Hermannstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)
Encyclopedia
Berlin Hermannstraße is a railway station in the Neukölln
district of Berlin
. It is served by the S-Bahn
lines , , , and and the U-Bahn
line , of which it is the southern terminus. It was formerly also possible to transfer there to the Neukölln-Mittenwalde
railway line, which is now only used for goods traffic.
Initially the only access was at the east end of the station, via a small building with a red-tiled roof. In 1910 a second entrance on Siegfriedstraße was added. For 29 years the station was served by steam trains. After the creation of Greater Berlin in 1920, electrification to create the S-Bahn system began in 1924; the Ringbahn was fully incorporated on 6 November 1928.
formed a committee to construct a railway from Mittenwalde to Rixdorf, since existing rail routes were not conveniently located. Finding the cost prohibitive, they partnered with Vering & Waechter, a company which was at the time developing rail lines throughout Germany. On 23 February 1899, the Rixdorf-Mittenwalder Eisenbahn Aktiengesellschaft was founded; it still exists today. Vering & Waechter, given the responsibility for planning and construction, mapped out a 27 km route from North Mittenwalde to Hermannstraße with 7 intermediate stations: Brusendorf, Groß Kienitz, Selchow, Schönefeld
, Rudow, Buckow and Britz. After the Ringbahn station was built, the plans were changed and the Hermannstraße terminus of the line became a transfer point and the Britz station the operating centre.
The operating licence for the line was granted on 21 July 1899, and it opened on 28 September 1900. 4 years later it was extended southwards to Schöneiche Plan. When Rixdorf became Neukölln in 1912, the line became the Neukölln-Mittenwalder Eisenbahn (Neukölln - Mittenwalde Railway).
s and 3 million passengers in 1942/43.
The Hermannstraße S-Bahn station was not damaged during the bombing of Berlin, but the entrance was severely damaged during the Battle for Berlin and that stretch of the Ringbahn was closed from April 1945 until 18 June 1945.
The Mittenwalde line was closed until 17 May 1945, when the bridge over the Teltow Canal
was repaired by the Red Army
. In September 1946, the Soviet occupying administration
took possession of the portion of the line outside Berlin under eminent domain
and transferred its operation to the Brandenburg State Railways, and in the Berlin Blockade
of 1948/49, the line was severed at the boundary with the American sector. 11.5 km of line with some siding
s within Berlin remained unaffected, and the company had constructed a 5 km extension to Tempelhof Airfield
in 1936, which could now be used to transport coal flown in in the Berlin Airlift, avoiding the East Berlin
-controlled Deutsche Reichsbahn
.
S-Bahn operation continued under the Deutsche Reichsbahn during and after the blockade, but was boycotted in West Berlin
. In 1961, the year contact between East and West Berlin was severed, the Siegfriedstraße entrance to the Hermannstraße station was closed. The destroyed main entrance was under restoration until 1968/69, but in 1971 was demolished and replaced with a modern building, which opened in June 1973; the Siegfriedstraße entrance, reopened during this work, was then closed and it was demolished 3 years later. After the September 1980 strike of West Berlin S-Bahn workers, the Reichsbahn almost completely closed the S-Bahn in West Berlin, including the Ringbahn.
The Neukölln - Mittenwalde line, in contrast, profited from increased goods traffic after the West Berlin power company, Bewag, built a power plant at Rudow. Within the city, its passenger stations were demolished, while outside the city, in the GDR, the rails were taken up but the station buildings remained.
(Berlin Transport) in 1984, and after public enthusiasm for it increased, preparations began in 1989 for gradually reopening the Ringbahn beginning in 1992.
The fall of the Berlin wall
that November and the ensuing German reunification
changed the plans: the stretch of Ringbahn to be initially reopened was extended into the former East Berlin and the reopening deferred to 1993. The Hermannstraße station was completely rebuilt in a new position under the bridge where Hermannstraße crosses the S-Bahn cutting, so that hardly any traces of the historic station remain. The new station has two entrance buildings on Hermannstraße, which were painted blue and green to draw attention to the connection between the S-Bahn and U-Bahn Line 8
at the station, which was finally realised after some 60 years with the opening of the U-Bahn station on 13 July 1996.
Service on the western portion of the Ringbahn was ceremonially relaunched on 17 December 1993, over a stretch of line including the Hermannstraße station. The station is now served by three S-Bahn lines which originate to the southeast of the city: S47
, S46
from Königs Wusterhausen
and S45
from Schönefeld Airport, plus the two Ringbahn lines, S41 and S42. A new two-track turning area at Hermannstraße is the terminus of the S45.
