The Ringbahn (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
for circle railway) is a long
circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the
Berlin S-Bahn
The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under this name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff area ''Berliner Stadt-, Ring ...
network. Its course is made up of a double-tracked
S-Bahn
The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...
ring and a parallel freight ring. The S-Bahn lines
S41 and S42 provide a closed-loop continuous service without termini. Lines S45, S46 and S47 use a section of the southern and western ring, while lines S8 and S85 use sections of the eastern ring. The combined number of passengers is about 400,000 passengers a day. Due to its distinctive shape, the line is often referred to as the ''Hundekopf'' (Dog's Head).
The Ringbahn is bisected by an east–west railway thoroughfare called the
Stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
(city railway), which crosses the Ringbahn from
Westkreuz
Berlin Westkreuz (literally "Berlin West Cross") is a station in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. It is served by the S-Bahn lines S3, S41, S42, S46, S5, S7 and S9 and so represents a major interchange point on the Berlin S-Bahn net ...
(Western Crossing) to
Ostkreuz
Berlin Ostkreuz station (german: Bahnhof Berlin Ostkreuz) (literally "Berlin East Cross") is a station on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway and the busiest interchange station in Berlin. It is in the former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain ...
(Eastern Crossing), forming a Südring (Southern Ring) and a Nordring (Northern Ring). The north-south S-Bahn link (with the
North-South S-Bahn-tunnel as its central point) divides the Ringbahn into a ''Westring'' (Western Ring) and an ''Ostring'' (Eastern Ring), crossing at
Gesundbrunnen station in the north and both
Schöneberg station and
Südkreuz in the south. These four sections served as tariff zones of the suburban fare structure before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Over time, these four rings ceased to exist with the removal of interchanges. Only at Westkreuz does an original such track remain, used only for utility purposes. At Ostkreuz, a newly-designed bypass provides access to southern branches without having to enter the station. Gesundbrunnen is not a typical crossing, but rather has parallel tracks that allowed trains to run south towards Südkreuz once the North-South S-Bahn-Tunnel was opened.
The approximately area encompassed by the Ringbahn comprises the "Berlin A" zone in the
Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg
The Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) is a transport association run by public transport providers in the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. It is a private limited company owned jointly by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg (wit ...
's fare structure. The Ringbahn also serves as the border for Berlin's
low-emission zone
A low-emission zone (LEZ) is a defined area where access by some polluting vehicles is restricted or deterred with the aim of improving air quality. This may favour vehicles such as bicycles, micromobility vehicles, (certain) alternative fuel veh ...
, established on 1 January 2008.
History
Background
In 1851, the ''Königliche Bahnhofs-Verbindungsbahn'' (Royal Station Connection Railway) was completed between the termini of some railroads terminating in Berlin: initially the
Stettiner Bahnhof and the
Anhalter Bahnhof, but later to include the
Schlesischer Bahnhof.
It was laid in the streets, which disrupted traffic as well as local residents. Thus, in order to reduce disruption of traffic, trains ran at night, as the train bell had to be rung constantly.
Plans were soon developed to build a ring line primarily for freight, running outside the then city limits. Funding for construction was possible only after the victory in the
war with Austria of 1866. The
Lower Silesia-March Railway Company">f BrandenburgRailway Company was commissioned to construct and manage the line: construction began in 1867 and was completed in 1877.
Route
The first section opened on 17 July 1871 from Moabit through
Gesundbrunnen, Central-Viehhof (now
Storkower Straße), Stralau-Rummelsburg (now
Ostkreuz
Berlin Ostkreuz station (german: Bahnhof Berlin Ostkreuz) (literally "Berlin East Cross") is a station on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway and the busiest interchange station in Berlin. It is in the former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain ...
), Rixdorf (now
Neukölln) and Schöneberg (later Kolonnenstraße, at the side where there is the new
Julius-Leber-Brücke) to
Potsdamer station (and, from 1891 onward, to a separate annex, Potsdamer ring station). From there, trains returned in the opposite direction. The line crossed the
Anhalt Railway
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
(and later the Royal Prussian Military Railway) on bridges.
With the opening of the section from Schöneberg through the still-independent city of
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
(now
Westend station) to Moabit on 15 November 1877, the ring was complete for freight and long-distance trains, while the suburban trains running on the Ringbahn would still visit and reverse at Potsdamer station in the
city center
A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...
