Straßenbahn Berlin
"Flexity Berlin"
Overview
Locale	Berlin, Germany
Transit type	Tram
Number of lines	22 (+2 suburban lines)
Operation
Began operation	1865
Operator(s)	BVG
Technical
System length	191.6 km (119 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge)
System map

The Berlin tram network (German: Straßenbahn Berlin) is the main tram system in Berlin, Germany. It is one of the oldest tram networks in the world having its origins in 1865 and is operated by Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), which was founded in 1929. It is notable for being one of the largest tram systems; there are 22 tram lines operate across a standard gauge network with 382 stops and measuring 191.6 kilometres in length. Nine of the lines are operated 24 hours per day, identified with the letter 'M' before their number.

Almost all of the remaining network is within the confines of the former East Berlin—tram lines within West Berlin having been replaced by buses during the division of Berlin (first extension into West Berlin opened in 1994 on today's M13). In the eastern vicinity of the city there are also three private tram lines not part of the main system, whilst to the south-west of Berlin is the Potsdam tram system with its own network of lines.

History

Early history

In 1865, a horse tramway was established in Berlin. In 1881, the world's second electric tram line opened here. Numerous private and municipal operating companies constructed new routes. So at the end of the 19th century the network developed quite rapidly and the horse trams were changed into electric ones. By 1930, the network had a route-length of over 630 km with more than 90 lines. In 1929, all operating companies were unified into the BVG. After World War II, BVG was divided into an eastern and a western company, but was once again reunited in 1992, after the fall of the GDR. In West Berlin, by 1967 all tram lines had been shut down. With the exception of two lines constructed after the German reunion, the Berlin tram continues to be limited to the eastern portion of Berlin.

From horse bus to electric trams

The public transport system of Berlin is the oldest one in Germany. In 1847, the first public line opened: The Concessionierte Berliner Omnibus Compagnie (Concessed Berlin Bus Company) operated the first horse-bus line of the city, beginning service on 1 January. The growing market experienced the launch of numerous additional companies, with 36 bus companies in Berlin by 1864.

On June 22, 1865, the opening of Berlin's first horse tramway marked the beginning of the age of trams in Germany, spanning from Brandenburger Tor along today's Straße des 17. Juni (17 June-Road) to Charlottenburg. Two months later, on 28 August, it was extended along Dorotheenstraße to Kupfergraben near today's Museumsinsel (Museum Island), a terminal stop which is still in service today. Like the horse-bus, many companies followed the new development and built horse-tram networks in all parts of the today's urban area. In 1873, a route from Rosenthaler Platz to the Gesundbrunnen (Health well) was opened, to be operated by the new Große Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn (Great Berlin Horse Tram) which would later become the dominating company in Berlin under the name of Große Berliner Straßenbahn (GBS) (Great Berlin Tram).

On 16 May 1881, the region of Berlin again wrote transport history. In the village of Groß-Lichterfelde, which was incorporated into Berlin-Steglitz 39 years later, Werner von Siemens opened the world's second electric tramway. Initially, the route was intended merely as a testing facility. Siemens named it an "elevated line taken down from its pillars and girders", because he wanted to build a network of electric elevated lines in Berlin. But the sceptical town council did not allow him to do this until 1902, when the first elevated line opened.

The electric tram in Groß-Lichterfelde was built in meter-gauge and ran from today's suburban station, East Lichterfelde, to the cadet school in the Zehlendorfer Straße (today Finckensteinallee). A single trip cost more than an average hourly wage. The route was refitted to standard gauge in October 1925.

The new development overran the old horse trams, causing the final horse tram to be shut down in 1910.

On 18 December 1899, it became possible to travel underground, even under the Spree River, upon completion of the Spreetunnel between Stralau and Treptow. Due to structural problems, it was closed on 15 February 1932. From 1916 to 1951, the tram had a second tunnel, the Lindentunnel running under the well-known boulevard Unter den Linden.

Great Variety of Companies until the formation of the BVG

The history of tramway companies of the Berlin Straßenbahn is very complicated. Besides the private companies, which often changed due to takeovers, mergers, and bankruptcies, the cities of Berlin, Spandau, Köpenick, Rixdorf, the villages Steglitz, Mariendorf, Britz, Niederschönhausen, Friedrichshagen, Heiligensee and Französisch Buchholz, and the Kreis Teltow (Teltow county) had municipal tramway companies.