Also since German reunification, the Mittenwalde line became the route by which the city's household waste is conveyed in container
s from the Berliner Stadtreinigung (Berlin Sanitation) depot on the Teltow Canal to the Hermannstraße terminus of the line, now known as Güterbahnhof Neukölln, Neukölln Goods Station, where it is transferred to Deutsche Bahn
goods trains. In December 2005, however, the district of Neukölln decided to convert unused track area in the goods station to industrial use; the Neukölln-Mittenwalder Eisenbahn is to wind up its operations there at some point in the future.
. Over the next 3 years, the line was extended as far south as Leinestraße
. It had been the intention since the first conception of the line in 1910 for it to connect with the S-Bahn at Hermannstraße. Work began in 1929 and was scheduled to be completed in March 1930, but was halted by the economic crisis. Finally in 1931 the City of Berlin cancelled the project. By then the tunnel from Leinestraße (the longest tunnel segment excavated that year) and about one third of the platform at the new station had been constructed. The stairways to the street were in place and were capped with concrete.
In 1940, the unfinished station was used as an air raid shelter; because it is located under the S-Bahn cutting, it is unusually deep underground. There are still signs on the wall from this period. After the construction of the Berlin wall in 1961, the West Berlin Senate
did not pursue the plans for an extension, since West Berliners were boycotting the GDR-run S-Bahn and there was thus no longer demand for a transfer point between the U-Bahn and it. Berlin Transport laid rails in the tunnel and used it to store disused trains.
The situation changed with German reunification
and it was decided to complete the extension and open the Hermannstraße U-Bahn station. The scheduled reopening of the Ringbahn on 17 December 1993 created time pressure, because work on the U-Bahn station had to begin before then. The work included renovation of the existing tunnel and partial platform, construction of the remainder of the platform and the creation of a 320 m long turn-around. In addition, means of transfer between the station and the S-Bahn station above had to be created, and stairwells for a planned regional station. In the course of the work, the trains which had been parked there in the 1960s were discovered. U-Bahn buffs were delighted that one of the discoveries was an antique BI train.
The opening of the station, the 168th in the Berlin U-Bahn
system, was celebrated on 13 July 1996. Like almost all Berlin U-Bahn stations constructed in recent decades, the Hermannstraße station was designed by Rainer Rümmler. It was his last design before he retired. In this case he was strongly influenced by the stations to the north, designed by Alfred Grenander
, which led to a very sparse station lined with turquoise tiles. The signs for the air raid shelter were retained behind glass as testaments to the past.
Neukölln
Neukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
district of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. It is served by the S-Bahn
Berlin S-Bahn
The Berlin S-Bahn is a rapid transit system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It consists of 15 lines and is integrated with the mostly underground U-Bahn to form the backbone of Berlin's rapid transport system...
lines , , , and and the U-Bahn
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...
line , of which it is the southern terminus. It was formerly also possible to transfer there to the Neukölln-Mittenwalde
Mittenwalde
Mittenwalde is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 30 km southeast of Berlin ....
railway line, which is now only used for goods traffic.
Berlin Ringbahn
Hermannstraße was on the route of the first segment of the Berlin Ringbahn to open, on 15 November 1877 (with passenger service beginning on 1 January 1878), but the closest station was Rixdorf, today Berlin-Neukölln (the locality changed its name in 1912). The Hermannstraße station opened on 1 February 1899, as one of several suburban stations added during the enlargement of the ring line to 4 tracks.Initially the only access was at the east end of the station, via a small building with a red-tiled roof. In 1910 a second entrance on Siegfriedstraße was added. For 29 years the station was served by steam trains. After the creation of Greater Berlin in 1920, electrification to create the S-Bahn system began in 1924; the Ringbahn was fully incorporated on 6 November 1928.
Rixdorf - Mittenwalde Railway
In 1895 a committee of residents of MittenwaldeMittenwalde
Mittenwalde is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 30 km southeast of Berlin ....
formed a committee to construct a railway from Mittenwalde to Rixdorf, since existing rail routes were not conveniently located. Finding the cost prohibitive, they partnered with Vering & Waechter, a company which was at the time developing rail lines throughout Germany. On 23 February 1899, the Rixdorf-Mittenwalder Eisenbahn Aktiengesellschaft was founded; it still exists today. Vering & Waechter, given the responsibility for planning and construction, mapped out a 27 km route from North Mittenwalde to Hermannstraße with 7 intermediate stations: Brusendorf, Groß Kienitz, Selchow, Schönefeld
Schönefeld
-Places in Germany:*Schönefeld, a municipality of Brandenburg near Berlin*Leipzig-Schönefeld, a quarter of Leipzig, Saxony*Schönefeld , a village in the town Beelitz, Brandenburg...
