completed, primarily workplaces in the service sector for up to 45,000 people, apartments and residential facilities for up to 15,000 people as well various educational institutions such as a number of colleges. With the development of HafenCity, the Free and Hanseatic City is pursuing the goal that the smallest possible proportion of the traffic volume should be accounted for by motorized vehicles. Instead, a traffic structure should be promoted that is primarily supported by local public transport, bicycle traffic and pedestrian traffic.

The original HafenCity master plan from 2000 envisaged integrating the area into the light rail network planned by the red-green Senate at the time . The government coalition formed after the general election in 2001, consisting of the CDU, FDP and the Rule of Law Offensive party (colloquially known as the “ Schill Party ”) broke off ongoing plans for the light rail. The new Senate justified the termination with what it believed to be the fundamental shortcomings of the light rail system, namely the lack of stability of operations due to mixing with other modes of transport and the closely related aspect of the competition between different modes of transport for the limited space available in the street area. The transport capacity was therefore considered to be too low.

Preparatory traffic investigation

Nevertheless, the Senate recognized the high-performance public connection of HafenCity as a task of outstanding importance. In addition to the immediate practical dimension of a traffic development, two aspects in particular came to the fore for him; The construction of an efficient and image-rich (and associated with high investment costs) public transport system should convince private investors to participate in the project as a clear commitment by the city to the HafenCity project. According to the traffic authority, various (potential) investors in the city unanimously suggested building a subway in HafenCity or indicated that their willingness to make a financial commitment was linked to the construction of a subway. On the other hand, there was a connection with Hamburg's application to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, which was planned at the time . Hamburg's Olympic concept envisaged the construction of a large part of the Olympic facilities in the area of the Norderelbbrücken and the Kleiner Grasbrook opposite the HafenCity on the southern bank of the Norderelbe. If the application is successful, the route to the Olympic site should be opened by mid-2011. The aspect ultimately lost its immediate significance after the German NOK decided at its meeting on April 12, 2003 not to support Hamburg's application and instead to speak out in favor of Leipzig .

For the development of HafenCity, the Senate had the following traffic systems and routes examined with regard to their impact on traffic, urban development and operations:

Underground subway route from the town hall

Underground subway route without connection to the rest of the network

Elevated subway route from the north central station

Underground S-Bahn line from Jungfernstieg

Elevated magnetic levitation train based on the Transrapid between the main station and HafenCity

Elevated suspension railway modeled on Dortmund and Düsseldorf between the main train station and HafenCity

High- quality bus system on the ground

The construction of a tunnel from the town hall was identified as the most advantageous solution . From the point of view of the transport authority, the advantages of the connection to the city center and the main train station as well as the operationally advantageous full integration into the existing subway network, the high capacity, the low space requirement on the surface and the optional extension of the route to the districts to the south spoke for them the northern Elbe . In addition, the authority expressly emphasized that this variant was the one that enjoyed the greatest approval among (potential) investors in HafenCity.

Original plans for the U4 from 2003

The Senate's decision to connect HafenCity to the subway network was communicated to the citizens on January 7, 2003. The plans outlined in the decision still differed considerably from the route that was ultimately implemented. As already described, the U4 was to be developed as a branch line of the U3 and to the west of the Rathaus station and lead underground into the HafenCity. However, the Überseezentrum and Lohsepark stops planned in HafenCity were essentially identical, and their location corresponded to that of the Überseequartier and HafenCity University stations . It was also suggested to extend the route immediately east of Lohsepark and HafenCity University to the south.

As a further difference to the project that was ultimately implemented, the original planning provided for another branch to Steilshoop and Bramfeld . The plans were based on older considerations and provided for a removal from the existing network between Barmbek and Habichtstrasse . The route should branch off to the north immediately to the east of the intersection of the route with Fuhlsbüttler Straße and lead via new stations at Schwalbenplatz, Elligersweg, the Steilshoop shopping center and Borchertring to the Bramfeld terminus in the area of today's bus stop Bramfeld Dorfplatz . The U4 would have taken the route Bramfeld - Barmbek - Berliner Tor - Süd Hauptbahnhof - Rathaus - HafenCity .

Detailed comparison of variants and final route definition

Based on the fundamental decision to connect HafenCity to the subway network, a total of 34 variants for the new line between the city center and HafenCity were examined in the next step, whereby not only the town hall but also other development points were considered.

The comparison was made in a multi-stage process. In the first phase, all variants were examined for their general suitability for traffic and their operational feasibility, whereby 28 variants were eliminated. For the remaining six variants, detailed routes were discussed in the second step and considered with regard to their structural feasibility and urban integration, taking into account the investments required in each case. Again, three variants were eliminated. The remaining three variants were finally examined in detail for traffic-operational aspects, technical and process-related risks, temporary and permanent interventions in properties and other affected areas and necessary investments and compared with one another.

The investigation was completed by the beginning of 2005 and, contrary to the original planning, came out in favor of extending the new line from the U2 platform at the Jungfernstieg station , while the route and station locations in HafenCity essentially continued to correspond to the original plans. For the new threading point spoke u. a. the better traffic effect due to the direct connection to the important traffic junction Jungfernstieg , the higher capacity due to the possibility of using 120 m long trains and in particular the low impact on the city center, which is caused by the initially planned extension from the town hall - especially for the tradespeople and property owners - were judged extremely critically.