The most important private operating company was the Große Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn (Great Berlin Horse Tramway), which called itself Große Berliner Straßenbahn (GBS) (Great Berlin Tramway) after starting the electrification. GBS acquired nearly all of the other companies throughout the years. In 1920, the GBS merged with the municipal companies BESTAG and SSB to become the Berliner Straßenbahn (Berlin Tramway), which was reorganized in 1929 into the newly-formed municipal Berliner Verkehrs-AG (BVG) (Berlin Transport Company). Besides the tramway, the BVG also took over the elevated and underground rail lines and the bus routes which were previously operated primarily by the Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus-Actien-Gesellschaft (ABOAG) (General Berlin Bus Company).

The following table includes all companies that operated tramways in today's Berlin before the formation of the BVG. The background color of each line marks the drive method which the respective company used to serve their lines at the time of the formation (blue = horse tram, yellow = steam tram, white = electric tram, red = benzole tram).

On the day of its formation, the BVG had 89 tramway lines: a network of 634 kilometres in length, over 4,000 tramway cars, and more than 14,400 employees. An average tram car ran over 42,500 kilometers per year. The Berlin tramway had more than 929 million passengers in 1929, at which point, the BVG already had increased its service to 93 tramway lines.

In the early 1930s, the Berlin tramway network began to decline; after partial closing of the world's first electric tram in 1930, on 31 October 1934, the oldest tramway of Germany followed. The Charlottenburger Chaussee (today Straße des 17. Juni) was rebuilt by Nazi planners following a monumental East-West-Axis, and the tramway had to leave. In 1938, however, there were still 71 tramway lines, 2,800 tram cars and about 12,500 employees. Consequently, the bus network was extended during this time. Since 1933, Berlin also had trolley buses.

During World War II, some transport tasks were given back to the tramway to save oil. Thus an extensive transport of goods was established. Bombings (from March 1943 on) and the lack of personal and electricity caused the transport performance to decline. Due to the final fights for Berlin, the tramway system collapsed on 23 April 1945.

The Berlin Tramway since 1945

The BVG was—like most other Berlin institutions—split into two different companies on 1 August 1949. Two separate companies were installed, the BVG-West in the three western sections (with 36 tram lines) and the BVG-Ost (Berlin Public Transit Authority East) (with 13 lines) in the Soviet sector. The latter became in 1969 the VEB Kombinat Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVB). On 14 October 1950, traffic on the lines from West Berlin to the Brandenburgian suburbs Kleinmachnow and Schönefeld stopped, and on 15 January 1953 traffic over the downtown sector border too.

West

From 1954 onwards, a shift took place in the public transit plans of West-Berlin. From that moment, plans aimed at discontinuing the tramway service, and replacing it with extended underground and bus lines. The tramway was considered old-fashioned and unnecessary, since Berlin already had a well-developed underground network. From 1954 to 1962 numerous tram lines were replaced with bus routes and extended underground lines and stops. By 1962, the western part of the city had only 18 tram lines left, out of the original 36.

On 2 October 1967 the last tramcar traveled through West-Berlin over the last line, which carried number 55 - from Zoo Station via Ernst-Reuter-Square, the City Hall in Charlottenburg, Jungfernheide S-Bahn station, Siemensdamm, Nonnendammallee, Falkenseer Platz, and Neuendorfer Allee to Spandau, Hakenfelde.

Today, many Metrobus lines follow the routes of former tram lines.

The separation of the city resulted in many problems and difficulties for the public transportation system. Tram lines could no longer travel through city centre as usual, and the main tram garage was moved to in Uferstraße in Western Berlin.

East

Soviet Moscow was, with its tram-free avenues, the role model for East-Berlin's transport planning. The car-oriented mentality of West Berlin did also settle in the East, as a lot of tram lines closed here as well in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1967, the lines through the city centre closed down, at the same time as the new city expansion on Alexanderplatz started to grow.

