Subway line 7 (Berlin)
The U7 line of the Berlin subway has 40 stations and, at 31.8 kilometers, is the longest Berlin subway line and the longest underground subway line in Germany. It runs from Spandau to Rudow .
The line U7 was originally the branch line C I - between Mehringdamm and Grenzallee - today's line U6 , then line C or C II . In 1966, the line was separated from the U6 and extended over the following years. Today, the U7 line is the longest underground line in the city in terms of route length, number of stations and travel time of 56 minutes. It runs completely underground and from 1984 to 1988 held the record as the longest tunnel in the world .
Line color and labels
Before 1966, when parts of the U7 were still connected to today's U6, both lines were shown in purple on the subway network map. There were plans for the U7 before, at that time it was given the letter "H". After the lines had been separated from each other and the system of lines was converted to numbers, the route was henceforth called "Line 7" and was drawn in gray. After 1978 this was changed to a light blue ( RAL color 5012) as this color was easier to see on the plans. Since 1984, when the S-Bahn routes were also included in the West Berlin traffic concept, the U-Bahn line names have been preceded by a “U”; the line has been called "U7" since then.
course
The route of the U7 begins in the center of Rudow , at the intersection of Groß-Ziethener Chaussee and Waßmannsdorfer Chaussee (" Rudower Spider "). Then it runs northwest along the Alt-Rudow road until it swings west in a wide curve. Since settlement and subway construction were planned to be combined in Gropiusstadt , the U7 does not follow any streets here, but rather forms a green corridor through the settlement. It runs south of Fritz-Erler-Allee and crosses Lipschitzallee and Johannisthaler Chaussee. From the Britz-Süd train station , the route follows Fritz-Reuter-Allee to Blaschkoallee. To the north of it, the U7 swings onto Buschkrugallee. This she follows under the city motorway . The route runs further north - with the first crossing under the Ringbahn - under Karl-Marx-Strasse, which is called Hasenheide after Hermannplatz and, as a continuation, Südstern and Gneisenaustrasse . At the Gneisenaustraße / Mehringdamm intersection there is a very sharp right-hand bend, because here the line swings to Mehringdamm - transfer station to line U6 with parallel directional platforms . Immediately afterwards there is an almost equally tight left curve under the Tempelhofer Ufer. To the west of the Möckernbrücke underground station - with the option to change to the U1 Kleinprofil high-rise railway line - the line crosses in two large S-curves under the site of the former Anhalter Güterbahnhof , where the German Museum of Technology Berlin is today, crosses Yorckstrasse and the S-Bahn station in the shield drive Yorckstraße (Großgörschenstraße) and now follows Willmanndamm and the adjoining Grunewaldstraße. From Bayerischer Platz this is called Berliner Straße. Follow this to the intersection with Blissestraße, here the U7 swings onto Brandenburgische Straße. At Adenauerplatz the route describes a curve to Wilmersdorfer Straße . It follows this to the north of Bismarckstrasse. The U7 then makes another swing to Richard-Wagner-Straße - also built using shield tunneling. This is called Wintersteinstraße from Richard-Wagner-Platz and Sömmeringstraße from the crossing under the Spree. Behind Mierendorffplatz , the U7 passes under a small number of streets, then for the second time the Ringbahn and the Westhafen Canal . The U7 then makes a very large bend towards the west and follows Siemensdamm and what will later become Nonnendammallee. Now the route leads south of the Spandau Citadel under the street Am Juliusturm. Then it drives under the Spandau old town and ends at the Spandau town hall .
The U7 line runs through five districts and twelve Berlin districts: Rudow , Gropiusstadt , Britz , Neukölln , Kreuzberg , Schöneberg , Wilmersdorf , Charlottenburg , Charlottenburg-Nord , Siemensstadt , Haselhorst and Spandau .
history
In small stages to the branch of the north-south subway
Werner von Siemens had plans for a stretch under Nobelstrasse. Around 1901 the city of Berlin also had plans for a subway under Friedrichstrasse from north to south. Therefore, Berlin refused Siemens approval for a north-south line. At that time it was believed that the transport company should be in municipal hands. So it came about that Berlin built the subway itself. The construction work for the north-south line from Wedding to Tempelhof with a branch to Neukölln was made more difficult by the First World War . Eventually it came to a complete standstill.
