History of the Berlin S-Bahn
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The Berlin S-Bahn began on 8 August 1924 with the first section from Stettiner Vorortbahnhof to Bernau using steam locomotives. On 13 August 1961 it was broken up when 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 ...
was built, resulting in two sections: the eastern part and the western part. The western part experienced a massive strike which resulted in closure of several stations, after declining use. Attempts were made to reopen at various times but in the end, only three lines were finally opened after the strike. Since 9 November 1989, when the Berlin Wall was opened, the Berlin S-Bahn began to expand rapidly with their budgetary costs.


Before S-Bahn

The first line was opened from Zehlendorf to Potsdam in 1838. Until 1846, the city already counted five terminal stations, one of which resulted in almost all routes. Until 1882 four more stations were added. In order to connect the lines together, in 1851, the Berlin connection path along the former city wall was built at ground level. They circumnavigated the urban area in a three-quarter circle from Stettiner, the Hamburger, the Potsdamer and Anhalter Bahnhof to the Frankfurt train station. The constant traffic, particularly by the military, disabled strongly in passenger transport by road, so a new solution was contemplated. The Berlin Ringbahn was opened on 1870s, followed by the true
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 ...
which goes from Schlesischen Bahnhof to Charlottenburg. The rapid growth of the city and suburban traffic grew immensely. In the following years, other sections to Bernau and Königs Wusterhausen were provided with a second pair of track. With individual sections dating from the 1870s, the S-Bahn was formed by and by as the network of suburban commuter railways running into Berlin, then interconnected by the circular railway connecting the various terminal railway stations, and in 1882 enhanced by the east–west cross-city line (called the "Stadtbahn", "city railway"). The forming of a distinct identity for this network began with the establishment of a special tariff for the area which was then called the "Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahnen", and which differed from the normal railway tariff. While the regular railway tariff was based on multiplying the distance covered with a fixed price per kilometer, the special tariff for this Berlin tariff zone was based on a graduated tariff based on the number of stations touched during the travel.


Electrification

The core of this network, that is the cross-city ("Stadtbahn") East-West line and the circular ''Ringbahn'', and several suburban branches were converted from steam operation to a
third-rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
electric railway in the latter half of the 1920s. The
Wannsee railway The Wannsee Railway (german: Wannseebahn) is a suburban railway in Berlin running from Potsdamer Platz via the Ring line station of Schöneberg to Wannsee station on Großer Wannsee, a lake after which it is named. Today it is a section of the Be ...
, the suburban line with the highest number of passengers, was electrified in 1932/33. A number of suburban trains remained under steam, even after the
Second World War 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 opposin ...
. ;Timeline of electrifications


S-Bahn in Adolf Hitler's time (1933 - 1945)

After building the east–west cross-city line connecting western suburban lines, which until then terminated at ''Charlottenburg'' station with eastern suburban lines which terminated at ''Frankfurter Bahnhof'' (later ''Schlesischer Bahnhof''), the logical next step was a north–south cross-city line connecting the northern suburban lines terminating at ''Stettiner Bahnhof'' with the southern suburban lines terminating at the substations of the
Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof The Potsdamer Bahnhof is a former railway terminus in Berlin, Germany. It was the first railway station in Berlin, opening in 1838. It was located at Potsdamer Platz, about 1 km south of the Brandenburg Gate, and kick-started the transfo ...
. The first ideas for this project emerged only 10 years after the completion of the east–west cross-city line, with several concrete proposals resulting from a 1909 competition held by the Berlin city administration. Another concrete proposal, already very close to the final realisation, was put forth in 1926 by the Breslau university professor Jenicke. The decision to build was taken in 1933, as part of the public works programme undertaken by the new Nazi government to reduce unemployment. The projects do include: *Construction of this ''Nord-Süd-S-Bahn'' (North-South S-Bahn), as it was called, began in 1934, with a
tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
from
Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof The Anhalter Bahnhof is a former railway terminus in Berlin, Germany, approximately southeast of Potsdamer Platz. Once one of Berlin's most important railway stations, it was severely damaged in World War II, and finally closed for traffic in 19 ...
to Berlin Stettiner Bahnhof (today 'Nordbahnhof') as its core section. A first phase, from the north to
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 re ...
was opened just in time for the
1936 Berlin Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...
; the southern section, via
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 corne ...
, opened the month after the
Second World War 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 opposin ...
began, in October 1939. *Construction of the ''Ost-West S-Bahn'', which is supposed to go from
Anhalter Bahnhof The Anhalter Bahnhof is a former railway terminus in Berlin, Germany, approximately southeast of Potsdamer Platz. Once one of Berlin's most important railway stations, it was severely damaged in World War II, and finally closed for traffic in 19 ...
to Görlitzer Bahnhof via Oranienplatz, and to join Görlitzer Bahn. *Extension of the suburban lines to Rangsdorf, Lichterfelde, and Reichssportfield.


