The new Berlin Hauptbahnhof/ Central Station

[Eisenbahn]

I was in Berlin a couple of weeks ago and took some photos of the new central station.  Previously both east and west Berlin had their own principal stations.

 

The new Berlin Hauptbahnhof handles a lot of rail traffic and seems to give good people flows at peak hour. There are a lot of  shops on two levels which seem well patronised.

Tracks are  multilevel.

 

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[Martijn Meerts]

They should've invested in a washing installation first ;)

[bikkuri bahn]

Like that U bahn train and station, obviously predates the station above considerably.

[Davo Dentetsu]

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It's like it's just fresh out of a smoky windtunnel. :D

[to2leo]

I was in Berlin Hbf last month, the train station, IMHO, is the best looking DB station I have ever seen.  Oh yeah, food and stuff cost a little more than if you walk a block or two away from the station.

 

The trains that I rode are a little dirty and I am surprise at the smelliness of the train washrooms.  

 

BUT DB is still the better run railway company in Europe with mostly on-time trains, very competent ticket agent and lower train tickets.

[Eisenbahn]

1. I took the photo of the yellow u-bahn train at Heidelberger Platz station on the Berlin loop.  It was built at the time of the Kaiser. The mural on the wall is of the Castle on the hill overlooking Heidelberg. You can just read parts of the text under the mural (photo below) if you enlarge the photo.  "Heidelberger Schloss....."

Note the video screens for the driver.

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2. There is ongoing investment in rail in Berlin.  A new underground line is under construction and one of the busy interchange stations , Ostkreuz(East cross) is under a major rebuild.

 

3.I didnt see any barrier gates at Berlin stations. You just buy tickets from a machine and then validate them in another device on the platform. I was told that Compliance is enforced by plain clothes ticket inspectors who show id when doing random checks. All in all everything works well. I also used my ticket on the bus network.

 

4. www.bahn.com is an easy website to use (many languages) when planning trips or doing research.

 

5.There are two new hotels at the Berlin Hbf I have stayed at. Meininger had a self service washing machine when I was there in 2010 and Motel-One didnt when I was there this year. Motel-One was a bit more upmarket and cheaper.

[cteno4]

Very nice. Saw the tipping of the connecting concourse over the tracks on one of the construction shows. They could not shut the tracks down for very long so they made the connecting concourse vertically and then lowered it in place between the two towers.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[westfalen]

I was there in 2008, it is indeed a very impressive station. While waiting for a train to Cotbus another train arrived with through sleepers from Moscow for something different to the usual DB stuff. While DB are usually punctual there were a few times during my trip that my day's plans were thrown astray by late or cancelled trains. To their credit although their trains could do with more frequent trips through the wash DB trains weren't as covered in graffiti like French or Spanish ones seemed to be.

[Eisenbahn]

Hi cteno4,

 

I'll look out for that particular construction programme about the Berlin Hbf. One of the new digital channels here in Australia  (7mate) has those sort of shows. A couple of years ago I saw one about the construction of the Seoul-Busan high speed line and the development of the TGV  HST variants they have in South Korea. It had actual engineers explaining things and wasnt just some tourist promo.

 

 

Hi westfalen,

 

Ok about the Moscow train.  When I was on an S-Bahn coming out of the station we passed the Berlin-Warsaw Express which was just coming out of the station also. I didnt get a chance to take a photo. It had a Polish flag painted on the loco and the PKP isignia  but it looked like a German loco. I have since looked at www.bahn.com and it seems there are quite a few trains that cross the Polish border each day. A photo opportunity for a future visit.  Best wishes on your jaunt to Texas. There should be a lot of photo opportunities there. Those double stacked containers on multi header diesel freight trains moving the China trade east , always impressed me. 

[westfalen]

 

3.I didnt see any barrier gates at Berlin stations. You just buy tickets from a machine and then validate them in another device on the platform. I was told that Compliance is enforced by plain clothes ticket inspectors who show id when doing random checks. All in all everything works well. I also used my ticket on the bus network.

 

I caught these two in 2008, I spotted them even before they started checking passenger's tickets because the looked and dressed exactly the same as undercover ticket inspectors/police on the trains in Brisbane.

[westfalen]

The train with the through cars from Moscow.

[cteno4]

Hi cteno4,

 

I'll look out for that particular construction programme about the Berlin Hbf. One of the new digital channels here in Australia  (7mate) has those sort of shows. A couple of years ago I saw one about the construction of the Seoul-Busan high speed line and the development of the TGV  HST variants they have in South Korea. It had actual engineers explaining things and wasnt just some tourist promo.

 

Eisenbahn,

 

it may have been build it bigger on science/discovery channel. unfortunately if it was its a whiny little host who thinks he is cooler than the building hes getting to show. oh for the days the producers put the effort and money into the content of the show vs host and special effects. these things are sooo cool on their own, these little twirp producers just dont get it that humans are intrinsically curious and for every person they may think they get with a host they turn off many more and the ones they pick up via the host they could probably get with good content alone if they bothered to do that! sorry for the rant been in this biz off and on for 30 years and watched it slowly slide and see the intellect of those making the decisions now...

 

anyhow the show focused on the hinged lowering of the concourse part of the construction. also i think on the final glass over of the platforms while trains were running thru. it was wild way to build it. sort of looked like a huge draw bridge closing! enormous strand jacks to do it.

 

jeff

[Eisenbahn]

Hi Wesfalen

1. It's funny about "undercover" inspectors or police. You can often spot them a mile away. The ones in your photos (a) operate in pairs (b) identical blue rucksacks © similar age & build (d) similar dress. They might as well have a flashing blue light. Good photos.  I see from the display board on the train it was a Regional Bahn for Koeln. They are quite good for sightseeing. The high seatbacks make a change from here in Brisbane.

2. The blue of the Russian train makes a change from the Red of DeutscheBahn.  There must be a bogie change  somewhere along the way. Poland operates on standard gauge on that route so I suppose it is on the PolishRussian border. I just had a look at the timetable for the night train from Moscow on www.bahn.com but it only had times within Russia and not Poland.

 

Hi cteno4

I know what you mean when programmes are dumbed down that would otherwise be quite interesting. I just switch them off. 

[Eisenbahn]

Hi cteno4,

 

That TV programme you mentioned about the construction of the New Berlin Station is showing on TV here (Australia) tonight on free-to-air Digital channel 'ONE' 7:30pm (Eastern Standard Time Wednesday). Thanks for mentioning it.

 

cheers....Eisenbahn