Anhalt Suburban Line

Anhalt suburban line
Overview
Native name Anhalter Vorortbahn
Locale Berlin, Brandenburg
Termini Berlin
Lichterfelde Süd
Line number 6036
Technical
Line length 14.9 km (9.3 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification 750 V third rail
Route number 200.25
Route map

Legend
 Operating points and lines[1] 
0,00 Berlin Potsdamer Ringbahnhof
from Berlin Hauptbahnhof
from Anhalter Bahnhof
Südringspitzkehre
1.43 Yorckstraße / from Anhalter Bahnhof
3.45 SüdkreuzRingbahn
Tempelhof marshalling yard
5.19 Priesterweg
to Zossen
6.57 Südende
Teltow Canal
7.93 Lankwitz
9.32 Lichterfelde Ost
10.7 Osdorfer Straße
11.67 Lichterfelde Süd
Berlin–Brandenburg state border
to Teltow Stadt
14.3 Teltow
18.6 Großbeeren
to Berlin outer ring
from Berlin outer ring
Berlin outer ring
 21.1 Birkengrund Nord
 22,6 Birkengrund Süd
 24.5 Ludwigsfelde
 to Halle

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 Lichterfelde Süd. It is used by Berlin S-Bahn line S25.

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:

Notes

  1. ↑ Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.

References