During and after World War II

Many sections of the S-Bahn were closed during the war owing to enemy action. The Nord-Süd-Bahn tunnel was flooded on 2 May 1945 by retreating SS troops during the final
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– ...
. The exact number of casualties is not known, but up to 200 people are presumed to have perished, since the tunnel was used as a public shelter and also served to house military wounded in trains on underground sidings. Service through the tunnel commenced again in 1947. After hostilities ceased in 1945, Berlin was given special status as a "Four-Sector City," surrounded by the
Soviet Occupation Zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...
, which later became the
German Democratic Republic 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 **Ger ...
(GDR). The Allies had decided that S-Bahn service in the western sectors of Berlin should continue to be provided by the
Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
(DR), which was by now the provider of railway services in East Germany. (Rail services in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
proper were provided by the new
Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...
.) During the war, Berlin S-Bahn cars were overhauled at
Luben Lubin (; german: Lüben, szl, Lubin) is a city in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Lubin County, and also of the rural district called Gmina Lubin, although it is not part of the territory of ...
to the east of Berlin. Since that town, now known as Lubin, was ceded to
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
under the terms of the
Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...
in 1945, 84 cars currently in the works were thus lost by Berlin. Further cars were sent east as
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 ...
, and eventually at least 287 cars were sent to the
Soviet Union 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 national ...
where they were converted for use in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, and
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
. Additionally at least 80 two-car sets were retained in Poland, where they were used on suburban services in the
Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
-
Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...
region until 1976. Some of the latter cars were then converted for use in
overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...
maintenance trains, and some still exist in that role. One set is preserved in its Gdańsk-Gdynia condition at a museum at
Kościerzyna Kościerzyna ( Kashubian and Pomeranian: ''Kòscérzëna''; formerly german: Berent, ) is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with some 24,000 inhabitants. It has been the capital of Kościerzyna County in Pomerania ...
near Gdynia.


New stretches

The first new railway line will be recorded in March 1947 after the war; yet while the car hastily repaired, dismantled tracks and have been rebuilt, was already on the 7th. From
Mahlsdorf Mahlsdorf () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Hellersdorf. History The locality was mentioned for the first time in a document of 1345, na ...
it was a station further into the
Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, 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 ar ...
and
Hoppegarten Hoppegarten is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany. History The current municipality was created in 2003 when the former municipalities of Hönow and Münchehofe were united with Dahlwitz-Hoppegarten. The o ...
. Approximately one and a half years later,
Strausberg Strausberg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located 30 km east of Berlin. With a population of about 27,000 it is the largest town in the district of Märkisch-Oderland. History Strausberg was founded ''circa'' 1240, and in 1333 its firs ...
also connected to the grid. The construction proceeded quickly as preparations had been already made for this purpose. After the end of the war, most of the depots in West Berlin were planned. There will be new stretches such as Jungfernheide – Spandau – Staaken/Falkensee, Lichterfelde Süd – Teltow, and also Grünau – Königs-Wusterhausen. The steam-powered suburban traffic was mostly withdrawn on the routes concerned until the new endpoint of the S-Bahn. Before the construction of the Berlin Wall, 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 ...
continued to expand regularly:


Cold War

As relations between East and West began to sour with the coming of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the Berlin S-Bahn soon became a victim of the hostilities. Although services continued operating through all occupation sectors, checkpoints were constructed on the borders with East Berlin and on-board "customs checks" were carried out on trains. From 1958 onward, some S-Bahn trains ran non-stop through the western sectors from stations in East Berlin to stations on outlying sections in East Germany so as to avoid the need for such controls. East German government employees were then forbidden to use the S-Bahn since it travelled through West Berlin. The western sectors of the city were physically cut off from East Germany on 13 August 1961, by what was later called 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 ...
, in a well-prepared plan to separate the two halves of the city – and at the same time, to divide the Berlin public transit network into two separate systems. Stadtbahn services were curtailed from both directions at
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 ...
station. This station was divided into two physically separated areas, one for eastern passengers and one for westerners. Although the station lay within East Berlin, western passengers could transfer between S-Bahn lines or to the U-Bahn without passing through border checks, much like passengers changing planes at an international airport. The GDR also operated an
Intershop Intershop was a chain of government-owned and operated retail stores in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) in which only hard currencies (and later Forum checks) could be used to purchase high-quality goods, usually from or asso ...
in the portion of the station with services to and from West Berlin, where persons arriving from West Berlin (again without passing through border controls) could buy luxury goods such as tobacco and alcoholic beverages at discounted prices (compared to prices in West Berlin), provided they paid in
hard currency In macroeconomics, hard currency, safe-haven currency, or strong currency is any globally traded currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's ''hard'' status might include the stability and ...
, in part because Intershop customers did not pay West German taxes on their purchases. The West Berlin authorities were aware of this situation but did not impose stringent customs controls on such purchases out of political considerations. Friedrichstraße station also became the main entry point for train and U-Bahn passengers from
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 ...
into
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
. Similarly, selected sections on the Berlin S-Bahn together with the Ringbahn were cut at the borders of West and East Berlin; border fortifications such as a locked door were put up between the designated stations. These included: *Spandau West – Albrechtshof (West Berlin - East Germany), the remainder of the section (Albrechtshof - Falkensee) was cut on 9 October 1961 *Heiligensee – Hennigsdorf (West Berlin - East Germany), the remainder of the section (Hennigsdorf - Velten) was cut in 1984 *Frohnau – Hohen Neuendorf (West Berlin - East Germany), the remainder of the section (Hohen Neuendorf - Oranienburg) was extended on 19 November 1961 *Lichtenrade – Mahlow (West Berlin - East Germany), the remainder of the section (Mahlow - Rangsdorf) was cut on 25 August 1961 *Lichterfelde Süd – Teltow (West Berlin - East Germany) *Wannsee – Stahnsdorf (West Berlin - East Germany) *Wannsee – Griebnitzsee (West Berlin - East Germany), the remainder of the section (Griebnitzsee - Potsdam Stadt) was cut on 9 October 1961 *Gesundbrunnen – Schönhauser Allee (Ringbahn) *Bornholmer Straße – Pankow (the middle tracks were sealed with a fence, another compensatory track from Pankow to Schönhauser Allee was built as a result) *Sonnenallee – Treptower Park (Ringbahn) *Köllnische Heide – Baumschulenweg (Ringbahn) DR and BVG had discussed separate arrangements for the Nord-Süd-Bahn by restricting travel to West Berliners only as it passed through the East Berlin territory in the city centre, and it did not stop at underground East Berlin S-Bahn stations, which were called
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 s ...
s. Two armed guards were positioned at all ghost stations to ensure that no passengers jumped aboard trains or smashed windows to allow escape from East Berlin. Only some maintenance works on the Nord-Süd-Bahn were allowed between 1961 and 1989, and trains had to slow down to 60 km/h instead of the normal speed limit. Bornholmer Straße was also a ghost station, because the exits were only towards the border crossing.


West Berlin Situation


Berlin S-Bahn strike in 1980

Because the S-Bahn was operated by the DR, West Berliners vented their frustration at the building of the wall by boycotting the S-Bahn since its fares were seen as subsidising the
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
regime in the East. "Keinen Pfennig mehr für Ulbricht," or "not a penny more for Ulbricht," became the S-Bahn opponents' chant. Within days of the Berlin Wall being built, the BVG, with assistance from other transit companies in West Germany, began providing "solidarity-with-Berlin buses" – new bus services that parallelled the S-Bahn lines and therefore provided an alternative. After many years of declining passenger use and difficult industrial relations between the West Berlin workforce and their East Berlin employers, most of the western portion of the S-Bahn was closed down on 11 September 1980 following a strike. A 20-minute service was still provided on the Stadtbahn from Westkreuz to Friedrichstraße as well as services on the Nord-Süd-Bahn between Frohnau, Friedrichstraße, Lichtenrade, or Wannsee. The following routes were also cut after the strike on 22 September 1980: *Gesundbrunnen – Jungfernheide – Westkreuz – Schöneberg – Sonnenallee / Köllnische Heide (reopening in 1993 to 2002) *Westkreuz – Olympiastadion – Spandau (reopening in 1999) *Spandau – Staaken *Jungfernheide – Gartenfeld (Siemensbahn) *Jungfernheide – Spandau *Zehlendorf – Düppel The S1 section from Wannsee to Anhalter Bahnhof was therefore reopened in 1984. The only sections that were left opened after the strike do include: *Frohnau – Gesundbrunnen – Friedrichstraße – Anhalter Bf – Lichtenrade (N I) *Heiligensee – Gesundbrunnen – Friedrichstraße – Anhalter Bf – Lichterfelde Süd (N II) *Wannsee – Westkreuz – Charlottenburg – Zoologischer Garten – Friedrichstraße (S I) The 1980 incidents turned media and political attention toward what was left of West Berlin's S-Bahn network. The city government decided to enter negotiations with East Germany, which were finally successful.