Construction work began again in 1919, but in 1921, when inflation was beginning , consideration was given to filling in the already completed tunnels. The construction work was then continued and on January 30, 1923, still during the inflation, the first tunnel section between Hallesches Tor and Stettiner Bahnhof (today: Natural History Museum ) was opened. Another section of the underground was put into operation on March 8th between Stettiner Bahnhof and Seestrasse . A workshop was built at Seestrasse station .
The branch station Belle-Alliance-Straße (today: Mehringdamm ) was put into operation as a three-track station with a central and a side platform. Lines C I and C II drove on the western side platform in the direction of Neukölln and Tempelhof . The trains in the direction of Tegel , whose routes connected north of the station facility , stopped on the eastern central platform . This structure existed until the station was rebuilt in 1962.
First the branch to Neukölln was built, which is where the story of today's U7 begins. Today, the branch line runs directly under Gneisenaustraße and continues under Hasenheide and the Karl-Marx-Straße that follows.
Here, the section between the Hallesches Tor station - still on the north-south trunk line - and the Gneisenaustraße station designed by Alfred Grenander , named after the Prussian Field Marshal August Neidhardt von Gneisenau , was built. There were several planning names for the station, including Schleiermacherstraße and Mittenwalder Straße, smaller side streets of the main axis Gneisenaustraße. That was only 756 meters of the new line. Because of the consequences of hyperinflation from 1920 to 1923 , the city of Berlin only built small sections of the route that were opened at short intervals. At today's intersection of Mehringdamm / Gneisenaustrasse, a very sharp left curve with a radius of only 100 meters and an incline of 1:33 was built. This curve is still one of the most difficult in the entire Berlin subway network. The section went into operation on April 19, 1924. The extension to Hasenheide station (today: Südstern ), not far from the park of the same name, followed that same year on December 14, 1924. At that time, the exits were at the ends of the platforms; today they are in a small entrance building in the middle of the platform .
Since the financial situation in Germany and Berlin improved, the construction of the subway was pushed with all available means. Nine new lines were inaugurated between 1926 and 1929. This also affected the Neukölln branch of the north-south subway.
The distance from the Hasenheide underground station to Hermannplatz is around one kilometer. It was there that Berlin's first underground tower train station was built, which resembles a large cathedral . In this station, not only the north-south underground, but also the so-called "GN-Bahn", ie today's line U8 , should run. The entrances to the platform of the U8, which lies across the platform of today's U7, were initially closed - they were only opened when the GN-Bahn ( Gesundbrunnen-Neukölln-Bahn ) opened in 1927. There the first escalators were installed in a Berlin subway station. There were four escalators, two of which are 4.24 meters and the other two 4.5 meters. This large and pompous train station was largely paid for by the Karstadt group. In return, the latter had been given direct access from the platform to the department store, which only opened in 1929. To this day, the department store advertises this almost unique combination of public transport and a large store in Berlin. This concept has only been copied several times during the renovation of Alexanderplatz in recent years, but here the department stores are accessed from the mezzanine.
The trains not only went to Hermannplatz , the subway crossed under the square in a south-easterly direction and followed the course of what was then Bergstrasse (today: Karl-Marx-Strasse ). We passed the Neukölln town hall , which, with its name, opened the round of “town hall train stations” in Berlin. Today there are five stations that begin with the word Rathaus, name additions such as Spandau, Reinickendorf, Steglitz or Schöneberg complete the names. Behind it, about at the height of today's Saltykowstrasse, the extension with the Bergstrasse station came to an end.
Like almost all underground stations of that time, Alfred Grenander designed the Rathaus Neukölln and Bergstrasse stations together with Alfred Fehse. Both have single-row columns that are fully tiled to the ceiling . While Neukölln Town Hall received dark blue as the basic design color, Grenander chose a dark green for the provisional end point of the north-south runway. Otherwise, the platforms and entrances are kept relatively simple in contrast to Hermannplatz. The Hasenheide - Bergstrasse section went into operation on April 11, 1926.
As the last stage of the Neukölln branch, the extension to Grenzallee was planned. The 1.5 kilometer long route included two new train stations: the transfer point to the " S-Bahn " means of transport known at that time under the new name and the terminus at Grenzallee.
The Berliner Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft, founded on January 1, 1929, agreed with the Deutsche Reichsbahn on a joint access structure at the Neukölln transfer point. Alfred Grenander designed a red brick building with a small tower. This made it possible to quickly change the means of transport there. The Neukölln (Südring) underground station itself, the platform of which is twelve meters below that of the S-Bahn, was designed in lemon yellow, which reflects the practicality of the GN stations. The pillars were not decorated, they also shine in yellow and are made entirely of metal.