At around the same time as the decision to develop HafenCity via Jungfernstieg , the previously planned branch to Bramfeld was abandoned. In the material accompanying the press release on the final route definition, the elevated railway indicated that the Bramfeld branch could continue to be implemented as an extension of the U3, but did not pursue the project immediately. At the moment, these plans are likely to be considered obsolete, since the development of Steilshoops and Bramfeld is now being devoted to a new underground line U5 .

1st route: Billstedt - HafenCity University

Construction of the new line to HafenCity

U4 information pavilion on Jungfernstieg during construction

Überseequartier stop in the shell

Construction site visit in the U4 tunnel 2011

The Senate , which has now been provided by the CDU alone, and the elevated railway signed the final construction contract for the project on June 8, 2007, so that the elevated railway was able to conclude the award of the shell of the line and station on the same day. The award comprised a financial volume of 200 million euros and was awarded to a project consortium made up of a total of four construction companies. The official start of construction took place on August 23, 2007.

In 2008, work began on Jungfernstieg , which required extensive, temporary renovation of the popular promenade and the Alster Touristik pier.

To establish the connections between the new line and the Jungfernstieg network, the U2 line in the inner city area was suspended for six months at the beginning of 2009. The connection was made in an open construction pit. At the same time, preparations were still being made to swap lines U2 and U3 east of Berliner Tor station , the platforms of U2 and U4 in Jungfernstieg station were increased to their full length and equipped with elevators, and the new City Ost signal box was put into operation.

On October 13, 2009, the first shield entry of the tunnel boring machine took place at Jungfernstieg, on January 6, 2010 the shield drive for the second tunnel tube began, which was completed in January 2011 with the second shield entry. In the summer of 2010, work on the interior of the Überseequartier and HafenCity University stops began parallel to the work on the second tube . On February 28, 2011, the line tunnels were connected to the existing facilities on Jungfernstieg, and exactly one year later the tracks on the new line were connected to the existing network. On May 7, 2012, the restored open space facilities of the Jungfernstieg were reopened.

On July 13, 2012, the Hochbahn decided to start testing the U4 on November 4; the opening was scheduled for the timetable change on December 9, 2012. Furthermore, it was decided to initially operate the route - adapted to the level of development of HafenCity - only every 10 minutes and initially only to Überseequartier in passenger traffic. The route to HafenCity University was not to be made until the university opened, which at the time of the Hochbahn's decision was expected for summer 2013.

Opening of the U4

The symbolic opening of the U4 took place on November 28, 2012 by the First Mayor Olaf Scholz , the chairman of the Hochbahn Günter Elste and Enak Ferlemann , State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transport . Official passenger operations began the following day, earlier than initially announced, and the route between Jungfernstieg and HafenCity could be used free of charge until the timetable change on December 9, 2012.

At the time of opening, it was expected that the U4 will carry around 35,000 passengers a day once HafenCity has been fully expanded.

Extension of HafenCity University - Elbbrücken

Starting point: development of the eastern HafenCity

Elbbrücken station

With the revision or reorganization of the HafenCity master plan in 2010, the extension of the U4 from HafenCity University , which was still under construction at the time, to the Elbe bridges, including the connection with the S-Bahn, became part of the overarching planning framework for HafenCity. Functionally, the master plan - and its urban development qualification that has now taken place - provides for a considerable commercial focus for the Elbe bridges with up to 13,000 jobs and around 1,100 apartments.

In the spring of 2011, the parliamentary groups of the ruling SPD and the opposition Greens and LINKE asked the Senate to submit an official resolution to the informal statements of the master plan and to have the extension of the U4 and the S-Bahn connection checked . The Senate complied with the request in the middle of the year.

Preparatory traffic investigation

The investigation commissioned by the Senate dealt with the connection to the eastern HafenCity as well as the development of the Kleiner Grasbrook.

In a first stage, a total of 36 variants for different traffic systems and routes were developed and examined and compared with regard to their traffic, urban planning and operational potentials and effects. The 36 variants can be divided into five groups according to the means of transport considered:

Extension of the U4 or construction of a new S-Bahn line
Extension of the U4 and installation of new stops on the Harburg S-Bahn route
Establishment of additional stops on existing (high-speed) railway lines
Introduction of a light rail
Bus connection

Due to the high forecast volume of traffic and the existence of expandable high-speed railway lines in the area under consideration, the investigation advocated the pursuit of variants of the second category and considered the creation of a direct transition from the U4 to the S-Bahn in the area of the Elbe bridges as particularly favorable for the traffic Effect.