, turning north from the ring, running parallel to the
Berlin–Potsdam–Magdeburg Railway. This section from the actual ring into the Potsdamer ring station became known as the ''Südringspitzkehre'' (''Southern ring
switchback or
hairpin turn''), reflecting the need for trains to reverse there to continue their trip around the ring. Passengers could change at the ''Kolonnenstraße'' station across the platform to continue to ride on the Ringbahn without going all the way to the Potsdamer Ringbahnhof.
From 1 January 1872 onwards, freight was carried on the line to freight yards separate from the passenger stations. The line was electrified in 1926. In 1930, ring line operation was combined with the
Stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
and suburban services as the
Berlin S-Bahn
The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under this name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff area ''Berliner Stadt-, Ring ...
.
Since the trains were pulled by steam locomotives, they had to be refilled with water and coal and serviced at relatively short intervals; this was possible by reversing at Potsdamer Bahnhof. Even after electrification, the management of the railway company wanted to spare the passengers the need to change at the ''Papestraße'' or
Schöneberg
Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempe ...
stations to a properly provisioned train traveling from the suburbs to downtown Berlin. Originally, there were not even the necessary rails for continuing on the Ringbahn between Schöneberg and Papestraße stations.
The ''Reichsbahn'' planned to replace the level crossings between the Ringbahn and ''Südringspitzkehre'' with over- and underpasses together with the building of the north-south S-Bahn line in the late 1930s, but this was omitted as one of many planned changes after the proclamation of Hitler's ''Welthauptstadt Germania'' on 30 January 1937.
In
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Potsdamer and
Anhalter stations were heavily bombed; the ''Südringspitzkehre'' was closed in 1944 and was never reopened.
The Berlin Wall division
From 1944 until the construction of the
Berlin Wall in 1961, S-Bahn trains ran over the direct line between Papestraße (now
Südkreuz) and Schöneberg opened in 1933, making a complete circle. With the building of the Wall, the line was broken in two places:
*In
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
a separate line on a three-quarter ring ran between Gesundbrunnen and
Sonnenallee
''Sonnenallee'' (''Sun Avenue'' or ''Sun Alley'') is a 1999 German comedy film about life in East Berlin in the late 1970s. The movie was directed by Leander Haußmann. The film was released shortly before the corresponding novel, ''Am kürzere ...
or
Köllnische Heide.
*In
East Berlin the remaining section ran between
Schönhauser Allee
Schönhauser Allee in Berlin is one of the most important streets of the Prenzlauer Berg district.
Schönhauser Allee begins at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in the south and ends at Schonensche Straße in the north. Many of the side streets of Schönha ...
and
Treptower Park
Treptower Park (, with a silent ''w'') is a park alongside the river Spree in Alt-Treptow, in the district of Treptow-Köpenick, south of central Berlin.
History
It was the location of the Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin in 1896. It is ...
, on the suburban lines to
Bernau and
Königs Wusterhausen
Königs Wusterhausen () is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district of the state of Brandenburg in Germany a few kilometers outside Berlin.
Geography
Geographical location
Königs Wusterhausen – or "KW" () as it is often called locally – ...
or
Schönefeld Airport
Schönefeld (meaning ''beautiful field'') is a suburban municipality in the Dahme-Spreewald district, Brandenburg, Germany. It borders the southeastern districts of Berlin. The municipal area encompasses the old Berlin Schönefeld Airport (SXF) a ...
.
The building of the
Berlin Wall in 1961 prevented continuous operation, after which passenger numbers on the West Berlin side, between Gesundbrunnen and Sonnenallee, declined. This was caused partly by a politically motivated call for a boycott, because revenue from the West Berlin S-Bahn, which was operated by East German railways, supported the
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
government. The East Berlin section, from Schönhauser Allee to Treptower Park, remained in operation as it formed part of a major north-south tangent.