The final terminus at Grenzallee, a copy of the previous platform in green, was built by the BVG in a simple location. The name of the avenue is reminiscent of the former change of responsibilities between what was then Rixdorf and Britz. However, the station has something special: A new workshop was actually supposed to be built behind it, for which the BVG construction department had a four-track tunnel branch built north of the Britzer branch canal . The planned depot was never built, the mouth of the tunnel can still be found today.
On December 21, 1930, one of the largest underground opening celebrations took place together with the completely new underground line under Frankfurter Allee (Line E, today: Line U5 ). The trains now ran from Seestrasse station in Weddingen via the city center to Neukölln and Grenzallee, as well as to Tempelhof to the S-Bahn transfer point of the same name.
The most striking thing about the new underground line were the tunnels and their trains. Because in order to achieve a clear demarcation from the competing elevated railway company, a larger tunnel profile was chosen. Today this is called the large profile. The tunnels are wider, as are the trains. The track is also designed in standard gauge , but the car body width is 2.65 meters (small profile 2.35 meters). The reason for this was that the city of Berlin believed that wider trains would have a much greater capacity. Therefore, the platforms were built very short with a length of 80 meters (with a car length of 13 meters at the time), they were extended in the 1950s and 1990s.
For reasons of cost, any embellishment of the platforms was dispensed with, which was simply plastered. If the financial means for the construction work were already very scarce, there was a complete lack of the vehicle material. Therefore, in 1922, a contract was signed with the elevated railway company, which provided that they should manage the line and operate it with its trains. So it came to the strange situation that small-profile trains ran on a large-profile line.
U-Bahn construction to Rudow
Since a large part of Berlin's living space was bombed by air raids during the Second World War , new large housing estates were planned for the post-war period . In the south of West Berlin , two large new housing estates named Britz and Britz-Buckow-Rudow (BBR), today's Gropiusstadt , were built. For these major projects, the best possible rapid transit connection to the center of West Berlin should also be built. Line C I was planned for this, which was to be operated as a separate line in the future. The 6.2 km route was built in three sections to the south. Grenzallee - Britz-Süd (1963), Britz-Süd - Zwickauer Damm (1970) and Zwickauer Damm - Rudow (1972). The first ramming for the extension took place on November 2, 1959 near what was then the Grenzallee terminus. At that time there was heated debate as to whether the line in the south should not be built as an embankment or an incision line. The planners and the BVG fended off this on the grounds that the settlement would be divided in this way, which would not be desirable.
The route follows the Buschkrugallee under the Teltow Canal , turns under the Fritz-Reuter-Allee and goes under it to the Britz-Süd underground station. This is where the first hall of the new Britz-Süd workshop was built during the construction of the subway, as this was now necessary due to the extensions and the vehicles procured for them. The line was directly connected to the Britz-Buckow-Rudow housing estate, so you didn't have to cross any roads, as these were built later. Another consequence was that the exits could now be conveniently placed and no distribution floors had to be built. The only obstacle on this route was the Teltow Canal.
Werner Düttmann took over the design of the stations up to Britz-Süd after Bruno Grimmek had finished his work at the subway. Düttmann mainly worked with small and rectangular tiles. From Johannisthaler Chaussee the architect Rainer G. Rümmler was responsible for the stations. This again used larger ceramic tiles , but designed the stations darker than the previous Berlin stations. Rümmler was responsible for all newly built West Berlin subway stations and from 1990 to 1998 for all of Berlin.
The new line 7
As already described, the Mehringdamm underground station was originally a branch station for the lines C I and C II at the time . According to the guidelines for the construction of subways from the 1950s, branching stations were to be avoided, which is why alternatives were sought here. Furthermore, due to the division of Berlin, most of the passengers on lines C I and C II at Hallescher Tor switched to the main line heading west, which put a lot of strain on this station. In the interests of a better network connection, it was planned to convert Mehringdamm into a crossing station and to extend the Rudower branch as an independent line H to the Möckernbrücke underground station of the main line and beyond. The construction work for this began in the summer of 1962 and the first construction phase could already be opened on February 26, 1966. The Mehringdamm station has had its current structure since then: two central platforms on the same level, at one the trains to the north stop easily, at the other the trains to the south.