In the second stage, three planned cases, each with two variants, were examined and compared in more detail with regard to traffic, operational, urban development and structural-technical effects as well as the expected investments:

Plan case 1: Underground extension of the U4 from HafenCity University to a new Kleiner Grasbrook station , development of the Elbbrücken area with a new S-Bahn station
- Plan case 1a: New Elbbrücken S-Bahn station on the north bank of the Norderelbe
- Plan case 1b: New S-Bahn station Veddeler Markt on the south bank of the North Elbe
Plan case 2: Underground extension of the U4 from HafenCity University to a new joint U- and S-Bahn station in the area of the Elbbrücken and underground continuation to a new station Kleiner Grasbrook
- Plan case 2a: Joint new U- and S-Bahn station Elbbrücken on the north bank of the Norderelbe
- Plan case 2b: Joint new U- and S-Bahn station Veddeler Markt on the south bank of the Norderelbe + new U-Bahn station Versmannstraße in the northern part of Baakenhafen
Plan case 3: Underground extension of the U4 from HafenCity University to the Versmannstraße / Baakenwerderstraße junction in the east of HafenCity, from there above-ground routing with a new shared U- and S-Bahn station in the area of the Elbbrücken and above-ground continuation to a new Kleiner Grasbrook station
- Plan case 3a: Joint new U- and S-Bahn station Elbbrücken on the north bank of the Norderelbe
- Plan case 3b: Joint new U- and S-Bahn station Veddeler Markt on the south bank of the Norderelbe + new U-Bahn station Versmannstraße in the northern part of Baakenhafen

Plan cases 3a and 3b were identified overall as the most favorable variants. For them spoke u. a. the good development of the eastern HafenCity including the main area of the Elbe bridges, the good internal development of the HafenCity, the lower structural risk and the low costs due to the partly above-ground location of the route and stations as well as the economical use of potential construction areas along the route. Analogous to the earlier argument in favor of the decision to open up HafenCity with a subway (see above), Hochbahn and Free and Hanseatic City point out the positive signaling effect to investors that an expansion of the subway could exercise as early as possible.

Since at the time of the investigation it was not clear which urban development perspectives would arise on the areas south of the Norderelbe - especially with regard to the question of whether the existing port use of the Kleiner Grasbrooks should be preserved or whether the areas should be opened up for urban development -, Plan case 3b, which focused more on developing the areas south of the Elbe, was discarded. The Senate also emphasized that an extension beyond the Elbe bridges under the given urban planning conditions in the area around the route would hardly achieve a degree of economic efficiency that could help it to be eligible for funding by the federal government.

Therefore, plan case 3a with a new subway station Elbbrücken north of the Norderelbe was finally recognized as a preferred variant, the extension to the Kleiner Grasbrook was postponed as an option for a later expansion (see below). It was also stated that the construction of the planned link with the S-Bahn was not possible in the short term due to the costs and the complex coordination with the urban development of the eastern HafenCity, but would also continue to exist as an option.

Allocation of planning and construction lots, political decision

While the Senate was still in the process of being investigated, on July 1, 2011, the elevated railway published the tender for the provision of the preliminary, draft and approval planning for an extension of the U4. The tender mentioned 2013 as the planned start of construction, but made no reference to the consideration of a transition to the S-Bahn. At the end of 2011, various media outlets in Hamburg reported unanimously that, according to the traffic authority, a connection with the S-Bahn should be avoided for cost reasons. On August 7, 2012, however, the authority declared before the citizens' transport committee that the S-Bahn station should be built after cost-reducing rescheduling that had taken place in the meantime. The authority also announced that both stations should go into operation at the same time.

On January 15, 2013 the Senate officially decided to extend the U4 to the Elbe bridges and asked the citizens for approval. At this point in time, the construction costs were forecast to be around EUR 136 million.

At the end of April 2013, the elevated railway presented the result of the structural implementation competition for the station building. Six offices took part in the first stage of the competition, of which gmp (Hamburg) and Auer Weber (Stuttgart) were shortlisted. After revising the drafts, which were initially assessed as equivalent, the Hochbahn decided on the draft from gmp, which was responsible for traffic structures and the like. a. designed the main buildings of the Hamburg and Stuttgart airports and the Berlin Central Station .

In October 2013, the planning approval decision for the extension was granted, and the construction lots for structural and special foundation engineering were awarded in December 2013 and in November 2014 for the first construction phases of the station building.

Construction of the route to the Elbe bridges

Site tour in February 2017

Construction work on the tunnel section began on April 23, 2014, but work on an underground parking facility east of HafenCity University , which is also part of the route to the Elbe bridges , began on June 21 of the previous year . The structure had already been approved as part of the planning approval for the first construction phase from Jungfernstieg to HafenCity, but implementation had been postponed.

The shell of the sweeping system was completed in mid-2015, the route tunnel followed in early 2017, and track construction on the route began in March. In February 2017, the elevated railway offered a construction site tour through the tunnel to the construction site of the Elbbrücken stop , during which the participants could view the planned design of the stop on site with the help of virtual reality glasses .

At the beginning of 2017, construction of the station's internal access systems began, and at the end of March the first steel girder for the station hall was installed. The entire support structure had been produced by August, immediately after which the installation of the total of 1,200 panes of glass that form the inner skin of the hall began. The work for this was completed in autumn 2017. Between May 17 and 22, 2018, the pedestrian bridge to the neighboring S-Bahn station was lifted using two heavy-duty cranes. The bridge was lifted in two separate segments, with the western part connecting to the underground station first, and the eastern part on the night of May 19-20 was lifted. Further follow-up work was carried out in the following days. The entire station was completed by the beginning of December 2018, so that operations could begin with the timetable change on December 9, 2018. Internal test drives were carried out on the route as early as November 19, 2018. From December 7th to 9th, 2018, the new route could be used free of charge by all passengers, before an opening ceremony took place in a private company.

