Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the central
railway station in
Berlin,
Germany. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on
May 26,
2006. It is on the site of the historic
Lehrter Bahnhof, and until it opened as a
main line station, it was a stop on the
Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily named
Berlin Hauptbahnhof–Lehrter Bahnhof.
Lehrter Bahnhof (Lehrte Station) opened in 1871 as the terminus of the railway linking Berlin with
Lehrte, near
Hanover, which later became Germany's most important east-west main line. In 1882, with the completion of the Stadtbahn (City Railway, Berlin's four-track central elevated railway line, which carries both local and main line services), just north of the station, a smaller interchange station called
Lehrter Stadtbahnhof was opened to provide connections with the new line. This station later became part of the Berlin S-Bahn. In 1884, after the closure of nearby
Hamburger Bahnhof (Hamburg Station), Lehrter Bahnhof became the terminus for trains to and from
Hamburg.
Following heavy damage during
World War II, limited services to the main station were resumed, but then suspended in 1951. In 1957, with the railways to
West Berlin under the control of
East Germany, Lehrter Bahnhof was demolished, but Lehrter Stadtbahnhof continued as a stop on the S-Bahn. In 1987, it was extensively renovated to commemorate Berlin's 750th anniversary.
After
German reunification it was decided to improve Berlin's railway network by constructing a new north-south main line, to supplement the east-west Stadtbahn. Lehrter Stadtbahnhof was considered to be the logical location for a new central station.
Between 1868 and 1871, a 239-km railway was built between Hanover and Berlin via Lehrte by the Magdeburg Halberstädter railway company. Lehrter Bahnhof was constructed as the Berlin terminus. It was adjacent to Hamburger Bahnhof, just outside what was then Berlin's boundary at the Humbolthafen port on the river
Spree. Its architects were
Alfred Lent,
Bertold Scholz, and
Gottlieb Henri Lapierre.
|
Lehrter Bahnhof in 1879, showing the train shed |
In contrast to earlier railway stations, built with brick facades, and in keeping with then-current trends, Lehrter Bahnhof was designed in the French
Neo-Renaissance style. Its originally planned stone facade was replaced with glazed tiles to save money. With its magnificent architecture, the station was known as a "palace among stations."
The train shed had a length of 188 m and width of 38 m. Its roof was a long
barrel vault with steel supports. As was common for the period, the station was divided into an arrival side on the west, and a departure side on the east. Originally there were five tracks, four of which ended at the side and the central platform; the fifth track had no platform and served as a turnaround for the locomotives. At the turn of the century this track was removed to accommodate the widening of the central platform.
Although the front of the building was ornate and had a grand entrance, most passengers entered and left via the east side, where horse-drawn carriages were able to stop.
In 1882 the metropolitan railway, predecessor of the S-Bahn, began service along two of the Stadtbahn tracks; long-distance traffic commenced in 1884 along the other two. With the expansion of Lehrter Bahnhof, it was able to take over the functions of Hamburger Bahnhof. A 300 m connector line was built; on
October 14,
1884, traffic towards Hamburg, northeast Germany, and Scandinavia was diverted to Lehrter Bahnhof, and Hamburger Bahnhof closed.
In 1886, the Berlin-Lehrte railway, and with it Lehrter Bahnhof, was nationalized and subsequently came under the control of the
Prussian State Railways.
Even in its early years, the line was known as one of the country's fastest: in 1872, express trains could attain a speed of 90 km/h.
December 19,
1932 marked the maiden voyage of the famous diesel-powered
Fliegender Hamburger (Flying Hamburger), which whisked passengers to Hamburg at 160 km/h.
In the
Second World War the station was severely damaged. After the war, the shell was repaired to the point where it could be used temporarily. However, the postwar
division of Germany spelled the end for most of West Berlin's mainline stations. On
August 28,
1951, the final train departed from Lehrter Bahnhof, headed for the
Wustermark and
Nauen. On
July 9,
1957 demolition began, and on
April 22,
1958 the main entrance was blown up. The biggest challenge in the demolition of the station was to preserve the viaducts of the Stadtbahn, which ran directly overhead. Work was completed in the summer of 1959.
|
Upper level with the east-west running tracks. |
On
May 15,
1882, Lehrter Stadtbahnhof opened, situated on the Stadtbahn
viaduct at the northern end of Lehrter Bahnhof concourse.This four-track station on the Stadtbahn was used mainly by suburban trains. The main purpose of the Stadtbahn was to connect central areas of Berlin with the Lehrter Bahnhof, the Schlesischer Bahnhof (
Silesia Station) termini with nearby
Charlottenburg, then still a separate city. It was also providing an East-West railway connection across the centre of Berlin.
