VnK route

Connection to Kaulsdorf
Unfiring of the VnK route (top left) in Rummelsburg
Route number :	6070
Route length:	7.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16.7 Hz  ~
Legend from Berlin Friedrichstrasse -0.2 Berlin Ostbahnhof B 96a Berlin Warschauer Strasse Berlin Ostkreuz to Berlin-Lichtenberg Berlin-Rummelsburg Connection from the Ringbahn Berlin-Rummelsburg depot 3.9 to Berlin-Köpenick to Berlin-Köpenick to the Berlin outer ring (BAR) U5 from Alexanderplatz BAR , formerly the outer freight ring (GAR) Biesdorf-South Junction from the GAR / BAR Elsterwerdaer Platz B 1 , B 5 via Berlin Wuhletal to Hönow ( U5 ) from Berlin-Lichtenberg Berlin Wuhletal 11.74 Berlin-Kaulsdorf to Strausberg

The VnK line was an approximately eight kilometer long double-track railway line that was put into operation in 1901 between the Berlin-Rummelsburg depot on the Silesian Railway and the Berlin-Kaulsdorf station on the Ostbahn . It enabled long-distance traffic between the Berlin Stadtbahn and the Ostbahn.

The reason for the construction of the line was the four-track expansion of the Silesian and Eastern Railway. The suburban tracks were separated from the long-distance tracks, which made the transition between the long-distance tracks of both railways difficult. For reasons of space, a structure for level-free crossing of the suburban traffic of the Silesian Railway was only erected to the east of the separation from the eastern railway line in the area of the Stralau-Rummelsburg station, which required the construction of a separate connection to the eastern railway.

The abbreviation stands for VNk V Getting Connected n oh K aulsdorf , including: V Getting Connected n oh K üstrin : or v on and n oh K aulsdorf or K üstrin are common interpretations.

With the end of long-distance traffic on the Eastern Railway after 1945 due to the Oder-Neisse border , the VnK line lost its importance. The eastern part of the route beyond the Berlin outer ring was shut down in 1978 and then dismantled. The tracks of the U5 underground line are now on parts of the substructure . The western section is single-track in operation. It largely lost its previous tasks in passenger transport after 2006 and is mainly used for transfer trips.

history

In connection with the construction of the Berlin Stadtbahn, which opened in 1882, the railway facilities on the eastern border of what was then Berlin's urban area were converted. In the area of ​​the Stralau-Rummelsburg station (today Ostkreuz), the Eastern Railway was taken to the Silesian Railway and connected to the Stadtbahn via this. The terminus of the Silesian Railway was converted into a through station , the old Berlin Ostbahnhof located north of it was only used for freight traffic.

At the end of the 19th century, the railway lines reached their capacity limits. The solution should be a four-track expansion of the Eastern Railway and Silesian Railway with separation of the tracks for suburban traffic from those for long-distance traffic. A connection between the long-distance tracks of the Silesian Railway and the Eastern Railway that crossed the suburban tracks at a level-level was not possible for reasons of space in the area of ​​the line separation. A completely new connection line was built, which only branched off from the Silesian Railway in the Rummelsburg marshalling yard further to the east and then reached the Eastern Railway again in Kaulsdorf.

Area east of Berlin in 1912 with the two rail connections from Stralau-Rummelsburg (left) to Kaulsdorf (right). VnK line in the center of the picture, Eastern Railway in the upper part of the picture.

The eight-kilometer route was available for passenger traffic, primarily long-distance trains, from January 29, 1901. After its completion, the separation of suburban and long-distance or freight traffic and the suburban tracks of both were realized on both the Eastern Railway between Stralau-Rummelsburg and Lichtenberg-Friedrichsfelde (October 1, 1903) and the Silesian Railway towards Erkner (May 1, 1904) Lines are connected to the city tracks.

The section Güteraußenring (GAR) from the south, opened on December 31, 1940, crossed the VnK at Biesdorf-Biesenhorst . With the opening, a 1.2 kilometer long connecting curve to the VnK route (eastwards), the so-called trench jump curve , was created. In 1948 there were attempts to establish passenger transport with railcars from Grünau via the GAR, the trench jump curve and the eastern part of the VnK line to Berlin-Kaulsdorf. A provisional stopping point was created at the connection point of the trench jump curve to the VnK route. However, traffic was stopped after a few months.

After the Second World War , as a result of the new border with Poland, long-distance traffic on the Eastern Railway was completely eliminated . Eastbound passenger trains only began in Strausberg or Berlin-Lichtenberg since 1951 and no longer used the VnK route.

In the autumn of 1966, the section between the trench jump curve and the now existing diagonally opposite connecting curve VnK-GAR ( Stralsund curve , northward) was closed. The eastern section of the VnK line was converted into a branch line in 1969 . When the Berlin outer ring was redesigned at the beginning of the 1970s, a connecting curve (eastward) from the outer goods ring to the eastern railway line was integrated into the buildings at the Biesdorfer Kreuz to the north . This made the eastern section of the VnK route superfluous. The last train journey took place on April 1, 1978, and immediately afterwards the eastern part of the VnK line and the ditch jump curve were dismantled. A connection at the Biesdorfer Kreuz from the western section of the VnK line to the eastern railway in the east was planned at the time, but has not yet been built.

From 1985 to 1988, today's underground line U5 to Hönow was built on the eastern railway line .

The western part of the route Rummelsburg - outer ring, however, remained in operation and served traffic from Berlin Ostbahnhof via the outer ring to the north. Even after the renovation of the Stadtbahn between 1994 and 1998 , regional express and long-distance traffic from the center of Berlin, especially in the direction of Stralsund, was carried over it. After the opening of the new north-south route through Berlin in May 2006, the importance of the VnK route decreased. In 2009 it was only used by a pair of night trains ( CityNightLine ) Munich - Berlin-Lichtenberg and a pair of trains Potsdam - Szczecin and for transfer trips. From December 2016 to May 2017, the route was regularly used by passenger trains operated by the private railway company Locomore , which have been offered again under the name Flixtrain since the end of 2017 .

Web links

• Berliner-Bahnen.de

literature

• Roland Ebert, Dieter Walczyk: The VnK route . In: Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter . Volume 18, No. 1 , 1991, p. 2-12 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andreas Geißler, Konrad Koschinski: 130 years of the East Railway Berlin - Königsberg - Baltic States . Ed .: German Railway Customers Association. GVE, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-89218-048-2 , pp. 45-46 .
2. ↑ Dieter Walczyk: The trench jump curve in Berlin Biesdorf, Verkehrsgeschichtliche Blätter , 5/1991, pp. 114–116.
3. ^ Andreas Geißler, Konrad Koschinski: 130 years of the East Railway Berlin - Königsberg - Baltic States . Ed .: German Railway Customers Association. GVE, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-89218-048-2 , pp. 73 .