Ostkreuz

Ostkreuz
Ostkreuz is almost unchanged since the 1920s. This view is looking eastward along Platform D, with Platform F visible above the train
Operations
Category 3 [1]
Type Interchange station
Platforms in use
DS100 code BOK
Station code 4809
Construction and location
Opened 7 February 1882
Location Friedrichshain
State Berlin
Country Germany
Home page www.bahnhof.de
Route information
List of railway stations in the Berlin area

Berlin Ostkreuz (German for "East Cross") is a station on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway, and one of the busiest in Germany. The station is in the former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain, now part of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

Contents

Overview

The station was opened with the Stadtbahn in 1882 under the name Stralau-Rummelsburg. It was given its present name in 1933. Along with Westkreuz it has long served as the interchange point between the Ringbahn that circumnavigates central Berlin and the Stadtbahn that passes east-west through it. During the division of Berlin, when links between East and West Berlin public transit were severed, Ostkreuz served as the main hub of the East Berlin S-Bahn network.

Ostkreuz is notable for its appearance: its buildings and track layout have remained essentially unchanged since the 1920s, and its dilapidated state has earned it the nickname Rostkreuz ("Rust Cross"). A modernization of the station was proposed as early as 1937, and again during East German rule. Since German reunification, plans have been made to modernize Ostkreuz from its present, partly dilapidated state, and turn it into a modern station with platforms for regional rail trains and stops for buses and the tramway, both of which pass nearby but presently do not stop directly at the station. However, so far none of these have been implemented, due to the high cost involved, as well as the need to minimize disruption to the station's 100,000 daily passengers, and the fact that the station is under historic preservation and parts of it, such as the brick Ringbahn viaduct and the western pedestrian bridge, will need to be retained. The current planning calls for a start date of mid-2007 for the renovation, although preliminary work began early in the year with the removal of several trees and some temporary structures that had been located at the site.

Operations

The station's six platforms are:

Due to the station's archaic layout, it (along with nearby Warschauer Straße station, currently being rebuilt) retains a platform-allocation system in which trains stop at its east-west Stadtbahn platforms (D and E) according to their line number, not direction. For example, the next train to Berlin Ostbahnhof could leave from either D, E, or the tangential platform A, and moving from one of these platforms to another requires navigating steps and a pedestrian walkway. It is a common sight to see passengers waiting on the walkway until they see where the next westbound train will arrive.

The renovation plans call for the tangential platforms to be eliminated altogether, so that trains between Treptower Park and Warschauer Straße will not stop in either direction. The northern tangential line will not be restored.

The station code is BOK, with the subcodes BOK F (Ringbahn platform), BOK D (Platform D, Stadtbahn), BOK E (Platform E, toward Erkner).

Notes

Sources

External links

Preceding station   Berlin S-Bahn   Following station
toward Spandau
S3
toward Erkner
One-way operation
S41
toward Ringbahn (clockwise)
One-way operation
S42
toward Ringbahn (counter-clockwise)
toward Westkreuz
S5
S7
toward Spandau
S75
toward Wartenberg
S8
toward Zeuthen
S85
toward Grünau
(move not since winter 2009)
S9