Because of steadily increasing traffic to Lehrter Stadtbahnhof and its location on a bridge crossing the north end of Lehrter Bahnhof, elaborate changes were made to the track structure in 1912 and again in 1929.
On
December 1,
1930, the newly electrified suburban trains were given the designation
S-Bahn, making the Lehrter Stadtbahnhof an S-Bahnhof. The Stadtbahnhof survived the war intact, but came to lose its pre-war significance due to the division of Berlin; with Lehrter Bahnhof closed, the Stadtbahnhof served only a relatively underpopulated area near the border with
East Berlin. It was the final stop in
West Berlin; the next station, Berlin
Friedrichstraße, was in the
Soviet zone, although it served as a stop on both the West Berlin S- and U-Bahn systems; these parts of the station were sealed off and inaccessible to East Berliners. The S-Bahn, like the mainlines leading to
West Berlin, was run by the
East German railway, the
Deutsche Reichsbahn. The 1961 construction of the
Berlin Wall further isolated the station, and led to a
boycott of the S-Bahn in West Berlin that lasted until the 1980s, when operation of the West Berlin S-Bahn lines was transferred to the West Berlin transit authority, the
BVG.
Berlin's 750-year anniversary celebration in 1987 saw the station, now under West Berlin control, renovated at a cost of about
DM 10 million. Because it had largely been preserved in its original condition, it became a
listed building.
However, in 2002, Lehrter Stadtbahnhof was demolished to make way for the new central station, despite its listed status. The argument was that
Hackescher Markt station, in former
East Berlin, was architecturally similar; it had been restored in 1994-1996, after
German reunification.
Soon after the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989, city planners began work on a transport plan for reunified Berlin. One element of this became the "Pilzkonzept" (mushroom concept), in which a new north-south railway line intersecting the Stadtbahn was to be constructed. The name derived from the shape formed by the new line and existing lines, which vaguely resembles a mushroom.
|
Ceiling structure of the underground part of the station. December 2001 |
In June 1992 the federal government decided that the new station should be built on the site of Lehrter Bahnhof. While close to the centre of Berlin and government buildings, the area was still not heavily populated. The following year, a design competition for the project was held, which was won by the Hamburg architecture firm
Gerkan, Marg and Partners.
The design called for traffic on five levels. The highest is the main deck, including two S-Bahn platforms, on a bridge 10 m above street level, and the lowest comprises four platforms 15 m underground. New tunnels to
Potsdamer Platz under the Spree and the Tiergarten, Berlin's central park, form a new north-south line running to the northern part of the S-Bahn ring around central Berlin. Platforms for the planned extension to
U-Bahn line 5 are also included, as were platforms for the cancelled
Transrapid maglev train. The short
line U55 should open in 2007.
The building work took place in several stages. In 1995 the construction of the Tiergarten tunnels began, and this work was finished in 2005 with the completion of the last station tunnel. The tunnels provide four tubes for long-distance and regional services and two tubes in a separate alignment for the U-Bahn, in addition to a road tunnel ventilated by a 60-m-high tower completed in 2004. During its construction, the course of the Spree had to be diverted (1996-1998). Water leaks in the tunnels caused over one year's delay to the construction work.
|
Berlin Hauptbahnhof under construction |
Construction of the bridges for the new
S-Bahn route began in 2001. These needed to span not only the entire length of the station, but also the adjacent Humboldthafen port, and are 450 m long. Because of the alignment of the S-Bahn they are curved, and each pair of tracks has a separate bridge. Bridges of this type had never been built before, and represented a special challenge for the engineers.
The main station hall is spanned by a similarly curved glass roof with a surface area of about 85 m by 120 m, which was installed in February 2002. A
photovoltaic system was integrated into the glass surface. The steel and glass construction was a difficult task for the engineers, particularly as the glass roofs were shortened by approximately 100 m to speed up construction.