Work on the neighboring S-Bahn station began at the end of August 2017, and the opening is scheduled for the end of 2019. Originally it was planned that the construction work by the opening of the underground station should have progressed so far that the passenger service could start. However, due to unexpected complications in founding the building, the opening had to be postponed for around a year.

Extension Horner Rennbahn - Horner Geest - Jenfeld

First proposal and concept study

In April 2014, the Senate and Hochbahn presented a catalog of potential expansion projects for the subway network, which included removing the U4 from the route used jointly with the U2 in the Horn district in the direction of the adjacent Horner Geest to the northeast. At the end of 2014, the Hochbahn completed work on a concept study that looked at the projects presented in April. The study determined u. a. Roughly the stop locations on Stoltenstrasse and Dannerallee, five variants were discussed for the removal from the existing network and the routing:

Extension west of Horner Rennbahn and course in the axis of Manshardtstrasse
Unfiring east of the Horner Rennbahn and running along the axis of Manshardtstrasse
Unwinding between Horner Rennbahn and Legienstrasse and course in the axis of the Querkamp
Unfiring east of Legienstrasse and course in the axis of Legienstrasse
Unfacing between Legienstrasse and Billstedt and course in the axis Schiffbeker Weg

The second variant was identified as a preferred variant due to the good development effect, the direct route towards the city center and the extensive feasibility below public street areas. In addition, the third variant was selected for further consideration. She was at the above. Criteria assessed less positively in each case, but should be considered in more detail before a final exclusion. The other variants were ruled out, in particular because the route was judged to be too detouring with regard to the inner city destination and the less favorable development effect.

In a more far-reaching perspective, the concept study also outlined a later extension of the route to the east and north-east bordering settlement centers in Jenfeld and explained that when extending the U4 into the Horner Geest, a later extension to Jenfeld must be considered structurally. The route could essentially be implemented as a straight extension of the preferred variant.

Further steps

The work on the feasibility study, which was supposed to take a closer look at the project, began in November 2014 and was completed in the course of 2015. The investigation fixed, among other things, the alignment under Manshardtstrasse, the location of the stops and the design of the threading out of the existing route. At the beginning of May 2017, the Hochbahn announced that the preliminary draft planning had been completed and the work on the draft planning had started. The Hochbahn originally expected to be able to open the plan approval procedure within 2017 if it went ideally. In fact, it was initiated in June 2018 with a public hearing in April 2019. Construction was originally expected to start in 2019 at the earliest, but then took place in April 2020.

Extension from the Elbe bridges to the south

First proposal and concept study

The catalog of expansion projects presented by Hochbahn and Senate in 2014 and the concept study based on it considered, in addition to the extension of the U4 into the Horner Geest, an extension beyond the southern terminus Elbbrücken in a southern direction. The route should cross the Norderelbe and open up the eastern part of the Kleiner Grasbrook district and the areas of Wilhelmsburg, including the large Kirchdorf-Süd housing estate , that have not yet been served by the S-Bahn . In perspective, the concept study also outlined a continuation to the Harburg district center .

The concept study divided the expansion into two or three phases, which should have been implemented one after the other; first the extension from the Elbe bridges to the Kleine Grasbrook, followed by the route to Wilhelmsburg and possibly finally the route to Harburg.

The first two expansion stages related to planned or realistic urban development developments in the respective route environment. The development of the Kleiner Grasbrook was part of the ongoing deliberations of Hamburg at the time to apply to host the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games in 2024 . As with the planned application for the 2012 Summer Games , Hamburg's concept was to build a large part of the Olympic facilities on Kleiner Grasbrook. The Olympic site should in particular include the Olympic Stadium, the Olympic Swimming Pool and the Olympic Village . The areas in question were and are largely occupied by port functions that would have had to be abandoned or relocated in favor of the Olympic use. In the subsequent use, the Olympic site should be opened for normal urban development, for which, for example, the Olympic Village and the Olympic Stadium - the latter after a corresponding renovation - should be (continued) used for living.

The plans for the route beyond the Kleine Grasbrook aimed in particular at connecting existing densely populated settlement areas and important areas with potential south of the North Elbe better to public transport and, in line with the political objective of the “jump across the Elbe”, to the city center. Despite the fundamentally recognized need for a better connection to the existing settlement areas, the concept study stated that an extension to the south could only take place if considerable development potentials were activated in the area around the route, since the existing density of use is not yet sufficient overall to justify a subway connection . The connection of Wilhelmsburg to the U4 was on the one hand dependent on the external factor of the urban transformation of the Kleiner Grasbrook, which in turn was made dependent on a successful application to host the Olympic Games, and on the other hand on the internal development prospects of the district.

Planning in the run-up to the Olympic application

Routes and station locations according to the concept study

The concept study examined two route corridors for the development of the Olympic site. Since the final decision in favor of Hamburg's application was still pending at this point in time, no urban planning concept for the Olympic site to be developed was available.