However, complete termination of the city's tram network was neither planned nor even discussed. In the late 1970s, some new tramway sections were built in order to connect the new housing estates Marzahn, Hohenschönhausen and finally Hellersdorf to the city's tram network.

After Reunification

In 1992, BVG (West) and BVB (East) were reunified under the BVG, the company had been merged. In addition to bus and subway lines, the new BVG also ran the only circulating in the eastern districts tram.

There was an attempt to shut down the trains running to Pankow tram lines, firstly because the trams in Schönhauser Allee runs parallel to U2 and the other was not to Rosenthal.

In 1995, the first stretch of the road in two stages - Bornholmer Straße was opened to the west. The Rudolf Virchow-Klinikum and the metro stations located in Seestraße, Wedding and Osloer Straße, in Gesundbrunnen have since re-connected to the tram network.

Since 1997, the tram stops right at the Friedrichstraße station. Previously had to travel a longer walk to get to the restored train station at the same time. Since then, the trams stop the reversing loop "Am Kupfergraben" near the Humboldt University and the Inselmuseum.

The following year saw the re-opening of the tram at Alexanderplatz. These drives now come directly from the intersection minor corner Otto-Braun-Straße across the square, holding both at the underground station of U2 and the station building of regional and commuter trains, where a direct transition to the U5 and U8 is. The increase of people feared by critics of tram accidents in the pedestrian zone has not occurred.

In 2000, the tram tracks were from the previous terminus at the Reval road over the railroad station Warschauer Straße extended right up to the same subway station. Since there is no room for a return loop was a blunt ending track was established. For this bi-directional vehicles were procured. The tracks, which have been transferred in 1995 to the Oberbaumbrücke remain, however further unexploited because an extension of the tram until Hermannplatz planned long before.

Since that year the tram runs in Pankow on the previous terminus French Beechwood Church continues to Guyotstraße, bringing the local development areas were connected to the grid.

2006, the second line was opened in the western part of the city, the line M 10 moves since its former terminus Eberswalder road through the Bernauer Strasse in Gesundbrunnen next to North Station in the middle.

In May 2007, a new line of Prenzlauer Tor on the Karl-Liebknecht-Straße towards Alexanderplatz was put into operation, where the line M 2 leads directly to urban and regional train station, instead of the current to circulate through the Rosa-Luxembourg-Platz to Hackescher Markt . The previous route in the Alt and Neu Schönhauserstraße is not regular services, but received only as an operating line.

Future

• A M10 extension running from Nordbahnhof, via Invalidenstraße to Hauptbahnhof which will be completing in 2013 (together with M6/M8), and in the future it might be extended to Turmstraße, Jungfernheide to Ernst-Reuster-Platz and Heidelberger Platz.
• M4 has plans to extend from Alexanderplatz, via Leipziger Platz, Potsdamer Platz, to Kulturforum under the Phase 1 and in the Phase 2, it might be extended to Innsbrucker Platz and 3 to Rathaus Stegliz.
• M10 had also had the ambition to extend to Warschauer Straße to Hermannplatz and it might have plans to extend to Mehringdamm.
• There are also plans to extend the line to Zwickauer Damm.

Routes

Routes

BVG tramway net has 22 urban lines.^[1] MetroTram uses also the symbol :