However, there was never an H line for passengers, because on the day the route to Möckernbrücke opened on February 28, 1966, the letter system in West Berlin was changed to Arabic numerals . Now it was called line 7 . One tried to arrange the line numbers according to the complicated chronology. After the commuter line to Richard-Wagner-Platz was closed due to the construction of the U7, the "5" was always kept free for the East Berlin subway line E to Hönow . In 1984, when the BVG took over the operation of the West Berlin S-Bahn, a “U” for U-Bahn or “S” for S-Bahn was placed in front of the line number.
The Möckernbrücke station is right next to the Landwehr Canal, so that expensive undercutting of the canal could be avoided. The station is delimited by a sheet pile construction , similar to what is now the U2 at Spittelmarkt station. A covered bridge over the Landwehr Canal connects the underground station with the high station. At the same time, the elevated station of today's U1 line received four escalators. When Line 7 opened, the Berlin subway network was 93 kilometers long and had 105 stations.
Underground construction boom in the west
The extension of the West Berlin subway network was realized with subsidies . On January 29, 1971, one of the largest underground line extensions to date was realized. Line 7 now ran from Möckernbrücke to Fehrbelliner Platz , and line 9 from Spichernstrasse to Walther-Schreiber-Platz . Eleven new stations with a distance of nine kilometers went into operation that day. The ramming of both new lines took place on July 1, 1962. This gave the people of Steglitz and Neukölln a new connection to the center and no longer had to use the bus.
The route of the U7 line leads behind the Möckernbrücke station over large curves under the Anhalter Güterbahnhof to the Yorckstraße S-Bahn station (Großgörschenstraße) . This is where the mining shield tunneling was used for the first time on the Berlin subway . In addition, a transfer station for the later so-called S-Bahn lines S1 and S2 was built. To the south-west of this, the route leads under Willmanndamm to the newly built Kleistpark station . This also gave the BVG administration, which was located directly at Kleistpark on Potsdamer Strasse , a direct underground connection. As provided in the 200-kilometer plan at the time , a line 10 was to be run from Weißensee via the S-Bahn station Greifswalder Strasse , Alexanderplatz , Leipziger Strasse , Potsdamer Platz , Potsdamer Strasse, Schloßstrasse to Lichterfelde . Lines 7 and 10 should cross at Kleistpark station. Therefore, across the platform for line 7, the shell of the platform tunnel for the planned line 10 was built. Since this plan has become obsolete due to the S-Bahn ( Wannseebahn ), which is now under Western influence as parallel traffic, the empty spaces for a safety and BVG information center used.
The U7 line continues under Grunewaldstrasse to Bayerischer Platz . During the construction of the former Schöneberg U-Bahn (today: U4), the building supervisory authorities requested a bridge construction for a future route. This could now be used for the construction of the U7. The station, like the existing small-profile train station, was decorated with white and blue color elements in memory of the Bavarian state coat of arms.
One station further, the first crossing station was built as a new building, i.e. one that was not subsequently converted into a transfer station. Lines 7 and 9 intersect at Berliner Straße station . The lower platform of the U7 is a "normal" central platform, while the U9 has two separate platform halves on the left in the direction of travel. One could also see the platforms as expanded central platforms. Only a corridor at the northern end of both platform halves connects them. This was built because a car tunnel was also built between the two platform halves when the underground was built. From today's perspective, this situation is very unfortunate for the BVG administration, especially when it comes to the design of the transfer connections and the subsequent installation of elevators for barrier-free access .
The route of the U7 now follows Brandenburgische Strasse and was provisionally terminated at Fehrbelliner Platz station . This is where the U3 and U7 lines meet today. When the station was built, a completely new entrance structure was built for both routes in order to reach a traffic light-free intersection of Hohenzollerndamm and Brandenburgische Strasse.
All the stations that were built were designed by Rainer G. Rümmler . Instead of using large ceramic tiles, he used large-format, colorful sheet steel plates, for example at Eisenacher Straße station. From the station Berliner Straße the colors white and red to the intended Berlin Landeswappen remember to stop at Eisenacherstraße the green areas at the Thuringian Forest in Eisenach . The Berliner Straße, Blissestraße and Fehrbelliner Platz train stations have been renovated in recent years and some of them have been redesigned. Many of Rümmler's design elements were no longer taken into account and the stations now appear brighter and simpler overall.
