U4 (Berlin U-Bahn)
![]() | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2019) |
![]() | show This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (December 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. |
U4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Rapid transit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System | Berlin U-Bahn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1 December 1910 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
12 December 2004 | U4 designation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 2.86 km (1.78 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of tracks |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification | 750 V DC third rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The U4 is a line of the Berlin U-Bahn in Germany, the shortest in Berlin's U-Bahn system with a length of 2.86 kilometres (1.78 mi). It serves five stations, with only the two termini being step-free.
In 1903, Schöneberg, south-west of Berlin, planned to develop an underground railway line to improve public transportation. As the line promised less profit, the negotiations with the former Berliner Hochbahngesellschaft (Berlin Elevated Railway Company, then the operator of Berlin U-Bahn) were unsuccessful. Consequently, Schöneberg started to build the line itself on 8 December 1908. Two years later, the construction was finished and, on 1 December 1910, the line was put into operation. Although Schöneberg owned the track, upon opening, it handed operations over to the Hochbahngesellschaft.
History[]
The then-independent town of Schöneberg wanted to increase growth, and so decided in 1903 to build an U-Bahn line. There were talks with the Berlin Hochbahngesellschaft (U-Bahn operator). However, the interests of the operator and the city did not match, because the short distance wouldn't bring any profit. So the city of Schöneberg took matters into its own hands and planned the first municipal U-Bahn in Germany. The route was intended as an underground railway from Nollendorfplatz, at which the elevated train station of the Berlin Hoch- und Untergrundbahn was already located, to the hauptstrasse in the south of Schöneberg. An extension to the north was not excluded, even a route to Weissensee (following the proposed U3/U10 alignment) was proposed. First, however, the stations Nollendorfplatz (own tunnel station on Motzstraße in front of the existing station), Victoria-Luise-Platz, Bayerischer Platz, Stadtpark (today: Rathaus Schöneberg) and Hauptstrasse (today: Innsbrucker Platz) planned. South of the station hauptstrasse, the workshop was to be built. Because this line was separate from the pre-existing underground railway, new equipment was required; Schöneberg chose to use tracks and trains compatible with the rest of the fledgeling network, allowing future connections.
Siemens & Halske AEG were given the responsibility of the entire construction, including the equipment of the track and the delivery of the vehicles. All standards were adapted to the already existing Berlin U-Bahn and subway, as in the future a direct connection to the City U-bahn Hochbahngesellschaft was planned. Therefore, the execution of the route was carried out with the dimensions and electrical equipment of the Berlin Kleinprofil (small-profile) network. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 8, 1908 in a folk festival-like atmosphere.
Next to the construction of the subway was Rudolph Wilde Park, which at that time was called the station Stadtpark. As the park was built on a marshy fens that was up to 30 meters deep, the excavation of the tunnels with a total volume of around 850,000 m³ was used to drain and fill it. After two years of construction, the line was opened on 1 December 1910, as Line BI. However, the festivities were very restrained, as the largest Schöneberg sponsor of the underground, Mayor Rudolph Wilde, had died a month earlier.
Since the Schöneberg subway (initially) was completely separate from the (other) Berlin network, extra facilities had to be built for this. These included its own wagons and the depot with a workshop. At Nollendorfplatz, a pedestrian tunnel was built between the two stations.
South of the station Innsbrucker Platz, the tunnel was continued into Eisackstraße. There was a three - track crossover and parking facility in the tunnel. From the western track, the workshop access line branched off to the workshop, which swung in to a private tunnel to Otzenstraße and reached the daylight on the workshop area. At the end of the tunnel in Otzenstraße, today there is still visible the tunnel exit. At the end of the workshop area there was another short tunnel where the access track ended. The workshop received a five-track wagon hall and a two-track workshop hall. The small Schöneberg workshop was rendered unused with the opening of the new interchange station at Nollendorfplatz in 1926 and therefore decommissioned in 1932, as a permissive vehicle exchange and the achievement of the large workshops of the U-Bahn at the olympic-stadion station and at Warschauer Brucke were possible. On the workshop grounds, the Waldenburg High School was built after the Second World War. Nowadays, trains use a spur track that connects line U4 to line U1 where they can access the Warschauer Straße Depot on the latter line.
The city of Schöneberg was indeed owner and owner of the route, but the operation was run by the Berlin Hochbahngesellschaft. Thus, the different ownership conditions did not matter at all for the passengers, since one day before the opening a collective agreement had been reached.
From 1985 until 1993 automatic train operation using the SelTrac system was trialled on line U4. The SelTrac system used on line U4 was manufactured by Standard Elektrik Lorenz (now part of Alcatel-Lucent), and allowed very tight headways of 50 to 90 seconds.
On November 27, 2010, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Schöneberg subway, a commemorative service with historical rolling stock (type A1) was run.[1]
References[]
- ^ "100 Jahre Schöneberger U-Bahn und BVG-Weihnachtsmarkt am 27.11.2010" [Kick off the 100th anniversary of Schöneberg's U-bahn line on 27/11/10 with the BVG's Christmas market]. www.bahninfo.de (in German). Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 2019-04-26.
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to U4 (Berlin U-Bahn). |
- Berlin U-Bahn lines