Over the first weekend of July 2002 the bridges and main station hall were brought into service so that traffic could be diverted onto the new alignment. The old Lehrter Stadtbahnhof S-Bahn station was closed and rapidly demolished to make way for further new building. On
9 September 2002 the station was renamed "Berlin Hauptbahnhof â€" Lehrter Bahnhof".
The main concourse, supported by two towers, will provide roughly 44,000 m² of commercial space. Construction of the towers began in 2005. On two separate weekends,
29 July and
13 August 2005, structural frames were installed, supporting the structure above the east-west tracks. This was built using a new technique: the frames, each weighing 1250 t, were lowered by ropes at a rate of six m per hour; the remaining 20-mm gap between the bow frames upon completion of the lowering process was subsequently closed.
During summer 2003 a survey commissioned by Peter Strieder,
Berlin's Senator for City Development and Traffic, and Deutsche Bahn director Hartmut Mehdorn was conducted among Berlin residents with the intention of selecting a name for the station. Of the three possibilities listed on the survey, the majority of participants opted for Lehrter Bahnhof; nevertheless, the station remained "Berlin Hauptbahnhof â€" Lehrter Bahnhof", an option that was not listed. It was decided early in 2005 that the station would be renamed "Berlin
Hauptbahnhof" on the date of its opening,
May 28,
2006, to avoid confusing rail passengers. On the same day, Berlin Papestraße station, which was rebuilt as the city's second-largest station, opened officially under its new name,
Berlin Südkreuz (South Cross), similar to the existing
Ostkreuz and
Westkreuz stations. It is also on the new north-south route.
The main line platforms may be used for local traffic with the expected heavy demand during the
2006 FIFA World Cup, held in part in Berlin.
The architect
Meinhard von Gerkan filed a complaint against
Deutsche Bahn in October 2005 after Deutsche Bahn altered the station construction timeline without proper authority (16th Berlin Superior Court of Justice, AZ 16 O 240/05). There may therefore be further construction on the station in the future.
In addition, Deutsche Bahn decided to implement a slightly different version of the "Pilzkonzept" by running intercity trains through the new Tiergarten tunnels rather than via the Stadtbahn. This would force passengers to use the new Hauptbahnhof, providing businesses the opportunity to establish operations in the station complex. This move has been unpopular for its effect on Berlin's two current main stations;
Berlin Zoologischer Garten (Zoo Station) would consequently be downgraded to a regional railway station, and the number of main line services to
Berlin Ostbahnhof (East Station) would also be drastically reduced.
|
Opening ceremony of Berlin Hauptbahnhof ("Symphony of Light") |
On
26 May 2006 the station was ceremonially opened by Chancellor
Angela Merkel, who arrived together with transport minister
Wolfgang Tiefensee in a specially chartered
InterCity Express from
Leipzig. A "Symphony of Light" was performed immediately following the dedication.
Reamonn and
BAP performed at Hauptbahnhof, and there were also events at the other new stations:
Gesundbrunnen,
Potsdamer Platz and
Südkreuz. Berlin Hauptbahnhof officially went into operation on
28 May 2006.
The opening ceremony was marred by an attack by a drunken 16-year old youth wielding a
knife, who stabbed members of the public leaving the ceremony. 41 people were wounded
, six seriously, before the youth was arrested
. According to police, the youth says he cannot remember his act of violence and is still denying it. One of the first stabbing victims was
HIV-positive, leading to worries that other victims may have been infected. The youth has been charged with attempted murder.
| In brief | | DB station code: | BH |
Number of passenger tracks
| 6 on upper level (2 S-Bahn)
8 on lower level |
Trains
(daily): | 1,800
|
Passengers
(daily): | 350,000 est'd. |
Street address
| Europaplatz 1
10559 Berlin |
As of 2006, the station is used by
InterCityExpress,
InterCity,
RegionalExpress and
S-Bahn trains. The upper part of the station, with the east-west tracks, is part of the Berlin Stadtbahn, with trains leading to locations like
Hanover or
Cologne. The subterranean station, which lies in the north-south
Tiergarten tunnel, offers long distance services to
Hamburg,
Leipzig or
Munich. Of the three platforms on the upper level, one is used for S-Bahn trains.
*
Official site*
Structurae: Berlin Hauptbahnhof*
Construction images*
Main Station Berlin - Interactive panorama in front of the station
*
BBC Website pictures of the station and opening
