Anhalt Suburban Line

Anhalt suburban line
Berlin–Teltow Stadt
Route number: 200.25
Line number: 6036
Line length: 14.9
Track gauge: 1435
Voltage: 750 V DC
Legend
 from Potsdamer Platz
0.0 Anhalter Bahnhof
to Wannsee
Anhalter freight yard
from Berlin Hauptbahnhof
1.7 Yorckstraße
3.6 Südkreuz Ringbahn
Tempelhof marshalling yard
4.6 Priesterweg
5.0 to Zossen
6.6 Südende
6.9 Teltow Canal
7.9 Lankwitz
9.2 Lichterfelde Ost
(10.7) Osdorfer Straße
(11.6) Lichterfelde Süd
Berlin–Brandenburg state border
to Leipzig/Halle
Teltow Stadt, terminus of
End of line
Machnow Süd planned
Stahnsdorf Süd planned
4.2 Stahnsdorf
Teltow Canal
2.3 Dreilinden
Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg railway
old A 115
Brandenburg–Berlin state border
from Potsdam Hauptbahnhof
Wannsee, terminus of
to Zehlendorf and to Charlottenburg

The Anhalt suburban line (German: Anhalter Vorortbahn) is a suburban railway in Berlin and Brandenburg. It runs parallel with the Anhalt Railway line (city railway) to Teltow Stadt. It is used by Berlin S-Bahn line S25.

Contents

History

Separation of long-distance and suburban lines

On 1 December 1901, the tracks of the Anhalt line were separated into long-distance and suburban tracks. Suburban trains on the line no longer used the Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof (Anhalt station), but instead operated to the Ring line and suburban stations attached to Potsdamer station. In 1903 electric operations was trialed for suburban trains between Potsdamer station and Lichterfelde Ost using a 550 volts DC system. In 1929 the line was converted to the system adopted for the Berlin S-Bahn in 1924. In the 1930s there were plans for further construction of the line to Ludwigsfelde, but they could not be carried out because of World War II. The trackbed and the shells of the stations and platforms were completed for the upgrading of the line to four tracks by 1939.

S-Bahn services operated as follows on the Anhalt suburban line after the completion of the North-South tunnel:

A freight yard was built in 1901 at Teltow station. From 1951 until the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961 this was used as an S-Bahn stop. It was primarily used to park S-Bahn trains at night outside West Berlin.

Operation and closure after 1980

After a strike by West Berlin employees of the East German Railways in September 1980 the Anhalt suburban line continued operating, unlike some other lines. On 8 January 1984 it was closed down after its takeover by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (Berlin Transportation Company), because the West Berlin Senate (government) did not consider the operation of the line as economically viable. As a result, plans were discussed for S-Bahn operations on the Anhalt line to be partly replaced by a guided bus system developed by Daimler-Benz. The Senate hoped to benefit from substantial Federal funding for the project. This project would have required the complete replacement of the railway by a concrete busway. Entrance and exit ramps would also have been necessary. Its construction required the total demolition of the railway infrastructure on the Anhalt line. The plan proved to be politically and technically unfeasible.

Reopening of Anhalt S-Bahn services after the fall of the Berlin Wall:

The new S-Bahn line to Teltow Stadt

The S-Bahn line branches off the Anhalt track at the border of Berlin. The Anhalt line station at Teltow only serves regional services. A route was reserved for the extension of the S-Bahn to central Teltow in the 1930s. This line was finally opened in February 2005.[1]

Plans have existed since the 1930s to connect the (now disused) Stahnsdorf Cemetery railway with the Anhalt S-Bahn line via Teltow. Building of earthworks for the line started during World War II. No work has been carried out on this plan since but the route is still reserved.

Notes

  1. ^ "Neue S-Bahn-Verbindung zwischen Berlin und Teltow eröffnet (New rail link opened between Berlin and Teltow)" (in German) (Press release). Berlin S-Bahn. 24 February 2005. http://www.s-bahn-berlin.de/presse/presse_anzeige.php?ID=267. Retrieved 30 May 2010. 

References