In three stages to Spandau
Even at the time of the elevated railway company , there were plans to build an underground line to Spandau . The first steps were taken with the extension of the current line U2 to Ruhleben . However, the terminus at Ruhleben is located directly on the district border with Spandau. Feeder and distribution traffic, until 1967 by tram, then by several bus lines, provided the development of Spandau via the Ruhleben underground station.
At the end of the 1960s, these plans became topical again, because there was enough money again to deal with a subway to Spandau. An extension of the Ruhleben small-profile subway was considered. There were also alternatives: The small-profile line, which ends at Uhlandstraße station today, could have been extended via Adenauerplatz , Messe , Theodor-Heuss-Platz and further on to the existing line of line 1 at that time. The last option was to extend the large-profile line 7 via Mierendorffplatz , Jungfernheide and Nonnendammallee . In the end, the last option was chosen, as it was also able to open up the important Siemensstadt with its many jobs at the time. Construction work on the Fehrbelliner Platz - Richard-Wagner-Platz section began in 1969.
The route continues under Brandenburgische Strasse and crosses Kurfürstendamm at Adenauerplatz , where a train station has also been built. This has already been laid out as a crossing station, because there are still official plans to extend the current U1 underground line from Uhlandstraße to Adenauerplatz. Then the route swings under Wilmersdorfer Strasse and passes under the tram a few meters further .
In this context, Wilmersdorfer Strasse was converted into a pedestrian zone . The connection of the pedestrian zone was more important as a convenient transfer possibility for lying nearby, was still to Deutsche Reichsbahn belonging, Charlottenburg station . Between 2003 and 2006, as part of the redesign of Stuttgarter Platz, the Charlottenburg S-Bahn was relocated 300 meters further east in the direction of Wilmersdorfer Straße U-Bahn station, so that the transfer route was shorter - 100 meters as opposed to 450 meters previously.
A completely new tower station was built on Bismarckstrasse for Line 1 (today: U2). However, since the existing tunnel of the small-profile route was in poor condition, extensive renovation work was necessary. At that time they had no experience with this problem and therefore tore down the entire structure and rebuilt it from reinforced concrete. To the north of Bismarckstraße, the route of the U7 makes a big swivel from Wilmersdorfer Straße to Richard-Wagner-Straße. 23 houses had to be driven under, which is why shield driving was chosen here as well .
In the course of the lowering of the groundwater in the “wet triangle”, an early moor area with oak foundations for the tenement houses in the Spreebogen north of Bismarckstrasse, the subsoil subsided, which led to the emergency demolition of some houses.
Until 1970, the then shortest and less frequented subway line in Berlin, then Line 5, shuttled between Deutsche Oper and Richard-Wagner-Platz. The old line has now been closed for passenger traffic and a new train station has been built several meters below the old one. The remaining tunnels could be converted into an operational route , which is a second exchange route between small and large profiles after the orphan tunnel at Alexanderplatz station.
The route from Fehrbelliner Platz to Richard-Wagner-Platz was opened on April 28, 1978. This also enabled the connection to the Charlottenburg town hall , because the small-profile line 5 was only built to develop it. The stations, all designed by Rainer G. Rümmler, got very different faces. The black, orange, red, yellow and white vertical stripes at the Konstanzer Straße station are reminiscent of the Konstanz coat of arms. On the other hand, the Wilmersdorfer Straße station got a completely new wall design. Small rectangular tiles are arranged in patterns. Rümmler's design of the station walls is derived from the lilies that were found in the coat of arms of the eponymous district of Wilmersdorf .
Construction work for the next section in the direction of Spandau began in 1973. The route continues north of Richard-Wagner-Platz station under Sömmeringstrasse. Halfway to the Mierendorffplatz underground station , the Spree is crossed. The caisson construction method was chosen here . Mierendorffplatz station follows after a few meters . To the north of this, the route makes a large bend in order to reach the existing Jungfernheide S-Bahn station . Here, similar to the Schloßstraße train station, the platforms were built on two levels. The other tracks are kept free to this day for a possible extension of the current U5 line. This should lead from Lehrter Bahnhof via Turmstrasse , Jungfernheide to Tegel Airport . However, due to the tight budget situation in the state of Berlin and north of the Jungfernheide train station due to the planned closure of Tegel Airport, their realization is not likely. The fire brigade training facility of the Berlin subway has been located in one of the previously unused section tunnels since 2003.