After the
1980 S-Bahn strike, service on the western part of the ring was suspended for about 13 years.
On 9 January 1984, a treaty between
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
and the
West Berlin Senate came into force and turned over responsibility for operation of the S-Bahn in West Berlin to the West Berlin transport authority
BVG. It was initially planned to restore the section between Westend and
Sonnenallee
''Sonnenallee'' (''Sun Avenue'' or ''Sun Alley'') is a 1999 German comedy film about life in East Berlin in the late 1970s. The movie was directed by Leander Haußmann. The film was released shortly before the corresponding novel, ''Am kürzere ...
.
Reunification
After
German reunification in 1990, plans were changed, so that in 1993 the south ring was reopened to the junction with the
line towards Baumschulenweg with a connection to the
Goerlitz line. The reconstruction of the connection between Sonnenallee and Treptow Park required large-scale renovation that was not feasible in the short term. The western part of the ring line was put back into operation in stages:
*17 December 1993: Between
Baumschulenweg, Neukölln and Westend
*15 April 1997: Between Westend and
Jungfernheide
Jungfernheide () is an area of forest and heathland located in Berlin in the present-day district of Charlottenburg-Nord, a locality of the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Formerly a large forested area, it was progressively reduced in s ...
*19 December 1997: Between Neukölln and Treptower Park
*19 December 1999: Between Jungfernheide and
Westhafen
The Westhafen (German for ''West Harbor'') is Berlin's largest inland port, located in the district of Moabit.
The Westhafen has an area of 430.000 square meters and it is divided into two parallel harbor basins. It is connected to the Spree and ...
*17 September 2001: Between Schönhauser Allee and Gesundbrunnen, over the old border, and the part of the section from Bornholmer Straße to Schönhauser Allee is closed for reconstruction work.
More than 12 years after the fall of the Wall, the last gap of the S-Bahn between Westhafen,
Wedding
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
and Gesundbrunnen, was fully restored on 16 June 2002. Promotional material for the reopening referred this as the "Wedding Day," an allusion to the English word "wedding." Services operated under the "screw concept," as trains entered the ring from the south at Neukölln and circled around it one and the half times, at the time the trip around the ring could not be achieved in less than 63 minutes.
Since 28 May 2006, circular service has been operated as lines S41 (clockwise) and S42 (anticlockwise). Trains take around 60 minutes, running every five minutes in peak hours and every ten minutes between the peaks, and in the evenings, using the greatly accelerated 481/482 series trains. Some sections of the ring are used by other lines. On the southern ring from the Görlitz line in the southeast, line
S47 terminates at
Hermannstraße,
S46 at Westend and
S45 S45 may refer to:
Aviation
* Blériot-SPAD S.45, a French biplane airliner
* SABCA S-45bis, a Belgian bomber
* Short S.45, a British biplane trainer
* Short S.45 Seaford, a British flying boat
* Sikorsky S-45, a proposed American flying boat
...
at
Berlin Südkreuz station
Berlin Südkreuz station (german: Bahnhof Berlin Südkreuz, lit=Berlin South Cross) is a railway station in the German capital Berlin. The station was originally opened in 1898 and is an interchange station. The Berlin Ringbahn line of the Berlin ...
, with some terminating at
Bundesplatz. On the eastern section of the ring, lines
S8,
S85 and
S9 operate between Schönhauser Allee and Treptower Park.
Services
Under what is called the "mushroom concept," the long-distance lines on the northern part of the ring for regional or long-distance services were rebuilt and electrified. On the ring line, regional and mainline services stop at Gesundbrunnen and regional services stop at Jungfernheide.
The majority of the former ring line freight yards have been closed down or dismantled. Part of the former freight inner ring between Neukölln and Tempelhof is still used for freight, with a depot at Berlin-Moabit. The freight line is closed in the vicinity of Südkreuz and Ostkreuz.
Branches and connection curves
S-Bahn
Branches from the ring line are:
*from Gesundbrunnen and Schönhauser Allee via Bornholmer Straße to Pankow and Schönholz (operating)
*from Treptower Park and Neukölln to Baumschulenweg (operating)
*from Jungfernheide via Wernerwerk to Gartenfeld (Siemens Railway, out of service and partially dismantled)
*from Jungfernheide via Siemensstadt-Fürstenbrunn to Spandau (S-Bahn tracks removed)
There are connecting curves between the ring line and the Stadtbahn at Ostkreuz and Westkreuz.
*The south ring curve at Ostkreuz was completely rebuilt between 28 August 2009 and 10 December 2017.
