Berlin Ostbahnhof

Berlin Ostbahnhof (German for Berlin East railway station) is a main line railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the Friedrichshain quarter, now part of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, and has undergone several name changes in its history. It was known as Berlin Hauptbahnhof from 1987 to 1998, a name now applied to Berlin's new central station at the former Lehrter station. Alongside Berlin Zoologischer Garten station it was one of the city's two main stations; however, it has declined in significance since the opening of the new Hauptbahnhof on 26 May 2006, and many mainline trains have been re-routed on the North–South mainline through the new Tiergarten tunnel, bypassing Ostbahnhof.

Berlin Ostbahnhof
Bf
Station building
LocationKoppenstraße 3
10243 Berlin
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin, Berlin
Germany
Coordinates52°30′36″N 13°26′05″E
Owned byDB Netz
Operated byDB Station&Service
Line(s)
Platforms4 island platforms
1 side platform
Tracks11
Train operatorsDB Fernverkehr
DB Regio Nordost
Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn
S-Bahn Berlin
Connections
Other information
Station code1071
DS100 codeBHF,[1] BOSB[2]
Category1
Fare zone: Berlin A/5555[3]
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Opened1842
Services
Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station
ICE 12Terminus
ICE 13
towards Stuttgart
IC/EC 32
IC 56
towards Cottbus
towards Amsterdam
IC 77Terminus
towards Berlin
EC 95
DB Regio Nordost
toward Hamburg Hbf
RE
IRE
Terminus
RE 1
via Brandenburg (Havel) - Berlin - Frankfurt (Oder)
toward Dessau Hbf
RE 7
via Berlin
toward Nauen
RB 14
via Berlin
Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn
toward Wismar
RE 2
via Berlin
selected trains only
toward Cottbus Hbf
Berlin S-Bahn
toward Spandau
toward Erkner
toward Westkreuz
toward Potsdam Hbf
toward Ahrensfelde
Terminus
toward Wartenberg
toward Spandau
Location
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Location within Berlin
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Location within Germany
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Location within Europe

History

Early history

The station opened on 23 October 1842 as Frankfurter Bahnhof, the terminus of an 81 km (50 mi) railway line to Frankfurt (Oder) via Fürstenwalde (Spree). In 1845 the previously independent Berlin–Frankfurt railway merged into the Niederschlesisch-Märkische-Eisenbahngesellschaft (Lower Silesian-Markish Railway Company, NME), aiming at the extension of the line from Frankfurt to Breslau. After the NME lines were taken over by the Prussian state in 1852, the station was renamed Schlesischer Bahnhof (Silesian Station).

In 1867 the Old Ostbahnhof (also called Küstriner Bahnhof), the terminus of the Prussian Eastern Railway line was opened, located slightly north of the present Ostbahnhof station. In 1882 the Old Ostbahnhof was again abandoned and Schlesischer Bahnhof was rebuilt on the present site when construction began on the Berlin Stadtbahn, an elevated railway through the Berlin city center built to link the city's major stations. The Stadtbahn was completed in 1886; two of the four tracks later came to form one of the main routes of the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway. The Ostbahnhof has never had a link to the Berlin U-Bahn subway, nor is one planned.

As the terminus of both the Silesian and the Eastern Railway line, Schlesischer Bahnhof quickly developed to Berlin's "Gate to the East". Until World War I, trains ran from the German capital via Königsberg to Saint Petersburg (Nord Express) and to Moscow as well as to Vienna, Budapest, and Constantinople via Breslau and Kattowitz. During the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire, numerous Jewish refugees arrived here to travel on to the emigration harbors in Hamburg and Bremerhaven.

World War II and GDR

The Ostbanhof after its reconstruction following WWII (1954)

The station was severely damaged by strategic bombing in World War II and had to be completely rebuilt by the East German railway, the Deutsche Reichsbahn. In 1950 it was renamed Berlin Ostbahnhof, as upon the implementation of the Oder–Neisse line, the former Silesia province was now largely a part of Poland, and its German population expelled. Memories of the German history of Silesia were repressed by the German Democratic Republic. Following the division of Germany, the station was, together with Berlin-Lichtenberg, one of two major railway stations in East Berlin. The wall ran only 200 metres (660 ft) away from the station; today that part is the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining fragment of the Berlin Wall. Express trains ran from Ostbahnhof to Leipzig, Halle, and Dresden. The station was again served by international trains like the Vindobona to Vienna.

