The Kremmen Railway (german: Kremmener Bahn) is a line in northern
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 ...
and
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
, Germany. It branches off the
Prussian Northern Railway
The Berlin Northern Railway (german: Berliner Nordbahn) is a 223-kilometre-long main line route, that runs from Berlin via Neustrelitz and Neubrandenburg to Stralsund on the Baltic Sea coast. Nowadays, long-distance and regional traffic on the ...
in the Berlin district of
Reinickendorf
Reinickendorf () is the twelfth borough of Berlin. It encompasses the northwest of the city area, including the Berlin Tegel Airport, Lake Tegel, spacious settlements of detached houses as well as housing estates like Märkisches Viertel.
Subdi ...
, north of
Schönholz station (formerly ''Schönholz-Reinickendorf'') and then passes through
Tegel
Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinkel ...
,
Hennigsdorf
Hennigsdorf () is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated north-west of Berlin, just across the city border, which is formed mainly by the Havel river.
History
The municipality shared its borders with the form ...
and
Velten
Velten is a town in the Oberhavel district of Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 10 km southwest of Oranienburg, and 24 km northwest of Berlin.
History
In 1905 Velten had 38 stove factories that delivered 100,000 tiled stoves to Berl ...
to
Kremmen
Kremmen is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located 15 km (10 miles) west of Oranienburg and 38 km (24 miles) northwest of Berlin. It is known mostly for its castle Ziethen. The local church contains ...
. There it connects with the
Kremmen–Meyenburg line opened in 1898 to
Neuruppin
Neuruppin (; North Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) and therefore also referred to as ''Font ...
.
In contrast to the main line railways that had been built to that time, the Kremmen Railway was the first branch line opened in Berlin. Moreover, it did not have its own terminal station but from the beginning it terminated at the
Stettiner Bahnhof. The southern end of the line is now served by
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 ...
line S25.
History
The campaign for a connection between Berlin and the Ruppin district (now part of
Ostprignitz-Ruppin
Ostprignitz-Ruppin is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from north clockwise) the districts Müritz and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the districts
Oberhavel and Ha ...
) was led mainly from Velten, the population of which had grown to have over 5,000 as a result of industrialisation. Since the original plan for a private railway could not be implemented, the
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...
took over the project itself. The first section was opened after about two years of construction on 1 October 1893 between Schönholz-Reinickendorf on the Northern Railway and Velten. The second section opened on 20 December 1893 between Velten and Kremmen.
In 1927, the line from Berlin to Velten was electrified on the third-rail
DC system of the lines that were later branded as the Berlin S-Bahn. After the establishment of S-Bahn operations, trains from Kremmen generally reversed at Velten, although a few trains ran through to Berlin or later to Hennigsdorf.
Continuous electrical operations ran between Berlin and Velten until the construction of the
Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961 interrupted the track between
Heiligensee
Heiligensee () is a locality within Reinickendorf, a borough of the German capital, Berlin.
Geography Overview
Situated at Berlin's north-western border on the shores of the Havel river, Heiligensee shares borders with the towns of Hennigsdorf an ...
and Hennigsdorf. Subsequently, S-Bahn operations were maintained between Velten and Hennigsdorf as a shuttle operation. In 1958 with the completion of 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 ...
, ''Hennigsdorf Nord station'' was established at the rail crossing as a two-level transfer station; it was closed in 1998. In 1983, the north-western sector of the Berlin outer ring was electrified with the standard German
AC system. The section between Hennigsdorf and Velten was re-electrified with the AC system.
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 ...
the S-Bahn operations to Hennigsdorf continued to be run by
East German Railways after 1961 until the handover of operations in West Berlin to the
Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
The (German: 'Berlin Transport Company') is the main public transport company of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It manages the city's underground railway, tram, bus, replacement services (, EV) and ferry networks, but not the urban r ...
(''Berlin Transportation Company'') on 9 January 1984. On that date, S-Bahn operations on the line to Hennigsdorf were shut down. In 1995 S-Bahn lines were re-established on the line as far as Tegel. North of Tegel part of the railway embankment had been removed to build the
Hamburg Autobahn. This gap was not closed until 1998, when Hennigsdorf was reconnected to the S-Bahn network. The reopening of the S-Bahn to Velten is under discussion.
Current operations
The Kremmen railway is now a single-track railway line. In
Alt-Reinickendorf, Tegel and Heiligensee there are crossing loops, allowing a 20-minute interval S-Bahn service. In addition, between Hennigsdorf and Velten there are two tracks, with one track used as a test track for the Hennigsdorf locomotive and rollingstock plant of
Bombardier Transportation (formerly the ''Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke'' (LEW)). It is equipped with both third rail and overhead electrification, but it is not used for public transport. The only place for trains to pass each other between Hennigsdorf and Kremmen is in Velten station.
In Berlin area S-Bahn
line S25 runs on the line to Hennigsdorf station, where there is a connection to Kremmen via
Regionalbahn services and
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 ...
line RE6 (''Prignitz-Express''). This line runs from
Berlin-Spandau
Spandau () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the homonymous borough (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. The historic city is situated, for the most part, on the western banks of the Havel river. As of 2020 the estimated population of Spandau was 39, ...
via the western sector of the Berlin outer ring to Hennigsdorf, where it reverses on to the Kremmen line to Neuruppin and
Wittenberge
Wittenberge () is a town of eighteen thousand people on the middle Elbe in the district of Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany.
Geography
Wittenberge is situated at the right (north-eastern) bank of the middle Elbe at its confluence with the Stepe ...
.
In order to operate both AC and DC trains into Hennigsdorf it was decided to avoid electrifying the line there with both systems on the same piece of track. Instead an easier solution was adopted of extending the platform to the south. The southern end is used by the Berlin S-Bahn. The northern end of the platform is used by regional trains with the tracks in between blocked.
Notes
References
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{{Authority control
Railway lines in Brandenburg
Railway lines in Berlin
Railway lines opened in 1893
1893 establishments in Germany
Berlin S-Bahn
Buildings and structures in Oberhavel
Reinickendorf