*The north ring curve at Ostkreuz was closed on 28 May 2006 and dismantled.
*A connection between Charlottenburg and Messe Nord/ICC (north ring curve) was used until 1944; after destruction in World War II it was not rebuilt.
*The connecting curve between Charlottenburg and Halensee (south ring curve) was rebuilt in the early 1990s with only one track. Currently, it is used for service traffic and on weekdays by two line S46 services daily.
The Südringspitzkehre spur to Potsdamer Bahnhof was closed in 1944 due to war damage and never rebuilt. Its reconstruction is being considered in the planning options for line
S21.
Mainline
The following long-distance and freight curves connect with the ring line:
*from Berlin-Moabit, for freight from the west, formerly connecting the
Hamburger Bahnhof
Hamburger Bahnhof is the former terminus of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstrasse in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as a contemporary art museum, the , part of the Berlin Nati ...
and
Lehrter Bahnhof
Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...
, still used for freight.
*in Wedding/Westhafen since 2006, connecting to the
North-South mainline from both directions towards
Hauptbahnhof
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
*in Gesundbrunnen/Schönhauser Allee, connecting from both directions to the
Stettin Railway and the northeast
*in Frankfurter Allee/Ostkreuz, from both directions to the
Berlin Frankfurter Allee–Berlin-Rummelsburg line to
Berlin-Lichtenberg station
Berlin-Lichtenberg is a railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located on the Eastern Railway, Wriezen Railway and Berlin Frankfurter Allee–Berlin-Rummelsburg railway lines in the Lichtenberg district. The station is also part of the Berli ...
and Rummelsburg
classification yard
A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard ( British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...
*in the Treptow Park area, from the north to the
Görlitz line (out of service)
*in Neukölln, from the west to the Görlitz line
*in Hermannstraße, from the east to the
Neukölln–Mittenwald line
*in Tempelhof/Südkreuz, a freight rail from the east to Berlin-Marienfelde (out of service)
*in Südkreuz/Schöneberg, a freight rail towards
Zehlendorf (out of service)
*in Westkreuz/Halensee, from both directions to the
Wetzlar line
*in Westend/Jungfernheide, from both directions to
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...
See also
*
Berlin outer ring
The Berlin outer ring (german: Berliner Außenring, BAR) is a long double track electrified railway, originally built by the German Democratic Republic to bypass West Berlin in preparation for the building of the Berlin Wall during the division o ...
*
Circle line (London Underground)
The Circle line is a spiral-shaped London Underground line, running from Hammersmith in the west to Edgware Road and then looping around central London back to Edgware Road. The railway is below ground in the central section and on the loop e ...
*
Koltsevaya Line
*
Yamanote Line
The Yamanote Line ( ja, 山手線, Yamanote-sen) is a loop service in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban c ...
*
City Circle Line
The City Circle Line ( da, Cityringen) or M3 is a loop line of the Copenhagen Metro. It has been claimed by COWI A/S that the City Circle Line is the largest construction project to have taken place in Copenhagen during the last 400 years.
*
Circle MRT Line
*
Seoul Subway Line 2
Seoul Subway Line 2 ( ko, 서울 지하철 2호선), also known as the Circle Line, is a circular line of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. The line running clockwise is called the "inner circle line" and the counter-clockwise line is called the " ...
Notes
References
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External links
Pictures of the Ringbahn
{{Public transport in Berlin
Ringbahn
The Ringbahn (German for circle railway) is a long circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the Berlin S-Bahn network. Its course is made up of a double-tracked S-Bahn ring and a parallel freight ring. The S-Bahn lines S41 and S42 prov ...
Railway loop lines
Ringbahn
The Ringbahn (German for circle railway) is a long circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the Berlin S-Bahn network. Its course is made up of a double-tracked S-Bahn ring and a parallel freight ring. The S-Bahn lines S41 and S42 prov ...
Ringbahn
The Ringbahn (German for circle railway) is a long circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the Berlin S-Bahn network. Its course is made up of a double-tracked S-Bahn ring and a parallel freight ring. The S-Bahn lines S41 and S42 prov ...
Standard gauge railways in Germany
Buildings and structures in Neukölln
Railway lines opened in 1871
1871 establishments in Germany