	Mitte, Am Kupfergraben ↔ Niederschönhausen, Schillerstraße / Rosenthal Nord
	S+U-Bhf. Alexanderplatz/Dircksenstraße ↔ Am Steinberg (- Heinersdorf)
	S-Bhf. Hackescher Markt ↔ Hohenschönhausen, Zingster Straße / Falkenberg
	S-Bhf. Hackescher Markt ↔ Hohenschönhausen, Zingster Straße
	(U-Bahnhof Schwartzkopffstraße -) Landsberger Allee/Petersburger Straße ↔ Hellersdorf, Riesaer Straße
	(U-Bahnhof Schwartzkopffstraße -) Landsberger Allee/Petersburger Straße ↔ Ahrensfelde
	S-Bhf. Nordbahnhof ↔ S+U-Bhf. Warschauer Straße
	Mitte, Am Kupfergraben ↔ Weißensee, Pasedagplatz
	Wedding, Virchow-Klinikum ↔ S+U-Bhf. Warschauer Straße
	S+U-Bhf. Frankfurter Allee ↔ Ahrensfelde
	(Falkenberg -) Gehrenseestraße ↔ S-Bhf. Schöneweide
	S+U-Bhf. Lichtenberg/Gudrunstraße ↔ Hellersdorf, Riesaer Straße
	S+U-Bhf. Lichtenberg/Gudrunstraße ↔ S-Bhf. Schöneweide
	Krankenhaus Köpenick ↔ Weißensee, Pasedagplatz
	Betriebshof Lichtenberg ↔ S-Bhf. Schöneweide
	(Wedding, Virchow-Klinikum -) Prenzlauer Berg, Björnsonstraße ↔ Französisch Buchholz, Guyotstraße
	S-Bhf. Adlershof ↔ Friedrichshagen, Altes Wasserwerk
	S-Bhf. Adlershof ↔ Rahnsdorf, Waldschänke
	Wendenschloß ↔ S-Bhf. Mahlsdorf
	S-Bhf. Köpenick ↔ Johannisthal, Haeckelstraße
	Krankenhaus Köpenick ↔ S-Bhf. Schöneweide
	S-Bhf. Köpenick ↔ Schmöckwitz

• 87 : S-Bhf. Berlin-Rahnsdorf ↔ Woltersdorf Schleuse (Woltersdorf Tramway)
• 88 : S-Bhf. Berlin-Friedrichshagen ↔ Schöneiche ↔ Rüdersdorf (Schöneiche-Rüdersdorf Tramway)

The two tram lines 87 and 88 are not BVG, which run in the municipalities of Woltersdorf, Schöneiche and Rüdersdorf (in the Land of Brandenburg), due to the fact that are partly located in suburban areas of Berlin, i.e. Rahnsdorf and Friedrichshagen, are partly shown in BVG tramway maps and suddenly considered de facto part of Berliner Tramway Net.

Fleet

The Berlin tram has three different families of vehicles. In addition to Tatra high-floor vehicles are low floor six-axle double articulated trams in one and two-way version ( GT6N and GT6N-ZR), and since 2008, the new Flexity Berlin.

The number of trams has been the reduced turn continuously. Then had the BVB 1024 vehicles, currently there are about 600 The reduction was possible because the new low-floor cars on average achieve more than twice the mileage per year (100,000 kilometers). In addition, these cars are due to length greater passenger capacity and therefore rarely operate in double header.

In July 2006, the cost of energy per vehicle kilometer gefahrenem 0.33 euros, for a road train (train kilometers) 0.45 euros. For comparison, the energy cost of a bus be 0.42 euros per kilometer, which is one subway train € 1.18 per kilometer or € 0.20 per gefahrenem Small request in the Berlin parliament, printed matter 15/13611] (PDF, 128 KB) </ref>

KT4D

From the mid-1970s, acquired the Berlin public transport new cars for the Czechoslovakian manufacturer CKD Tatra. Between 1976 and 1987 four-axle articulated vehicles of the type KT4D were put into service, some of which were developed specifically for Berlin KT4Dt with SCR control. The 18.11 m long and 2.20 m wide lanes can accommodate 99 passengers. They can be used as a double unit.

The first train of the type KT4D met on 3 April 1976 in Berlin. On 11 September the same year was taken up with three cars of the passenger service. A total of 576 cars of the type KT4D for Berlin were made, 99 of which type KT4Dt. Were added in 1984, eight pilot production vehicles from Leipzig. Due to the weak designed power grid could be in Berlin but not use all vehicles, so you 80 of the most recent type cars KT4D in the years 1989/1990 for Potsdam and Cottbus.

Between 1993 and 1997 half of the vehicles of the type KT4D has been extensively modernized. The rest were sold or scrapped by 1999. A renewed modernization of high-floor types KT4D t mod/KT4D mod is rejected on economic grounds of the BVG. The vehicles will be replaced with the new Flexity Berlin.

GT6N

And 45 rows of type GT6N-ZR ( bidirectional vehicle) | Between 1992 and 2003 105 sheets of type GT6N ([one-way vehicle] [one-way vehicle]) were purchased. The cars have a width of 2.30 m and a length of 26.80 m. They can carry 150 passengers, double header is possible.