Underground course through the central area of the site
Underground or above-ground course in the axis of Dessauer Strasse on the eastern edge of the site

The underground routing with a central station was determined to be the preferred option. As a subordinate alternative, the above-ground guidance along Dessauer Strasse was considered. The very favorable development of the area spoke in favor of the central station location, although the study did not rule out the possibility that the eastern, above-ground variant could not also turn out to be compatible with urban development in the context of further planning and, when weighed up, even more economical than the underground route.

Planning according to Hamburg's determination as a German applicant city

In March 2015, the presidium of the DOSB decided to support Hamburg's application to host the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games in 2024. The Free and Hanseatic City and the Hochbahn then intensified work on the urban development and logistical concept for the Games and for the subsequent use of the Olympic facilities.

With regard to the U4, the subsequent use was of particular relevance, as the Olympic site on the Kleiner Grasbrook, now known as OlympiaCity , was only to be accessed via stations located outside the site for safety reasons. The HafenCity University and Elbbrücken stations were planned for this on the U4 .

Immediately after the games, however, the U4 was to be extended from Elbbrücken by around 1.3 kilometers to Kleine Grasbrook. Deviating from the preference of the concept study, the further developed plans determined that the route would be above ground and in the axis of Dessauer Straße with a station on the eastern edge of OlympiaCity.

For the above-ground routing, u. a. the lower costs compared to a tunnel solution. Overall, a feasibility study estimated the costs at around 172 million euros, with an additional 150 million euros going to build the new bridge, which will initially serve as a pedestrian link between the Elbe bridges and OlympiaCity during the games and the subway tracks after the games should record for the crossing of the Norderelbe. Furthermore, in favor of the chosen solution, the fact that the area of OlympiaCity could be planned much more freely, as the route was limited to a relatively compact, narrow corridor and would not have cut through larger parts of the area. In addition, a station in the southeast of the Kleiner Grasbrook would have had a development effect for the western part of the Veddel.

As further preliminary work in addition to the pedestrian and later track bridge, foundations were to be made when the Olympic facilities were built and areas for the route and station of the subway were to be kept free. In addition to ensuring coordinated planning between the subway and the other structural measures, this approach would have offered structural and logistical advantages.

In September 2015, the city council released funds amounting to 15 million euros for preliminary, draft and approval planning for the extension to the Kleine Grasbrook, the planning should start in the same year. The plan approval procedure should be opened in 2017 so that construction could have started in 2019.

After the Hamburg population decided against an application in a referendum on November 29, 2015, the plans for the southern extension were initially postponed for an indefinite period. Even in the event of an outcome of the referendum in favor of an application, the project would have continued to be subject to the award of the games to Hamburg, so that a final decision on construction would not be made until after the IOC meeting on September 13, 2017 , at which the games were awarded would have been done.

Development of the new Grasbrook district

On September 12, 2017, the Senate presented plans to open up an area of around 46 hectares in the northeast and east of Kleiner Grasbrook for urban development under the project name Grasbrook . Opposite HafenCity, apartments and subsequent residential facilities are to be created for around 6,000 people, jobs in the service, production and research sectors for around 16,000 people and extensive public green spaces and open spaces. Conceptually, the project can be viewed as an expansion of HafenCity, as it essentially adopts its characteristics in terms of urban structure and density, mix of uses, social mix, ecological sustainability and mobility structure. At the same time, the project builds on the plans that were developed as part of the urban development and sports facility concept for hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024. The structural measures could begin in 2019 with the clearing of the areas and the creation of the development measures, the overall measure should extend over a period of around 20 years, so that the development could be completed around 2040.

The city's decision in favor of the urban development of the Kleiner Grasbrook is surprising in that it was declared as part of the sports facility concept that such an opening could only take place as part of an event on the scale of the games. With 65 hectares, the current plans cover a good half of the areas that should be developed as part of the Olympic planning. The remaining areas of the Kleiner Grasbrook are to continue to be used for port management purposes, but contractual bases are to be created in order to facilitate a subsequent reallocation of the remaining port areas, in particular through regulations to compensate the settled commercial enterprises in the event of a relocation.

The local public transport development of the area will initially take place through the existing Elbbrücken U- and S-Bahn station and the bus connections connected to it. However, the optional extension of the U4 at a later point in time is to be secured in terms of planning and contract, in particular the subway route is to be kept free of development. The route corresponds roughly to the east variant of the Olympic planning (see below) with a station location shifted to the north; Starting from the Elbbrücken station, the route would run parallel to the Norderelbbrücken to the south, swiveled to the south-west and would receive a new station in the south-east of the Vltava port basin. In addition, a possible extension to the southwest in the axis of Dessauer Straße and on the Veddel is indicated.

The plans presented as part of the first presentation of the Grasbrook project envisaged that the station at the location from the Olympic planning should be south of the Moldauhafen and west of Dessauer Strasse. This location was on the outermost edge of the project area at the spatial interface between Grasbrook and the areas still intended for port and logistics-related uses.