, Rudow, Buckow and Britz. After the Ringbahn station was built, the plans were changed and the Hermannstraße terminus of the line became a transfer point and the Britz station the operating centre.
The operating licence for the line was granted on 21 July 1899, and it opened on 28 September 1900. 4 years later it was extended southwards to Schöneiche Plan. When Rixdorf became Neukölln in 1912, the line became the Neukölln-Mittenwalder Eisenbahn (Neukölln - Mittenwalde Railway).
During and after World War II
During World War II the Mittenwalde line was heavily used for transporting both munitions and passengers, reaching a peak of over 1 million tonneTonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s and 3 million passengers in 1942/43.
The Hermannstraße S-Bahn station was not damaged during the bombing of Berlin, but the entrance was severely damaged during the Battle for Berlin and that stretch of the Ringbahn was closed from April 1945 until 18 June 1945.
The Mittenwalde line was closed until 17 May 1945, when the bridge over the Teltow Canal
Teltow Canal
The Teltow Canal, also known as the Teltowkanal in German, is a canal to the south of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. The canal lies in both the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, and at points forms the boundary between the two...
was repaired by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. In September 1946, the Soviet occupying administration
Soviet Military Administration in Germany
The Soviet Military Administration in Germany was the Soviet military government, headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, that directly ruled the Soviet occupation zone of Germany from the German surrender in May 1945 until after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in October...
took possession of the portion of the line outside Berlin under eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
and transferred its operation to the Brandenburg State Railways, and in the Berlin Blockade
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
of 1948/49, the line was severed at the boundary with the American sector. 11.5 km of line with some siding
Rail siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
s within Berlin remained unaffected, and the company had constructed a 5 km extension to Tempelhof Airfield
Tempelhof Central Airport
Tempelhof Central Airport was a United States Military airfield in West Berlin, Germany between 1945 and 1994.During its operational life, it was garrisoned by the United States Air Force, with units of the United States Army Berlin Brigade located within the facility...
in 1936, which could now be used to transport coal flown in in the Berlin Airlift, avoiding the East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
-controlled Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
.
S-Bahn operation continued under the Deutsche Reichsbahn during and after the blockade, but was boycotted in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
. In 1961, the year contact between East and West Berlin was severed, the Siegfriedstraße entrance to the Hermannstraße station was closed. The destroyed main entrance was under restoration until 1968/69, but in 1971 was demolished and replaced with a modern building, which opened in June 1973; the Siegfriedstraße entrance, reopened during this work, was then closed and it was demolished 3 years later. After the September 1980 strike of West Berlin S-Bahn workers, the Reichsbahn almost completely closed the S-Bahn in West Berlin, including the Ringbahn.
The Neukölln - Mittenwalde line, in contrast, profited from increased goods traffic after the West Berlin power company, Bewag, built a power plant at Rudow. Within the city, its passenger stations were demolished, while outside the city, in the GDR, the rails were taken up but the station buildings remained.
Reopening after reunification
The Reichsbahn transferred the S-Bahn to Berliner VerkehrsbetriebeBerliner Verkehrsbetriebe
The is the main public transport company of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It manages the city's U-Bahn underground railway, tram, bus and ferry networks, but not the S-Bahn urban rail system....
(Berlin Transport) in 1984, and after public enthusiasm for it increased, preparations began in 1989 for gradually reopening the Ringbahn beginning in 1992.
The fall of the Berlin wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
that November and the ensuing German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
changed the plans: the stretch of Ringbahn to be initially reopened was extended into the former East Berlin and the reopening deferred to 1993. The Hermannstraße station was completely rebuilt in a new position under the bridge where Hermannstraße crosses the S-Bahn cutting, so that hardly any traces of the historic station remain. The new station has two entrance buildings on Hermannstraße, which were painted blue and green to draw attention to the connection between the S-Bahn and U-Bahn Line 8
U8 (Berlin U-Bahn)
U8 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. It has 24 stations and is 18.1 km long. The U8 is one of two north–south Berlin U-Bahn lines, and runs from Wittenau to Neukölln via Gesundbrunnen...
at the station, which was finally realised after some 60 years with the opening of the U-Bahn station on 13 July 1996.
Service on the western portion of the Ringbahn was ceremonially relaunched on 17 December 1993, over a stretch of line including the Hermannstraße station. The station is now served by three S-Bahn lines which originate to the southeast of the city: S47
S47 (Berlin)
The Berlin S-Bahn line 47 runs from Spindlersfeld to Südkreuz. It operates over:*the Schöneweide–Spindlersfeld branch line, opened on 1 April 1892 and electrified on 1 February 1929,*the Görlitz line, opened in 1866 and electrified in 1929,...