134 cars were in a risky Cross-border leasing business leased to a U.S. investor and leased back. The SNB has accrued more than 157 million euros to hedge potential losses from cross-border business ^[2]

End 2011/beginning 2012 the SNB began the carriage 1006 and 1016 a sample exercise. They were provided with a new drive technology and new software such as the Flexitys. The only mutually detachable vehicles had to distinguish the new car numbers 1506 and the 1516th

Flexity Berlin

In April 2005, a Europe-tender began to consistently low floor trams, half of the unidirectional and bi-directional vehicles. With the latter will respond better to the BVG and construction faults and build on certain routes for cost savings instead of Wendeschleife n Stumpfendstellen. Tested in passenger service was the Vienna tram type ULF and for Nantes certain tram Incentro by Bombardier .

On 12 June 2006, the BVG decided the procurement of new streetcars. These are based on the tested Incentro and by Bombardier as | referred to Bombardier Flexity Berlin Flexity Berlin. In October 2008, for 13 million euros, four prototypes were ordered and since then extensively tested. Here are two one-and two-way car in a respective 30.8 and a 40-meter version for about 180 or 240 passengers. Use a double unit is not possible.

On 29 June 2009, the Supervisory Board of the BVG for 305.3 million euros to buy 99 Flexity cars, 40 of which will be long and 59 short versions. In September 2011 began shipping the first 13 cars long. Replace all old Tatra cars may need to be ordered in 2017 a further 33 tracks for € 92.3 million <ref> Klaus Kurpjuweit. Traffic LPP-Flexity trams; art18614, 2836566 300 million for new streetcars In: The Guardian, 1. July 2009 </ ref> The trains will be manufactured at Bombardier's Bautzen works or Hennigsdorf.

In June 2012 the Supervisory Board approved the BVG 2nd Serial recall of additional 39 trams of type "Flexity Berlin". Considering the order over 99 vehicles from 2010 so that means a total of 38 vehicles and 47 long long bidirectional vehicles as well as 53 short bidirectional vehicles will be ordered from the manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation. Thus the SNB responds to both the very positive development of passenger numbers at the tram and on the other allow bidirectional vehicles the eventual abandonment of turning loops and enhance the design stops. This procurement is then secured to the old Tatra cars can be scrapped permanently until 2017. The State of Berlin funded budget of € 439.1 million EUR. <ref> Http://www.bvg.de/index.php/de/103842/name/Pressemitteilungen/article/1090651.html </ ref>

The new cars are equipped with 2.40 m 10 cm wider than the existing low-floor trams. The track width was chosen so that modifications in the network are not necessary <ref> Jürgen Sember, Hans-Eckhard Warns:.. Purchasing new trams for the Berlin Transport Authority - European tender - an experience report In: ZEVrail Glasers Annalen 131, 10th October 2007, pp. 395-401. </ Ref> This affects only the routes, which will operate on the Flexity. Köpenick and parts of the Pankow network, the web is unable to drive.

Environment

General view

The Berlin tram network is today the largest one in Germany, and, in spite of many cutbacks, one of the largest in the world.

Around Berlin there are some additional tram systems that do not belong to the BVG:

• the Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam (operators of the Potsdam Tramway)
• the Strausberg Railway (which is in fact a tram line, located in the town of Strausberg)
• the Woltersdorf Tramway (line 87, partly in Berlin)
• the Schöneiche-Rüdersdorf Tramway (line 88, partly in Berlin)

The last three companies are located in the eastern suburbs at the eastern edge of Berlin. Each of them has only one line.

Great Streetcar routes

Tram 68 was named by National Geographic Society as one of the 10 Great Streetcar routes along with:

• Toronto's 501 Queen - 24.8 km (15.4 mi) - longest tram route in North America
• Lisbon's Companhia de Carris de Ferro de Lisboa (Carris) 28 Tram
• Seattle's King County Metro George Benson Waterfront Streetcar 1.6 mi (2.6 km)
• New Orleans Regional Transit Authority St. Charles Streetcar Tour - oldest tram route in North America
• Hong Kong Tramways - 13 km (8 mi) - one of three tramways using double decker cars
• San Francisco Municipal Railway Streetcar F