To the north of Jungfernheide station, the U7 line crosses under the Westhafenkanal . The route then makes a large arc to Jakob-Kaiser-Platz , whose train station was already built when the motorway was being built. In the meantime it was used as a pedestrian underpass. To the west of the Halemweg station, the subway runs under Nonnendammallee. There was great criticism from environmental and passenger associations as well as the taxpayers' association , as the route could also have been run above ground. However, the Berlin Senate had remained stubborn on this matter.
West of the Nonnendammallee / Rohrdamm intersection, the second stage of the subway construction to Spandau ended with the provisional terminus at Rohrdamm.
As before, all train stations were designed by Rainer Gerhard Rümmler. However, these were designed by him much more simply than others. Mierendorffplatz station was given the same tiles as Wilmersdorfer Strasse station. The Jakob-Kaiser-Platz , Halemweg and Siemensdamm train stations contain many complementary contrasts . The Siemensdamm station can - similar to the Pankstraße underground station - be used as a civil protection area for 4,500 people. The Rohrdamm underground station is adorned with images of gears and pipes, which are intended to indicate the surrounding industry . In addition, the ceiling was not covered, which means that the cables of the lighting systems are also visible.
The 4.6 kilometer long Richard-Wagner-Platz - Rohrdamm stretch was opened on October 1, 1980. This gave the Spandau district the first real underground connection. But it was planned to run the U7 to the Spandau center .
Several variants were examined for this. So there were considerations to run the underground through the Haselhorst town center. The disadvantage was that the Havel would have had to be crossed under at one of its widest points. Another variation was that the metro existing Spandau Suburban Line the train would cross and the subway would be led from the south to Spandau town hall. This plan crystallized very late, as the 200-kilometer plan provided for the U7 to run over Falkenseer Platz into Falkenhagener Feld . This had the disadvantage that the old town of Spandau could not have been connected with it, which was the actual aim of the extension. Finally, a decision was made to continue the route along Nonnendammallee or the street Am Juliusturm, south past the Spandau citadel and then directly to the old town and on to the Spandau town hall. The development of the Falkenhagener Feld should now be taken over by the extension of the small-profile section of the U1 line (today: U2) from Ruhleben.
The cost of this extension was 680 million marks . The main reason why the costs were so high was that the Havel had to be crossed under and the ground in this area was very swampy due to the dead branches of the Spree . Therefore, five different construction methods had to be used here: First, the “Berlin construction method” was used, which is very often used in the rest of the network. The diaphragm wall-sole construction method was new. The caisson method was used to cross the Havel .
The old town with its very narrow streets and alleys could only be driven under with the very expensive mining shield excavation. The final station at Rathaus Spandau was finally built using the top-down method, also known as the "Warsaw construction method".
The Senate Building Department again left the station design to Rainer Gerhard Rümmler . Here, too, he continued his work following the taste of the time. The design of the Paulsternstrasse station was intended to be reminiscent of a colorful meadow of flowers.
The Haselhorst train station, on the other hand, is characterized by its simplicity - the lighting design came into play here. At the Citadel train station, the architect tried to incorporate the design element of the brick construction of the Spandau Citadel ; Side platforms were created here so that the two tracks can be located in the middle to save space due to the nearby Spree underpass. The old town Spandau train station with its massive columns in red and white is based on Brandenburg style, according to Rümmler.
The final station at Rathaus Spandau is the highlight of the whole route. The four-track station stands out with its wide columns and lights and other elaborate decorations. The two inner tracks are used by the U7, the outer ones are reserved for the extension of the small-profile line from Ruhleben (today: U2). This reservation also includes the further possibility of extending the U7 to Wilhelmstadt and the U2 to Hakenfelde .
The last 4.9 kilometer section of the new line to Spandau Town Hall was opened on October 1, 1984. Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl was also present.
In March 2017 it was announced that the last seven underground stations on the line - Siemensdamm to Spandau Town Hall - designed by Rainer G. Rümmler in the 1980s would be listed as historical monuments .
Station modernization
More recently, existing station facilities have been modernized, for example the Adenauerplatz station, the appearance of which has changed as a result. While in the 1970s, when the station was designed by Rainer Rümmler, darker colors such as brown, black, ocher and gray dominated, light colors such as white or lemon yellow are now preferred. The BVG also proceeded according to this pattern at this train station, where all pillars were provided with white enamel plates and the floor with granite slabs during ongoing operations . Guiding strips for the blind were also installed. The walls were given a newly designed, easier to associate “A” for Adenauerplatz. The renovation was completed in October 2005.