Planning for the development of Wilhelmsburg

Approved route corridors (red / orange / purple) and preferred variant (blue) for the development of Wilhelmsburg

The Kleiner Grasbrook district is an obstacle to the route with its large expanses of water, port and rail systems

While the planning for the development of the OlympiaCity was quite advanced and the extension of the U4 to the Kleine Grasbrook is currently being carried out at least in terms of planning, the planning for the development of Wilhelmsburg was only carried out at the level of the concept study. With the withdrawal from the Olympic application, a further deepening was initially unnecessary. It is not known to what extent an extension is likely to be in the light of current plans for the Grasbrook development area .

According to the concept study, the route for the development of Wilhelmsburg, starting from OlympiaCity, would first have to cross the basin of the Spreehafen south of the Kleiner Grasbrooks . For this, the following variants were considered:

Western, above-ground route roughly in the axis of the Brandenburg Bridge
Western, underground route roughly along the Brandenburg Bridge axis
Eastern, above-ground route in the Dessauer Strasse axis

The western route could have connected to the central route as well as to the route leading through the Olympic site to the east; the eastern route was planned as an extension of the eastern route.

South of the Spreehafen , the concept study discussed three route corridors for the development of Wilhelmsburg. A central requirement for the route to be determined was the avoidance of parallel traffic with the S-Bahn that was already in service in Wilhelmsburg. Nevertheless, this requirement was or is relatively easy to meet, since the main function of the S-Bahn, which runs via Wilhelmsburg and Veddel, according to the study, is to connect Hamburg city center and the Harburg district as quickly as possible, which is why the Wilhelmsburg district, which is large in terms of area, has so far only been would be developed selectively by the railway. As a result, significant settlement areas of Wilhelmsburg are outside the immediate catchment area of the S-Bahn.

The three corridors considered were:

West Corridor: Reiherstieg quarter - of space - Center Wilhelmsburg - S-Bahnhof Wilhelmsburg - Kirchdorf-South
Central corridor: course along the Georg-Wilhelm-Strasse axis
East Corridor: Course in the axis of today's Wilhelmsburger Reichsstraße to Kirchdorf-Süd

A combination of the first and second corridor was chosen as the preferred variant, which roughly corresponds to the route of MetroBus line 13, which has so far provided most of the public transport development of western Wilhelmsburg and the large Kirchdorf-Süd housing estate. After crossing the Hansahafen, the route would have run south via stations in the areas of Stübenplatz, the Neuhöfer Straße bus stop (east) and the Wilhelmsburg town hall. There, the route would have swung to the east, the William Reichsstraße crossed and the train station Wilhelmsburg reached. The route would eventually have continued in a south-easterly direction to a new station in Kirchdorf-Süd.

From there, the map material contained in the concept study indicates a further extension to the south-west in the direction of the Harburg district center and also confirms this possibility in text form, without, however, specifying a more specific course. This route was intended to connect all the main traffic areas in Wilhelmsburg; the network would also have had a good network effect due to the connection to the S-Bahn network and the potential for considerable savings in bus transport services.

The good development of future development focal points in the district and the possibility of a direct continuation to Harburg spoke in favor of the guided tour along the Georg-Wilhelm-Straße axis. The less favorable development of existing high-volume areas was judged to be disadvantageous.

The comparatively simple and inexpensive integration into the ongoing or planned developments in the vicinity of the route spoke in favor of the guidance along the axis of the Wilhelmsburger Reichsstraße. The Reichsstraße will probably be swiveled to the east to the railway line by 2019 and its previous area and large parts of the surrounding area will be made accessible for an urban realignment. As part of the urban reorganization, the underground line could have been built in advance of or in parallel with further developments. However, the close proximity to the S-Bahn line and the omission of important, existing high-volume areas were assessed as significant disadvantages.

costs

Jungfernstieg route - HafenCity University

In September 2008, the construction costs of the first construction phase were forecast at EUR 298 million. According to the Senate, it was envisaged that the federal government should pay 126 million euros or around 42 percent of this sum by way of the Municipal Transport Financing Act, while 172 million euros should remain with the Free and Hanseatic City. In April 2009, the forecast for total costs was corrected to EUR 301 million. Another estimate from October 2009 corrected the costs again to the final amount of 323.6 million euros, of which the federal government contributed 135 million euros.

HafenCity University - Elbbrücken route

The cost of the approximately 1.3 kilometer extension from HafenCity University to the Elbe bridges was forecast at around 187 million euros at the start of construction. Of this, 38 million euros should go to the parking facility east of HafenCity University and 136 million euros to the further route and the new train station. In August 2016, however, the Hochbahn announced that the costs are expected to be around 10 million euros lower. Based on the original forecast, the Free and Hanseatic City should bear a share of 102 million euros and the federal government around 72 million euros of the project costs. A few weeks before the line went into operation, Hochbahn announced in November 2018 that total costs could be further reduced by 145 million euros.

Route Horner Rennbahn - Horner Geest

In mid-March 2018, the Hochbahn published a cost forecast for the 2.6 kilometer long route into the Horner Geest in the amount of 465 million euros. Of the total, around 20 million euros are spent on planning and award preparation. The largest part, at 355 million euros, is attributable to the so-called base costs for construction, plus 33 million euros for ancillary construction costs. A further 36 million euros were planned as risk provision for unforeseen events and 21 million euros as a reserve for possible price increases amounting to up to six percent of the base costs.

criticism

The southern part of Überseequartier in September 2010, in the foreground the entrances to the subway station of the same name; the entrances are at the final terrain height

The construction was particularly controversial with regard to the total costs and the cost development. The cost of 298 million euros, which was forecast before construction began, was viewed as disproportionately high for a four-kilometer route with only two stations. Another point of criticism concerns the course of the route, which runs in a large curve with more than 180 ° change of direction and without intermediate stops under the city center and along the Elbphilharmonie . In the opinion of critics, a connection via a 700 meter long branch of the U1 line from the Meßberg station would have been possible.