, S46
S46 (Berlin)
The Berlin S-Bahn line 46 runs from Königs Wusterhausen to Westend. It operates over:*the Görlitz line, opened in 1866 and electrified in 1929,*the Baumschulenweg–Neukölln link line, opened on 8 June 1896 and electrified in 1928 and...
from Königs Wusterhausen
Königs Wusterhausen
Königs Wusterhausen is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district of the state of Brandenburg in Germany.-Geographical location:Königs Wusterhausen – or "KW" as it is often called locally – lies on the Notte Canal and the river Dahme southeast of Berlin...
and S45
S45 (Berlin)
S45 is a line on the Berlin S-Bahn. It operates from Schönefeld Flughafen to Hermannstraße over:*a very short section of the Outer ring, opened in 1951 and electrified in 1983,...
from Schönefeld Airport, plus the two Ringbahn lines, S41 and S42. A new two-track turning area at Hermannstraße is the terminus of the S45.
Also since German reunification, the Mittenwalde line became the route by which the city's household waste is conveyed in container
Intermodal container
An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...
s from the Berliner Stadtreinigung (Berlin Sanitation) depot on the Teltow Canal to the Hermannstraße terminus of the line, now known as Güterbahnhof Neukölln, Neukölln Goods Station, where it is transferred to Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
goods trains. In December 2005, however, the district of Neukölln decided to convert unused track area in the goods station to industrial use; the Neukölln-Mittenwalder Eisenbahn is to wind up its operations there at some point in the future.
U-Bahn station
In 1927, seven years after Neukölln like many other surrounding towns became part of Greater Berlin, the city opened the first segment of what was then called Line D of the U-Bahn, today's U8U8 (Berlin U-Bahn)
U8 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. It has 24 stations and is 18.1 km long. The U8 is one of two north–south Berlin U-Bahn lines, and runs from Wittenau to Neukölln via Gesundbrunnen...
. Over the next 3 years, the line was extended as far south as Leinestraße
Leinestraße (Berlin U-Bahn)
Leinestraße is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on the .The station was built by Alfred Grenander and A.Fehse in 1929. In the 30s the southern tunnel was elongated and it served as air raid protection....
. It had been the intention since the first conception of the line in 1910 for it to connect with the S-Bahn at Hermannstraße. Work began in 1929 and was scheduled to be completed in March 1930, but was halted by the economic crisis. Finally in 1931 the City of Berlin cancelled the project. By then the tunnel from Leinestraße (the longest tunnel segment excavated that year) and about one third of the platform at the new station had been constructed. The stairways to the street were in place and were capped with concrete.
In 1940, the unfinished station was used as an air raid shelter; because it is located under the S-Bahn cutting, it is unusually deep underground. There are still signs on the wall from this period. After the construction of the Berlin wall in 1961, the West Berlin Senate
Senate of Berlin
The Senate of Berlin is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to eight Senators appointed by the Governing Mayor, two of whom are appointed ...
did not pursue the plans for an extension, since West Berliners were boycotting the GDR-run S-Bahn and there was thus no longer demand for a transfer point between the U-Bahn and it. Berlin Transport laid rails in the tunnel and used it to store disused trains.
The situation changed with German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
and it was decided to complete the extension and open the Hermannstraße U-Bahn station. The scheduled reopening of the Ringbahn on 17 December 1993 created time pressure, because work on the U-Bahn station had to begin before then. The work included renovation of the existing tunnel and partial platform, construction of the remainder of the platform and the creation of a 320 m long turn-around. In addition, means of transfer between the station and the S-Bahn station above had to be created, and stairwells for a planned regional station. In the course of the work, the trains which had been parked there in the 1960s were discovered. U-Bahn buffs were delighted that one of the discoveries was an antique BI train.
The opening of the station, the 168th in the Berlin U-Bahn
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...
system, was celebrated on 13 July 1996. Like almost all Berlin U-Bahn stations constructed in recent decades, the Hermannstraße station was designed by Rainer Rümmler. It was his last design before he retired. In this case he was strongly influenced by the stations to the north, designed by Alfred Grenander
Alfred Grenander
Alfred Frederik Elias Grenander, , was one of the most prominent architects during the first building period of the Berlin U-Bahn in the first half of the twentieth century....
, which led to a very sparse station lined with turquoise tiles. The signs for the air raid shelter were retained behind glass as testaments to the past.