The modernization measures were then continued at the stations to the north. In 2006, the Wilmersdorfer Straße station, which is within walking distance of the Charlottenburg S-Bahn station, was completely renovated. The subway station also received enamel panels and a new lighting system, and an elevator was installed.
After a fire in the Deutsche Oper station in 2000, the BVG decided to build a second one in all stations with only one exit. This project was completed in summer 2008 with the opening of the second exits in the Konstanzer Straße and Rudow stations.
As part of these station modernizations, the elevator program of the BVG is also being implemented with the aim of being barrier-free . On average, around five new elevators are put into operation every year in the entire subway network. In recent years, the U7 underground line, including the Johannisthaler Chaussee and Kleistpark stations , has been involved. In 2011, 15 of the 40 stations were made barrier-free.
Others
In December 2013, an electronic interlocking went into operation for the Grenzallee - Rudow section .
For the section between Mehringdamm and Möckernbrücke, an electronic signal box was put into operation in September 2017. It is installed in the tunnel north of the Hallesches Tor underground station and also controls a section of the U6 underground line.
Timetable
Since 2003 there has been night traffic on Friday / Saturday and Saturday / Sunday in addition to the daytime traffic of the U7 . Initially, only the section Jakob-Kaiser-Platz - Rudow was served at night; since 2006 the entire route.
| line | Mon-Thu (HVZ) (7 am-9:30 am and 2:30 pm-6:30 pm) |
Mon - Thu (NVZ) (6 am - 7 am; 9:30 am - 2:30 pm and 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm) |
Fri (HVZ) (7–9: 30 a.m. and 2: 30–6: 00 p.m.) |
Fri (NVZ) (6 a.m. to 7 a.m.; 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.) |
Sat (10 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.) |
Sundays and public holidays (12:30 p.m. - 7 p.m.) |
Off-peak time (Mon-Fri 4: 30-6 pm; Mon-Sat at 20:30, and so 19-1 pm / Sa 5: 30-10 pm and Sun, 6: 30-12: 30) |
Night Fri / Sat and Sat / Sun as well as on the nights before public holidays (Fri / Sat 1–5: 30 a.m. and Sat / Sun 1–6: 30 a.m.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town hall Spandau ↔ Rudow |
4 min (school holidays 5 min) |
5 min |
4 min (school holidays 5 min) |
5 min | 5 min | 5 min | 10 min | 15 minutes |
| On the nights from Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday, the U7 trains run every 15 minutes from 0:30 a.m. to around 4:30 a.m. between Spandau Town Hall and Rudow. On the other nights, the N7 night bus takes over the tasks of the U7 line. | ||||||||
Route planning
As for many Berlin subway lines, extensions are also being considered for the U7 line.
Extension to the west
 Western expansion planning
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Since around the 1970s, the city of Berlin has had a 200-kilometer plan to extend the U7 from the current terminus at Rathaus Spandau in the direction of Heerstraße Nord via Spandauer Wilhelmstadt . At times it was planned to run the U7 to Falkenhagener Feld , which was then assigned to the route of today's U2. The extension to Staaken is included in the current zoning plan of the Berlin Senate Building Administration . At the end of December 2019, the Berlin Senator for Transport, Günther, announced that she was commissioning a feasibility study for the extension of the U7 towards Heerstraße in 2020.
Extension in the south to the airport
|
Southern expansion planning
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An extension of the U7 south to Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is also planned in the long term . Considerations on this were made in 2003 when the urban development plan for traffic was drawn up, but implementation was refrained from due to the development of the airport by S-Bahn and airport express. The U7 is to be extended step by step: After closing the gap between the Rudow underground station and the Schönefeld S-Bahn station, “the line can be extended to the BER terminal in a second step,” they say. This solution has now also convinced Brandenburg's Transport Minister Kathrin Schneider ( SPD ) and Berlin's Senator for Urban Development Katrin Lompscher ( Die Linke ). The financing is still open, as the route runs several kilometers through Brandenburg - and the state has not yet wanted to pay for it. The route is kept clear in the Berlin zoning plan . No advance payments were made for a possible underground connection during the construction of the new terminal for BER Airport.