Hochbahn stated that it had examined 34 route variants for the development of HafenCity in the preparatory studies and that it had identified the one selected for implementation as the best operationally and most efficient. The initially considered construction of the line as an elevated railway was rejected due to the complicated routing in the area of the Kehrwiederspitze and for operational reasons: Contrary to the initial plans, the elevated railway did not want the development of HafenCity to branch off from the U3 ring line. The first plans had provided for a subway to HafenCity from the U3 stop Rathaus . This led to strong protests from the Mönckebergstrasse retailers . The reason for the change in plan was the fact that there were already two finished, but unused subway platform edges at Jungfernstieg station for the previously planned U4 to Altona. Criticism also insisted that only 90 meter long trains can be used on this line because of the shorter compared to the rest of the network platforms and also an elaborate Ausfädelungskonstruktion on Baumwall would have been required.

The red - green Senate , which ruled until 2001, had planned the construction of a light rail line to develop HafenCity . After the change of government in 2001, the urban railway planning was given up for the time being and a subway connection was preferred.

Another point of criticism of the chosen route is that the Elbphilharmonie, one of the main attractions of HafenCity, is not in the catchment area of the U4 stops. The closest rapid-transit railway station is the Baumwall station on the U3 line, around 430 meters northeast of the Elbphilharmonie .

literature

Ulrich Alexis Christiansen: Hamburg's dark worlds: the mysterious underground of the Hanseatic city . 1st edition. Links, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-473-0 .
Mathias Keuchel: Hamburg: With the U4 to HafenCity . In: City traffic . No. 1–2 /2013 (January – February). EK-Verlag, 2013, ISSN 0038-9013 , p. 44-47 .

Web links

Commons : U-Bahn line U4 (Hamburg) - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Part 1: U4 station Überseequartier - The underwater world. December 3, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Part 2: U4 station HafenCity University - the light philharmonic hall. December 6, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ ^a ^b Mayor officially puts Hamburg's new U4 into operation. November 28, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ U4 now also runs to HafenCity Uni on weekdays. August 12, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Elevated railway increased capacity on underground line U4. November 20, 2015, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ The basis is the number of boarding and alighting passengers at the individual U4 stops for an average working day (Mon-Fri) in 2018, according to the Hamburger Hochbahn in an answer to "FragDenStaat", accessed on July 1, 2019 . The figures result in an error of 200 more people entering than leaving per day, which may be due to rounding.

↑ Data and facts about the construction of the U4 - U4.Hochbahn.de ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Preliminary draft planning for U4 extension is complete. In: Hamburg local transport website. May 11, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017 .

↑ Mike Schlink: Work has begun - starting signal for Hamburg's new subway stations mopo.de on April 6, 2020, accessed on April 6, 2020

↑ Martin Sonnleitner: Zoff about subway construction. Wedel-Schulauer Tageblatt, March 9, 2019, p. 14

Jump up to the new Grasbrook district. (PDF) In: Presentation by HafenCity Hamburg GmbH as part of the kick-off event for the planning of Grasbrook on June 1, 2018. June 1, 2018, accessed on June 18, 2018 .

^ GHS Gesellschaft für Hafen- und Stadntortentwicklung mbH (Hrsg.): HafenCity Hamburg. The master plan. P. 12.

^ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (ed.): Printed matter 17/808.

↑ Citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Ed.): Printed matter 17/2019.

↑ HafenCity Hamburg GmbH (Ed.): HafenCity News Issue No. 2, February 2005.

↑ On the way underground to Hamburg's Hafen City ( memento of the original from June 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Deutsches Baublatt No. 336 - May 2008 @1@ 2

↑ Hochbahn bundles four major projects in the first half of 2009 ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , hochbahn.de @1@ 2

↑ U4 shell is connected to the Hamburg subway network. February 28, 2011, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Tracks of the new HafenCity subway are attached to the network. February 29, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ U4 construction work on Jungfernstieg is finished. May 7, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ U4 will go to Hafencity from December 9th. July 13, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ ^a ^b Mayor officially puts Hamburg's new U4 into operation. November 28, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Senate examines subway extension to Elbbrücken. May 26, 2011, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ ^a ^b Hamburger Hochbahn AG (Ed.): Annex 2 to the planning approval documents "Extension of the U4 to the Elbbrücken": p. 8ff. Self-published, Hamburg 2012.