S-Bahn in the BVB

By contrast, during the same period, services on the S-Bahn in East Berlin were increased and new lines built as housing projects expanded eastward from the city centre. With most of the U-Bahn located in West Berlin, the S-Bahn became the backbone of the East Berlin transit network. The DR has purchased
DR Class 270 The DR Class 270 was an electric multiple unit of the Berlin S-Bahn. It was designed for the Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany) and was intended to be the replacement for the ageing fleet of S-Bahn units in East Berlin. Test runs were started i ...
as a result, where it is only cut short to 166 trains and the last orders were delivered in 1991. The remaining orders were cancelled after the reunification. The extended 40 kilometres of the Berlin S-Bahn with expansion in the east are denoted as follows:


BVG took over the S-Bahn in West Berlin

On January 9, 1984, the BVG took over responsibility for the operation of S-Bahn services in West Berlin. After further closures that same day, a limited service was restored, initially comprising only two short sections with no direct interchange between them. In the years between 1984 and 1989, several sections were gradually reopened, resulting in a network of 71 km (44 mi) and three lines – with one line running on the Stadtbahn and two on the Nord-Süd-Bahn – comprising about 50% of West Berlin's original network. This development brought West Berlin's S-Bahn back into public awareness and restored its popularity. BVG had also ordered
BVG Class 480 The BVG Class 480 is an electric multiple unit for the Berlin S-Bahn. It was originally meant to replace the aging S-Bahn rail cars in West Berlin, but after the reunification of the city, the remaining orders were cancelled and replaced by new ...
for operations in the western part of the area since 1987 to replace some of the older rundown trains (Class 475, 476 and 477). *S1: Anhalter Bahnhof - Wannsee *S2: Frohnau - Lichtenrade *S3: Wannsee - Friedrichstraße BVG planned to open Berlin S-Bahn in the west, which is planned from 1984 to 1992, but was shelved before the opening of the Berlin Wall, the S-Bahn should be grown to about 117 km. *Neukölln – Köllnische Heide *Jungfernheide – Gartenfeld *Jungfernheide – Spandau *Schönholz – Heiligensee *Zehlendorf – Düppel Until 1984, all Berlin S-Bahn routes were allocated letters as a means of identifying the route of the train. These letters were occasionally followed by Roman numerals to indicate a short working or bifurcation in the service (e.g., A, BI, BII, C,) and are still used internally by the Berlin S-Bahn GmbH for timetabling and in conjunction with radio call-signs to each train unit. When the BVG took over the responsibility for the operation of S-Bahn services in West Berlin in 1984, it introduced a new unified numbering scheme for both the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn, which it also operated. Existing U-Bahn route numbers were prefixed with the letter ''U,'' while the new S-Bahn route numbers were prefixed with the letter ''S.'' This system of numbering routes was used in other West German cities and was extended to the S-Bahn service for the whole city after reunification.


