Berlin-Köpenick station is a station of the
Berlin S-Bahn
The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system that services the reigon in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under the name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff are ...
in the Berlin district of
Treptow-Köpenick
Treptow-Köpenick () is the ninth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick.
The borough was formerly part of East Berlin. Overview
Among ...
. It is a two-track through station located at Bahnhofstrasse and Elcknerplatz on the
Berlin-Frankfurt (Oder) railway ("Lower Silesian–Markish Railway").
History
The station was opened on 23 October 1842 with the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) railway. The station was then only a few kilometres from the then independent town of Köpenick. A road was built between the town and the station, which is now called ''Bahnhofstrasse'' (station street).
Between 1899 and 1902, the station facilities were completely rebuilt for the increasing traffic. A pair of suburban tracks was laid to the north of the mainline tracks. The whole complex was built on an embankment to pass over the streets. A new entrance building was built for the ''Königlichen Eisenbahn-Direktion'' (
railway division of) Berlin to a design by the architects Charles Cornelius and Waldemar Suadicani. The station has since possessed an island platform of typical Berlin design, a three-track reversing facility for suburban trains located to the east and a freight loading point on the long-distance tracks.
A
horse tramway
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse.
Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...
connected the station with the centre of Köpenick from 1883 and was converted to electric operation in 1903.
On 11 June 1928, a 750 volt
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 track (r ...
, installed at the side of the track, was brought into operation on the suburban tracks. Since initially insufficient trains were available for electrical operations, mixed diesel and electrical operations continued until 20 March 1929. The electrification involved extensive work, including the adaptation of the signalling and the raising of the heights of platforms from 760 to 960 millimetres. A sub-station was built west of the station. This electric suburban service has been branded as the S-Bahn since 1 December 1930.
1930s to the post-war period
The
Germania plan of the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
envisaged the upgrading of the line to Köpenick to six tracks, as a long-distance S-Bahn service (similar to the modern
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 a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...
trains) would run between Köpenick and
Ostkreuz
Berlin Ostkreuz station () (literally "Berlin East Cross") is a station on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway and the busiest interchange station in Berlin. It is in the former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain, now part of the borough of Fr ...
and cover the nearly ten kilometre-long route without stopping. In addition, a direct connection for long-distance trains would have been provided because of the outbreak of the Second World War.
After the end of the war some tracks were dismantled by the
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
military administration 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. War reparations can take the form of hard currency, precious metals, natural resources, in ...
. In the Berlin area this mostly involved the dismantling of one long-distance and one S-Bahn track. However, since the Berlin–Wrocław railway represented the main railway towards the Soviet Union, both S-Bahn tracks were dismantled rather than a long-distance track. Three years later, however, a single S-Bahn track was restored for electrical operations to Köpenick in January 1948 and as far as Erkner in November 1948. The second track was restored through Köpenick in 1957.
Present and future

The city development plan traffic for Berlin includes a plan for the building of a
Regionalbahn
The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...
platform in Köpenick.
This would replace the existing
Regionalbahn station of Karlshorst. The latter was established after the building of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
as a temporary long-distance station. The proposal is supported by several parties, including the nearby Forum Köpenick shopping centre. Originally Deutsche Bahn planned to carry out this work by 2007. Following financial difficulties and the resulting delay to the building of the Köpenick Regionalbahn station, the plans were resumed in 2011 after the Berlin Secretary of State, Maria Krautzberger had asked for a parliamentary inquiry into the prospects for the assumption of the costs by the state of Berlin. It was anticipated that the station would now be completed by 2015 and would still have two S-Bahn and two Regionalbahn platforms. One metre high noise barriers are planned to protect the residents of increased noise. The entrance from Elcknerplatz would be given a glass facade. In the current urban development program, however, funding is sought from the federal government, which opposed funding it.
In response to a parliamentary question to the Berlin Transport Secretary, Christian Gaebler replied in April 2012 that the State of Berlin would fund the amount of €5 million and the first stage was included in the 2012/13 budget, but this has not yet been appropriated. Construction would start in 2017 with commissioning planned for 2019.
In the spring of 2013, modern, dynamic destination displays were installed in the station.
After funding was secured under the infrastructure project i2030 of the states Berlin and Brandenburg and planning was finished in 2022, construction at Berlin-Köpenick Station started in March 2023 and is set to continue until 2027.
Passenger services
The station is served by Berlin S-Bahn
line S3 between Erkner and
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...
. Services operate at 10-minute intervals between
Ostbahnhof and
Friedrichshagen
Friedrichshagen () is a German boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Treptow-Köpenick. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Köpenick.
History
The colony of ''Friedrichsg ...
.
Tram lines 62, 63 and 68 and several bus routes operated by
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), trams in Berlin, tram, bus transport in Berlin, bus, replacement services (EV) and fe ...
stop at the station.
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopenick
Berlin S-Bahn stations
Railway stations in Treptow-Köpenick
Railway stations in Germany opened in 1842
1842 establishments in Prussia