I will simply list the facts as it relates to our 'stay'. This message is for people who do not like noisy places near train tracks.
We arrived to the apartment and within minutes, realised this situation would not work for us. The train is just a few meters from the apartment, separated by a small backyard with a concrete wall. I will also mention that the apartment is located on the ground floor, and has one glass door with a metal gate; the gate does not have a lock. Upon entering the apartment, we could hear trains stopping and leaving every 2-3 minutes. We were told that there is only one train between 2am - 6am, but did not want to chance this as it also meant major disruptions in our sleep. After calling Alan and Kasia, explaining the predicament and that we were in Berlin for work, they let us know that the noise was mentioned in the description- and it was- there is a small line about it. However, we did not realise this would be a constant and untenable noise that would cause us to have to leave almost immediately and find a different (and costly) last minute solution.
We left the apartment within 30 minutes, locking up and leaving things exactly as how we entered. We contacted Alan and Kasia to confirm we would not be staying at their place. They offered us one night refund, and money back if someone else booked it. However, we felt that they should have at least met us halfway, and refunded half the stay. We felt that because it was already Wednesday night and there were a lot of other options on Airbnb, the odds of someone else booking the apartment were slim.
We decided to go straight to Airbnb, which did nothing to solve it. Unfortunately, we received no money back from a stay we never went on, and lost almost 700 euros. Not even the cleaning nor the service fee was refunded. This is a warning to those using Airbnb who think it is a hospitality service- it simply is not.