In 1987 the postwar building was demolished and the station began to be rebuilt as East Berlin's main station, grandly renamed Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station). The plan called for a hotel and a large reception area for arriving Soviet bloc dignitaries. However, only part of the work was complete by the time of German reunification in 1990. A partially built staircase to the underground car park from this period in front of the station remains (in 2006) unfinished and fenced off. A partly constructed hotel was demolished in the early 1990s.

Looking west from a mainline platform, facing the two S-bahn platforms

Recent years

The name Hauptbahnhof remained long after the division of Berlin ended, until 1998, when the station was re-renamed Berlin Ostbahnhof, restoring the 1950-1987 name. One year later, work began to demolish the station and rebuild it once again, which was completed in 2002. Little remains of the 1980s structure except for an administrative block, some façade elements, and parts of the platform structure.

Characteristics

The station has 11 tracks and 9 platforms. 5 platforms are used for main line and 4 for S-Bahn. 2 tracks are through tracks.

Train services

Awaiting eastbound departures in 1973.
The station has been known by several names over its 160-year history

The station is served by the following service(s):[4]

Long distance

Linre Route Interval
ICE 12 Berlin Ostbahnhof Braunschweig Göttingen Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Fulda – Frankfurt – Mannheim Freiburg Basel (– Bern Interlaken Ost) Every 2 hours
ICE 13 Berlin Ostbahnhof Braunschweig – Göttingen – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Fulda Frankfurt South Frankfurt Airport Every 2 hours
IC 32 Berlin Ostbahnhof Wolfsburg – Hannover – Münster Recklinghausen Essen Duisburg Krefeld Mönchengladbach Aachen One train pair Mon–Fri
IC 56 Norddeich Mole Emden Oldenburg Bremen – Hannover Magdeburg Potsdam Berlin Ostbahnhof Cottbus One train pair
IC 77 Berlin Ostbahnhof Stendal Wolfsburg – Hannover Osnabrück Amsterdam Every 2 hours
EC 95 Berlin Ostbahnhof Frankfurt Poznań Warsaw Four train pairs daily
EN Strizh
Berlin Ostbahnhof Frankfurt – Poznań – Warsaw Terespol Brest Minsk Moscow
3 train pairs/week

Regional services

  • Regional services IRE 1 Hamburg – Uelzen – Stendal – Berlin
  • Regional services RE 1 Magdeburg – Brandenburg – Potsdam – Berlin – Erkner – Fürstenwalde – Frankfurt (Oder) (– Cottbus)
  • Regional services RE 2 Wismar – Schwerin – Wittenberge – Nauen – Berlin – Königs Wusterhausen – Lübben – Cottbus
  • Regional services RE 7 Dessau – Bad Belzig – Michendorf – Berlin – Berlin-Schönefeld Airport – Wünsdorf-Waldstadt
  • Local services RB 14 Nauen – Falkensee – Berlin – Berlin-Schönefeld Airport
  • Berlin S-Bahn services Spandau - Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Karlshorst – Köpenick – Erkner
  • Berlin S-Bahn services Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg – Strausberg Nord
  • Berlin S-Bahn services Potsdam – Wannsee – Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg – Ahrensfelde
  • Berlin S-Bahn services Spandau - Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof - Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Schöneweide – Schönefeld Airport

The Ostbahnhof was featured in the 2004 movie The Bourne Supremacy. In the film, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is seen parking his car here, entering the station and leaving a bag in a locker, and tracking down Pamela Landy (Joan Allen).

See also

References

  1. Code for DB Main line
  2. Code for S-Bahn
  3. "Der VBB-Tarif: Aufteilung des Verbundgebietes in Tarifwaben und Tarifbereiche" (PDF). Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam. Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  4. Timetables for Berlin Ostbahnhof (in German)
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