Berlin-Karlshorst station is a station served by regional and

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 co ...

services in the suburb of

Karlshorst Karlshorst (, ; ; literally meaning ''Karl's nest'') is a locality in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. Located there are a harness racing track and the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (''HTW''), the largest University of Appli ...

in the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

district of

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's ...

History

The station was opened on 1 May 1895 on the Berlin-Frankfurt (Oder) railway (“Lower Silesian–Markish Railway”) under the name of ''Carlshorst'', initially less for suburban services than for visitors to the

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...

track built in 1893/1894. A terminal station with six tracks was built to serve this traffic next to the suburb platform, with a private pavilion for the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

. In 1901, the station's name was changed to ''Karlshorst''. The current station building and the bridge over the street now called Treskowallee was built with the raising of the tracks, which was completed in 1902. Electric S-Bahn operations on the line between

Erkner Erkner () is a town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, Germany, located on the south-eastern edge of the German capital city Berlin. Geography The town is located between the lakes Dämeritzsee, a part of the river Spree, and Flakensee, s ...

and

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

commenced in 1928. Traffic at the station, which was still largely made up of visitors to the race track, was greatest in those years. After the Second World War, the railway tracks were briefly converted to

Russian broad gauge Railways with a railway track gauge of first appeared in the United Kingdom and the United States. This gauge became commonly known as Russian gauge because the government of the Russian Empire later chose it in 1843 — former areas of the Empi ...

in July 1945. The

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

dictator,

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

took part in the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Pe ...

and insisted on a trip without changing trains. The line was converted back to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

in September of the same year. Since the line was the most important link to the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, neither long-distance track was dismantled for

war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. History Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. R ...

(unlike on other lines), but instead both of S-Bahn tracks were dismantled. The suburban tracks were re-laid up to 1947 so that S-Bahn trains could run to Karlshorst again. Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F088839-0012, Berlin, S-Bahnhof Karlshorst

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F088839-0012, Berlin, S-Bahnhof Karlshorst

After the construction of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

on 13 August 1961, the current regional platforms were built at the station. Since the S-Bahn trains could not run to Potsdam through

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 ...

, new commuter trains were introduced between East Berlin and Potsdam via the

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 ...

. Karlshorst was selected to be the terminus for these ''Sputnik'' trains to run to and from Potsdam. In addition, some trains to

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

stopped at the station during

GDR 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 ...

times. At certain times, Karlshorst was also the terminus of some express trains, if the capacity of other Berlin railway stations was insufficient. The regional station has always remained provisional. This is especially evident in the connection from the platform for trains from the east, which is difficult to reach via a pedestrian bridge at the rear end of the S-Bahn platform. In 2007, the Deutsche Bahn replaced the viaduct for the long-distance tracks over the Treskowallee by a temporary bridge because of its state of disrepair. Between May 2010 and May 2011, the eastern access passenger subway was extended north to Stolzenfelsstraße and a small entrance court was built there, giving the station better access to the S–Bahn platform. The cost of €850,000 was met by the state of Berlin.

Development

Bahnhof Berlin-Karlshorst Bauarbeiten Treskowallee

During the implementation of the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) upgraded railway (''Ausbaustrecke'', ABS) project, the mainline tracks in the area of Berlin-Karlshorst station and the railway overpass over Treskowallee were completely modernised. The bridge had to be rebuilt due to its age and extensive damage. The clearance width of 15.75 metres was increased to 31.50 metres. An additional pedestrian bridge was built, creating a path to the west side of the Treskowallee (with a lift and staircase) and the original direct access from Treskowallee to the eastern abutment was reopened. The tram stops will be moved as part of the widening of Treskowallee under the bridge, with each new stop now sited next to the station. The corresponding planning approval was published on 14 October 2011. After several postponements, construction began in early 2012, with an estimated construction period of two years and four months. In May 2012, the old bridge decks were dismantled over Treskowallee and replaced by temporary bridges so that the abutments could be rebuilt. Also preparations were made so that the S-Bahn could be operated over a single track from end of May. After the completion of new abutment, the first new steel superstructure with a weight of 240 tons to accommodate the two mainline tracks was then installed in June 2013. The installation of the superstructure for the two S-Bahn tracks and the new pedestrian overpass took place in early October 2013 and the operation of S-Bahn services on two-tracks was then restored. At this time the completion of the construction work was planned for April 2014. The construction of the new pedestrian overpass was interrupted on 12 October 2013 when a seven-ton section of the bridge fell six metres to the surface of the concourse. Two construction workers were seriously injured and one was slightly injured. One of the seriously injured died after a few hours in the Berlin Emergency Hospital. The section of the bridge that crashed could not be raised and installed until February 2014. The planned time for the completion was significantly exceeded. Upon completion of bridge works the district will, in coordination with the BVG and the Berlin water authority, reconstruct the street of Treskowallee and the new tram stops will be installed. Due to the need for a separate planning procedure, work will begin in 2017 and completion is scheduled for 2019.

Train services

The station has not been served by trains from Potsdam via the southern Berlin outer ring since 1998. The operation of

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at f ...

services to Frankfurt (Oder) ended a year later. Regional trains RE7 and RB14 connecting to central Berlin and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport station stopped at Karlshorst until December 2017. Today Karlshorst is served by from

via the

Berlin Stadtbahn The Berlin Stadtbahn ("city railway") is a major railway thoroughfare in the German capital Berlin, which runs through Berlin from east to west. It connects the eastern district of Friedrichshain with Charlottenburg in the west via 11 intermedia ...

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 ...

. The station is also served by several

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and

city bus A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

lines. The station is served by the following service:Timetables for S Karlshorst
*Berlin S-Bahn services ''Spandau – Charlottenburg – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostkreuz – Karlshorst – Köpenick – Erkner''

Notes

External links

* *{{cite web, url=http://www.stadtschnellbahn-berlin.de/bahnhof/bahnhof.php?bhf=274, title= Berlin-Karlshorst station, publisher= Stadtschnellbahn Berlin, language=German, accessdate=30 November 2014

Railway stations in Germany opened in 1895