At the beginning of 2020, the results of a feasibility study for a route extension by 3.3 kilometers from Rudow via Lieselotte-Berger-Platz and Schönefeld Nord to Schönefeld train station were published. A guided tour in the tunnel is estimated to cost 306.3 million euros, of which Berlin would have to bear 155 million euros. With an above-ground tour from the state border, the costs would be 272.6 million euros, the Berlin share would then be 154.5 million euros. In both cases, 20,000 passengers per day are expected. An extension of just 1.4 kilometers to Lieselotte-Berger-Platz would offer the same passenger potential. Investigations are still ongoing for a further extension to BER Airport.
Opening dates
- April 19, 1924: Mehringdamm - Gneisenaustraße
- December 14, 1924: Gneisenaustrasse - Südstern
- April 11, 1926: Südstern - Karl-Marx-Strasse
- December 21, 1930: Karl-Marx-Strasse - Grenzallee
- September 28, 1963: Grenzallee - Britz-Süd
- February 28, 1966: Mehringdamm - Möckernbrücke
- January 2nd, 1970: Britz-Süd - Zwickauer Damm
- January 29, 1971: Möckernbrücke - Fehrbelliner Platz
- July 1, 1972: Zwickauer Damm - Rudow
- April 28, 1978: Fehrbelliner Platz - Richard-Wagner-Platz
- October 1, 1980: Richard-Wagner-Platz - Rohrdamm
- October 1, 1984: Rohrdamm - Spandau Town Hall
The U7 as a simulator
- The subway simulation World of Subways 2 has been available since May 2009 , in which you can drive the U7 as a virtual subway vehicle driver.
- You could also download the U7 as a free extension for Trainz (TRS2004). The previous route leads from Spandau Town Hall to Fehrbelliner Platz.
literature
- Senator for Building and Housing (Ed.): Lines C, H - Documentation on underground construction in Berlin . Berlin 1966.
- Senator for Building and Housing (Ed.): Extension of underground line 7 - southern section . Berlin 1970.
- Senator for Construction and Housing (Ed.): The extension of the underground lines 7 and 9 - a new railway intersection . Berlin 1971.
- Georg Westermann: Rudow underground station - another step towards the 200 km network . Reprint from the Berlin building industry , issue 13, July 1st, 1972.
- Heinz Bülow, Rainer G. Rümmler , Siegfried Wittke: U-Bahn line 7 reaches the Spandau district of Berlin . Reprint from the Berlin construction industry , special issue Berliner Bauwochen 1980 .
- Hans Knippenberg et al .: Extension of underground line 7 to Rathaus Spandau station . Reprint from the Berlin construction industry , issue 14/84.
- Peter C. Lenke: The long way to connect Spandau to the subway network . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter , Volume 38, Issue 3 (May / June) 2011, pp. 57–65.
- Alexander Seefeldt, Robert Schwandl: Berlin subway lines: U7 - across the west . Robert Schwandl Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-936573-37-4 .
- Alexander Seefeldt: The development of the south of Neukölln by the underground / 50 years of operation on the Grenzallee – Britz-Süd section of the U7 . In Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter , Volume 40, Issue 6 (November / December) 2013, pp. 149–156.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List (Spandau underground stations on the U7 underground line)
- BVG site for the U7 with location plans, route layout, etc.
- Site with a lot of information, a detailed underground history, plans, etc.
- Interactive website with photos of the benches along the U7 route
- Online timetable information from the BVG
- Route of the U7 line (PDF)
Individual evidence
- ↑ U7 stations under monument protection. In: Berliner Zeitung . March 28, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017 .
- ↑ News in brief - U-Bahn . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . No. 1 , 2014, p. 14 .
- ↑ News in brief - U-Bahn . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . No. 9 , 2017, p. 182 .
- ↑ above: U7 to Heerstrasse: feasibility study planned for Spandau. In: Berliner Morgenpost . December 27, 2019, accessed December 27, 2019 .
- ↑ U-Bahn track plan (target network). Senate Department for Transport and Enterprises, June 1995, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved April 19, 2014 .
- ↑ Printed matter 17/13489. (PDF) Berlin House of Representatives, April 7, 2014, accessed April 19, 2014 .
- ↑ New underground lines cost up to 607 million euros. In: Berliner Zeitung . March 17, 2020, accessed April 14, 2020 .
- ↑ MR software - Berlin U-Bahn v3.0. Retrieved October 28, 2019 .