↑ The benefits of the U4 extension are slightly higher than the costs. March 15, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ U4 extension should begin in 2013. July 15, 2011, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ No transfer station planned at the Elbe bridges for the time being. December 22, 2011, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ New S-Bahn station at Elbbrücken should come. August 8, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ ^a ^b Resolution: U4 will be extended to the Elbe bridges. January 15, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Huge glass tube for the new underground station at the Elbe bridges. April 23, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ U4 can be extended to the Elbe bridges. October 17, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Construction contract for U4 extension has been signed. December 11, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

^ New Elbbrücken U-Bahn station: First construction contracts awarded. November 7, 2014, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Start of construction for U4 extension to the Elbe bridges. April 23, 2014, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ Construction of the U4 extension in Hafencity has started. June 21, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ U4 sweeping system in HafenCity is finished in shell. July 1, 2015, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ An underground cathedral for the U4 is being built here. February 27, 2017, accessed June 1, 2017 .

^ Elbbrücken underground station: Start in December. Norddeutscher Rundfunk NDR, March 31, 2018, accessed on August 30, 2018 .

↑ ^a ^b Elbbrücken U-Bahn station: Passenger service will start in four weeks. November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018 .

↑ ^a ^b U4 station Elbbrücken: The roof should be finished this year. March 28, 2017, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ These local transport projects in Hamburg are currently being planned. November 26, 2014, accessed May 25, 2017 .

^ Further development of the Hamburg subway network. Results of the feasibility studies U5 Ost and U4 Horner Geest. (PDF) In: Presentation by Hamburger Hochbahn AG and the Authority for Economics, Transport and Innovation on March 23, 2016. March 23, 2016, accessed on August 8, 2017 .

^ ^A ^b Authority for Urban Development and Housing of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (ed.): Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024 in Hamburg OlympiaCity and sports facilities. Self-published, Hamburg 2015.

↑ Hamburg wants to put 74.4 million in subway planning. September 30, 2015, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ This is the U4 extension over the Elbe. August 24, 2015, accessed June 1, 2017 .

↑ After the Olympic Games: U4 will not be extended to the south. November 30, 2015, accessed June 1, 2017 .

^ The new district of Grasbrook. (PDF) In: Presentation by the Senate Chancellery of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on September 12, 2017. September 12, 2017, accessed on September 13, 2017 .

↑ Press release on the financing of the authority for urban development and the environment

↑ The U 4 comes in 2012 at the earliest - and will be more expensive. In: Hamburger Abendblatt April 1, 2009.

↑ New subway in Hamburg: 323.6 million euros! The U4 will also be more expensive than planned. In: Hamburger Abendblatt online.

↑ U4 extension is on schedule and will probably be cheaper. August 23, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2017 .

↑ U4 extension in Horner Geest should cost 465 million euros. March 16, 2018, accessed March 30, 2018 .

↑ "U4" is 43 million euros more expensive. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , March 22, 2007.

↑ Railway info

↑ www2.abendblatt.de In: Hamburger Abendblatt of October 17, 2007.

53.5401807 9.9932309Coordinates: 53 ° 32 '24.7 " N , 9 ° 59' 35.6" E

[NVHH121203-1] Part 1: U4 station Überseequartier - The underwater world. December 3, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

[NVHH121206-2] Part 2: U4 station HafenCity University - the light philharmonic hall. December 6, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

[NVHH121008-3] Mayor officially puts Hamburg's new U4 into operation. November 28, 2012, accessed June 1, 2017 .

[NVHH130812-4] U4 now also runs to HafenCity Uni on weekdays. August 12, 2013, accessed June 1, 2017 .

[NVHH151120-5] Elevated railway increased capacity on underground line U4. November 20, 2015, accessed June 1, 2017 .

[6] The basis is the number of boarding and alighting passengers at the individual U4 stops for an average working day (Mon-Fri) in 2018, according to the Hamburger Hochbahn in an answer to "FragDenStaat", accessed on July 1, 2019 . The figures result in an error of 200 more people entering than leaving per day, which may be due to rounding.

[7] Data and facts about the construction of the U4 - U4.Hochbahn.de ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

[NVHH170511-8] Preliminary draft planning for U4 extension is complete. In: Hamburg local transport website. May 11, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017 .

Underground line 4 (Hamburg)

route

Stations

Accessibility

Typology

draft

Use of preliminary construction work

business

Timetable

Rolling stock used

Passenger numbers by section

Passenger numbers on the newly built section

Construction method

Extension to Horner Geest currently under construction

Projected extensions

Horner Geest - Jenfeld

Elbe bridges - Grasbrook

Grasbrook - Wilhelmsburg (- Harburg)

Planning and construction history

Starting point: connection to HafenCity

Preparatory traffic investigation

Detailed comparison of variants and final route definition

1st route: Billstedt - HafenCity University

Construction of the new line to HafenCity

Opening of the U4

Extension of HafenCity University - Elbbrücken

Starting point: development of the eastern HafenCity

Preparatory traffic investigation

Allocation of planning and construction lots, political decision

Construction of the route to the Elbe bridges

Extension Horner Rennbahn - Horner Geest - Jenfeld

First proposal and concept study

Further steps

Extension from the Elbe bridges to the south

First proposal and concept study

Planning in the run-up to the Olympic application

Planning according to Hamburg's determination as a German applicant city

Development of the new Grasbrook district

Planning for the development of Wilhelmsburg

costs

Jungfernstieg route - HafenCity University

HafenCity University - Elbbrücken route

Route Horner Rennbahn - Horner Geest

criticism

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence