Gleisdreieck is an elevated

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 tra ...

station located on a viaduct in the

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it h ...

district, and served by lines U1, U2, and U3. The U1/ U3 platform is at a higher level than, and perpendicular to, that of the U2.

Overview

''Gleisdreieck'' before and after the reconstruction The station's name literally means "railway triangle," or wye in English, and marks the spot of an earlier major train hub that opened in 1902, where the three branches of the first ''Stammstrecke'' U-Bahn line from

Zoologischer Garten A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corn ...

and Warschauer Brücke met. A major accident at the triangle happened on 26 September 1908, when two trains collided. One car derailed and fell from the viaduct, killing 18 people and injuring 21. Upon another dangerous incident, the single-level triangle from 1912 was rebuilt and replaced by the current two-level station. Since then there is no direct rail connection between the two lines at Gleisdreieck, but only an intersection. UBahnhf-Gleisdreieck

In 1939 the North-South Tunnel was opened in the vicinity, though there is no interchange with the

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 ...

system.J. Meyer-Kronthaler, ''Berlins U-Bahnhöfe'', Berlin: be.bra, 1996 On 28–29 January 1944, the viaduct suffered heavy bombing, and on 14 February 1945, there were additional serious bombing impacts causing heavy air pressure damage to the station's steel construction. It took a direct hit on 3 February 1945, destroying a train. On 11–12 March 1945, the signal box was destroyed, and on 18 March 1945, the upper platform was destroyed. A viaduct was totally destroyed in the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

. After the building 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 gover ...

beginning 13 August 1961, the lower platform became the eastern terminus of the U2, until service was finally discontinued on 1 January 1972. Between 1984 and 1991 it served as the southern terminus of the short-lived M-Bahn maglev running to ''Kemperplatz'' near the Philharmonie. The U2 train service on the lower platform was restarted on 13 November 1993. It is the westernmost station in Kreuzberg for both lines. The

German Museum of Technology (German Museum of Technology) in Berlin, Germany is a museum of science and technology, and exhibits a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The museum's main emphasis originally was on rail transport, but today it also features e ...

(''Deutsches Technikmuseum'') is adjacent to the station. The name Gleisdreieck also refers to a large area in the south, the former freight yards of the Anhalter and Potsdamer Bahnhof, which have been redeveloped as an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

, known as the Park am Gleisdreieck.

The new Gleisdreieck

One of the most dangerous places of the entire U-Bahn network was found at the triangular rail junction at Gleisdreieck, which connected the main line between ''Warschauer Brücke'' and ''Zoologischer Garten'' with the branch line to ''Potsdamer Platz''. This branch was protected only by signals, so that driver inattention could easily lead to a disaster, as happened on 26 September 1908. A U-Bahn train ran into the side of another train, forcing two carriages off the track. One carriage fell over the viaduct and 21 passengers died. As a result, it was decided to change the configuration at ''Gleisdreieck''. Construction began in May 1912 to replace the triangular junction with two lines built as a grade-separated cross with a new ''Gleisdreieck'' interchange station at the intersection. These lines now form part of U1 and U2. The new work was carried out largely with full services operating, although services were briefly interrupted on each line. On 3 November 1912, the new ''Gleisdreieck'' station was opened but construction was not completed until August 1913. The connecting track from the

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. ...

direction to the

Warschauer Straße Warschauer Straße is a major thoroughfare in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district of central Berlin, the capital of Germany. The street begins at Frankfurter Tor to the north and spans 1.6km south to the intersection of the Oberbaumbrücke, M ...

direction continued to be open until the completion of work for use by construction supply trains. 1019 4-Gleisdreieck-17

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{BU-BahnStations U1 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations U2 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations U3 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations Berlin U-Bahn stations located above ground Buildings and structures in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1902