Berlin Südkreuz station () is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

capital

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The station was originally opened in 1898 and is an

interchange station An interchange station or a transfer station is a train station for more than one railway route in a public transport system that allows passengers to change from one route to another, often without having to leave a station or pay an additional ...

. The

Berlin Ringbahn The Ringbahn (German for circle railway) is a long circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the Berlin S-Bahn network. Its course is made up of a pair of tracks used by S-Bahn trains and another parallel pair of tracks used by various ...

line 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 ...

metro railway is situated on the upper level and connects to the east and west, whilst the Anhalter Bahn and Dresdner Bahn intercity railway routes reach the station on the lower, north-south level. The station was extensively rebuilt between the late 1990s and 2006, and was renamed Berlin Südkreuz on 28 May 2006.

History

The station's original name (Berlin Papestraße) originates from the nearby ''General-Pape-Straße'', which is named after the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n general Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape. The Ringbahn platform opened as an

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

on 1 December 1901. The original Papestrasse station building, constructed from 1898 to 1901 was demolished, although a corner of the building, incorporating a clock tower, has been preserved as part of the new station.

Becoming Südkreuz

The station played a vital part in

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

's new concept for long-distance services in Berlin; it was deemed necessary to have a long-distance station in southern Berlin for the new north-south axis, so it was decided to rebuild Papestraße and rename the station to Südkreuz, giving the station a more intuitive name like the

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 ...

(East Cross) and Westkreuz (West Cross) stations on the

Berlin Stadtbahn The Berlin Stadtbahn is the historic east-west elevated railway of Berlin. It runs from Berlin Ostbahnhof station, Ostbahnhof in the east to Charlottenburg in the City West, west, connecting several of the most major sights of the German capi ...

. Construction, however, was severely delayed due to unexpected difficulties and

NIMBY NIMBY (, or nimby), an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed real estate development and infrastructure developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land us ...

complaints of residents living near the long-disused north-south lines. Instead of opening in 2000 as scheduled, the station only opened on 28 May 2006, together with the new

Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...

(Berlin Main Station) in the center of Berlin. It is now used as a terminal station for

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

trains to

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (abbrev. ''Hamburg Hbf''), or Hamburg Central Railway Station in English, is the main railway station of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Opened in 1906 to replace four separate terminal stations, today Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is ...

, and sees a number of north-south services heading to and from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof or Halle Hauptbahnhof plus

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

services to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia via

Dresden Hauptbahnhof Dresden Hauptbahnhof ("main station", abbreviated Dresden Hbf) is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the ''Böhmischen Bahnhof'' ("Bohemian station") of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway ('' ...

. After upgrades on the

Berlin Dresden railway Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, the airport express (FEX) is to run via Südkreuz.

Facial recognition trial

During 2017 Germany's Ministry of the Interior announced a pilot project to employ facial recognition technology at Berlin Südkreuz station. The six-month trial will overlay

facial recognition software A facial recognition system is a technology potentially capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verification ser ...

over the station's existing video surveillance system and will track a database of volunteers. The project is being jointly undertaken by the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and

. Announcing the pilot, the ministry said the technology would be able to detect people in need of help, as well as suspicious behaviour, and report it automatically.

Train services

The station is served by the following service(s):Timetables for Berlin Südkreuz station

Long distance

Regional

S-Bahn

*Berlin S-Bahn services ''Bernau - Karow - Pankow - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Südkreuz - Blankenfelde'' *Berlin S-Bahn services ''Hennigsdorf - Tegel - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Südkreuz - Lichterfelde - Teltow'' *Berlin S-Bahn services ''Blankenburg - Pankow - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Südkreuz - Lichterfelde - Teltow'' *Berlin S-Bahn services (Ring Clockwise) ''Südkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Westkreuz - Westend - Jungfernheide - Gesundbrunnen - Ostkreuz - Treptower Park - Hermannstraße - Südkreuz'' *Berlin S-Bahn services (Ring Anti-clockwise) ''Südkreuz - Hermannstraße - Treptower Park - Ostkreuz - Gesundbrunnen - Jungfernheide - Westend - Westkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Südkreuz'' *Berlin S-Bahn services ''Südkreuz - Neukölln - Schöneweide - Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (T1-T2)'' *Berlin S-Bahn services ''Westend - Westkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Südkreuz - Neukölln - Schöneweide - Grünau - Königs Wusterhausen''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sudkreuz Buildings and structures in Tempelhof-Schöneberg Railway stations in Berlin Berlin S-Bahn stations Railway stations in Germany opened in 1898