Französische Straße was a

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train li ...

underground station on the line located under the street

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

in central

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. This station was built by Grenander/Fehse/Jennen and opened in 1923. In 1945 it closed for a few months; it was permanently closed in 1961. During the Cold War (1961–1990), the station became a

ghost station A ghost station is a disused train station through which revenue-service passenger trains (especially rapid transit trains) pass but at which they do not stop. The term is also sometimes used for any unused underground station or any unused ...

. The station was closed to passenger traffic, and the underground trains of the

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 ...

BVG passed the

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

in East Berlin slowly without stopping. In 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, the station became accessible again. In 1995, the platform had to be lengthened by so that the longer, six-car trains could stop there. It is the only former partition-related ghost station in Berlin to have since been closed a second time, albeit for different reasons.

2020 closure

With the opening of the expanded line connecting Alexanderplatz with Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Französische Straße station was closed and replaced by the newly built

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. Running from the City Palace to Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden (lime in England and Ireland, not rela ...

station directly to the north, allowing transfers between the U6 and U5 lines. The last trains called at Französische Straße on 3 December 2020, with Unter den Linden station opening the following day.

References

Berlin U-Bahn stations located underground Buildings and structures in Mitte Railway stations in Germany opened in 1923 Railway stations closed in 2020 {{Berlin-railstation-stub