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
Deutsche Bahn Berlin S-Bahn
Bf
Station building (2022)
General information
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
S-Bahn Berlin
ConnectionsS3 S5 S7 S9
Other information
Station code1071
DS100 codeBHF,[1] BOSB[2]
Category1
Fare zoneVerkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB): Berlin A/5555[3]
Websitewww.bahnhof.de
History
Opened1842
Services
Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station
Berlin Hbf ICE 10 Terminus
Berlin Hbf ICE 12
Berlin Hbf ICE 13
Berlin Hbf ICE 14
Berlin Hbf IC 56 Königs Wusterhausen
towards Cottbus
Berlin Hbf IC 77 Terminus
Berlin Hbf
Terminus
EC 95
 EIC 
Frankfurt (Oder)
EC 95
 IC 
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Preceding station DB Regio Nordost Following station
Berlin Alexanderplatz
towards Dessau Hbf
RE 7 Berlin Ostkreuz
towards Senftenberg
Berlin Alexanderplatz
towards Golm
RB 23 Berlin Ostkreuz
Preceding station Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn Following station
Berlin Alexanderplatz RE 1 Berlin Ostkreuz
Berlin Alexanderplatz
towards Nauen
RE 2 Berlin Ostkreuz
towards Cottbus Hbf
Berlin Alexanderplatz
towards Wismar
RE 8 Berlin Ostkreuz
Preceding station Berlin S-Bahn Following station
Jannowitzbrücke
towards Spandau
S3 Warschauer Straße
towards Erkner
Jannowitzbrücke
towards Westkreuz
S5 Warschauer Straße
Jannowitzbrücke
towards Potsdam Hbf
S7 Warschauer Straße
towards Ahrensfelde
Jannowitzbrücke
towards Spandau
S9 Warschauer Straße
Location
Berlin Ostbahnhof is located in Berlin
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Location within Berlin
Berlin Ostbahnhof is located in Germany
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Berlin Ostbahnhof
Location within Germany
Berlin Ostbahnhof is located in Europe
Berlin Ostbahnhof
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.

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 during 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 Berlin 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 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

Line Route Interval
ICE 10 Berlin Ostbahnhof WolfsburgHannoverBielefeldHamm DortmundDuisburgDüsseldorf Hourly
WuppertalCologneBonn (– Koblenz)
ICE 12 Berlin Ostbahnhof Braunschweig Göttingen Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe Fulda Frankfurt (Main) 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
ICE 14 (Ostseebad BinzStralsundPasewalk –) Berlin Ostbahnhof Hannover – Bielefeld – Hamm / OsnabrückDuisburg – Cologne / Aachen Some trains
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
PKP:  EIC 
Berlin-Warszawa-Express:
Berlin HbfFrankfurt (Oder)PoznańWarszawa Centralna
Four train pairs daily
EC 95
PKP:  IC 
Gedania:
Berlin HbfFrankfurt (Oder)PoznańGdynia Głowna
One train per day
EC 95
PKP:  IC 
Wawel:
Berlin HbfFrankfurt (Oder)WrocławKatowiceKrakówRzeszówPrzemyśl
One train per day
NJ Berlin-Zürich Berlin Ostbahnhof (Braunschweig Göttingen –) Frankfurt (Main) Süd Mannheim Freiburg Basel Zürich One train pair
NJ Nightjet
Berlin-Charlottenburg Berlin Ostbahnhof Frankfurt (Oder) Wrocław 
Ostrava Breclav Vienna One train pair
BratislavaBudapest
KatowiceKrakówPrzemyśl

Regional services

LineRoute
HBXHarz-Berlin-Express
Berlin Ostbahnhof Berlin Hbf Berlin Zoologischer Garten Potsdam Magdeburg Halberstadt(train split) – Quedlinburg Thale / Wernigerode Goslar
RE 1Magdeburg Brandenburg – Potsdam Berlin-Wannsee – Berlin Hbf Berlin Ostbahnhof Erkner Fürstenwalde (Spree) Frankfurt (Oder) (– Cottbus)
RE 2Nauen Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf Berlin Ostbahnhof Berlin Ostkreuz Königs Wusterhausen Lübbenau (Spreewald) – Vetschau – Cottbus
RE 7Dessau Bad Belzig Michendorf – Berlin-Wannsee – Berlin Hbf Berlin Ostbahnhof – Königs Wusterhausen – Lübben (Spreewald) Senftenberg
RE 8Wismar Schwerin Wittenberge – Nauen – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Ostkreuz BER Airport – Terminal 1-2
RB 23Golm – Potsdam Potsdam Griebnitzsee – Berlin-Wannsee – Berlin Alexanderplatz Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Ostkreuz – BER Airport – Terminal 1-2
S3 Spandau – Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – AlexanderplatzOstbahnhof – Ostkreuz – KarlshorstKöpenickErkner
S5 Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – LichtenbergStrausberg Nord
S7 Potsdam – Wannsee – Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg – Ahrensfelde
S9 Spandau - Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof - Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Schöneweide – BER 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  4. Timetables for Berlin Ostbahnhof (in German)
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