Reunification

After 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 ...
came down in November 1989, the first broken links were re-established, with Friedrichstraße on 1 July 1990, as the first. The BVG and DR jointly marketed the services soon after the reunification. Administratively, the divided S-Bahn networks remained separate in this time of momentous changes, encompassing
German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
and reunification of Berlin into a single city, although the dividing line was no longer the former Berlin Wall. DR and BVG (of the whole of reunified Berlin from 1 January 1992, after absorbing BVB of East Berlin) operated individual lines end to end, both into the other party's territories. For example, S2 was all BVG even after it was extended northward and southward into Brandenburg/former East German territory. The main east–west route (Stadtbahn) was a joint operation. Individual trains were operated by either BVG or DR end-to-end on the same tracks. This arrangement ended on 1 January 1994, with the creation of
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...
due to the merger between DR and the former West Germany's
Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...
. All S-Bahn operations in Berlin were transferred to the newly formed S-Bahn Berlin GmbH as a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, and the BVG withdrew from running S-Bahn services. Technically, a number of projects followed in the steps of re-establishing broken links in order to restore the former S-Bahn network to its 1961 status after 1990, especially the Ringbahn. In December 1997 the connection between Neukölln and Treptower Park via Sonnenallee was reopened, enabling S4 trains to run 75% of the whole ring between Schönhauser Allee and Jungfernheide. On 16 June 2002, the section Gesundbrunnen – Westhafen also reopened, re-establishing the Ringbahn operations.


Service reductions

On 20 July 2009, known locally as "Black Monday," the S-Bahn service was significantly reduced owing to safety checks on the trains ordered by the German Federal Railway Authority. These checks were ordered because of an accident on 3 May 2009, involving an S-Bahn train. Maintenance for this train was delayed by 2 years, symptomatic for the strategy to cut spending in the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary. Having so many trains taken out of service for inspection left less than 30 percent of the system's
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
available for revenue service. Eight routes, including most through services on the Stadtbahn, were closed, and on other lines headways were reduced to 20 minutes and trains shortened. Some minor restorations in service were made on 3 August 2009. Owing to new inspection troubles the S-Bahn network was again reduced dramatically on 8 September 2009 when 75% of the trains were withdrawn from service for inspection and faulty brake cylinders. There were again no trains on 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 ...
between
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 ...
and
Alexanderplatz () ( en, Alexander Square) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the nort ...
and no S-Bahn trains 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 ...
. Trains on the circle lines, and , were running at 10-minute intervals. Other routes were running with extended intervals and reduced distances. In late 2009, the Berlin Senate expected that normal operations would only resume in 2013. In January 2010, DB announced that they expected the system to resume normal service in December 2010 and employed 300 new staff in their workshops. In the same month, the Berlin transport Senator Ingeborg Junge-Reyer rejected an extension of the traffic contract with the operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) which is due to expire in December 2017. By spring of 2011, some 420 train sets were in service, a considerable improvement over the situation in 2009 but still insufficient compared to the 500 needed to provide a normal full service. The S-Bahn announced it was to invest €120 million to achieve the goal of 500 train sets in service by December 2011. Rüdiger Grube, the head of the DB, announced that losses due to the S-Bahn crisis had reached €370 million at the end of 2010. He expected them to reach €700 million by the end of 2014, with no operating profits to be made before the end of the contract in December 2017. MTR Corporation, National Express Group, Berlin S-Bahn GmbH and RATP Development had tendered for their procurement process, and were soon followed by train manufacturer Stadler Rail for their operations from 2018 to 2033. The specific contracts are: Ringbahn - *S41 Südkreuz - Südkreuz (clockwise Ring) *S42 Südkreuz - Südkreuz (anticlockwise Ring) *S46 Berlin Main Station - Westend - Königs Wusterhausen *S47 Spindlersfeld – Südkreuz, and *S8 Hohen Neuendorf - Zeuthen Stadtbahn - *S3 Erkner - Ostkreuz *S5 Spandau - Strausberg-Nord *S7 Ahrensfelde - Wannsee *S75 Wartenberg - Westkreuz *S9 Berlin-Schönefeld - Pankow Nord-Süd Bahn - *S1 Potsdam - Oranienburg *S2 Blankenfelde - Bernau *S25 Teltow Stadt - Hennigsdorf *S45 Berlin-Schönefeld - Südkreuz *S85 Grünau - Waidmannslust


Infrastructure work

Starting in 2010, DB Netz is replacing mechanical train stops on the S-Bahn network with electronic
balise A balise is an electronic beacon or transponder placed between the rails of a railway as part of an automatic train protection (ATP) system. The French word ''balise'' is used to distinguish these beacons from other kinds of beacons. Balises a ...
s. The track-side installation of new ZBS train control system shall be completed in 2015 whereas there is migration phase for train operation up to 2025.


References

{{Reflist
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 com ...
Berlin S-Bahn Berlin S-Bahn