page_title: Potsdam Pirschheide station
section_title: Present and future
hierarchical_section_title: Potsdam Pirschheide station / Present and future
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bahnhof Potsdam Pirschheide English: Potsdam Pirschheide train station, Germany
context_page_description: Potsdam Pirschheide station is a station on the Berlin outer ring. It was opened in 1958 as Potsdam Süd station and was called Potsdam Hauptbahnhof from 1961 to 1993. In this period it was the most important station on the outer ring after Berlin Schönefeld Flughafen station.
  Although the station is far from the centre of Potsdam on the Pirschheide to the southwest of the town, in its heyday as the main station it had substantial passenger traffic and often reached its capacity limit. With the reunification, however, the station rapidly lost importance and was almost completely closed except for a single platform in the lower part of the station. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 6 station.
context_section_description: The infrastructure resembles a ghost station that has been left to decay. Weeds on the platforms, the shattered panes of the sealed-off stairwells and boarded-up waiting rooms characterise this image. All the walls are covered with graffiti and only the platform roof is still intact. The tracks on the platforms of the upper station and all crossovers have been dismantled. Only the two main-line through tracks remain. The old information displays made in Czechoslovakia on the upper platforms are still present, although they are no longer functional. Since the electrification of the lower track in 1999, there is only one platform (platform 1, formerly platform 7) in operation. The exit signals of the crossing track are switched off, but are operational, the position of the points has been locked, but they still exist.
  The station building that was built in 1958 was closed in 2006/07; only the restaurant stayed open. It has notably deteriorated and now has no windows or doors.  It was walled up in 2007. Proposals to demolish it have been precluded by its notable  functionalist architecture in the style of the late 1950s, which would justify conversion for new uses. The stairs between the upper and the lower levels of the station have also been closed.  The route from the station forecourt that connected via the former track 8 now connects directly to the lower platform. The tunnel from the upper level to the station building was demolished in 2012.
  In 2012, an entrepreneur from Werder (Havel) acquired  the station building. Originally he planned to use the area for his company. Once a different solution was developed for the company’s premises, he considered using the building as a cultural centre. The Märker Bowling restaurant is to remain in the building.
  The lower platform is used by regional traffic. From 1998 to 2011, the Regionalbahn RB 22 service ran from Potsdam via Caputh to Schönefeld; since December 2011, service RB 23 has run from Potsdam to Michendorf via Pirschheide. Since then the RB 22 service has run via the Berlin outer ring and through the abandoned upper level of Pirschheide station.
  In the immediate vicinity of the station are the Sparkassen (state savings bank) academy, several hotels and recreational areas of interest for hikers: the Templiner See and the Pirschheide. Reopening of operations on the upper level is currently being investigated in order to link the RB 22 and RB 23 services and to make possible journeys between Caputh and Michendorf towards Schönefeld over the outer ring with a change at the station. Furthermore, there would be an interchange from the RB 22 to the bus and tram services to Potsdam and Werder.
  In 2013, Potsdam Pirschheide station, including its paved forecourt, was heritage-listed by the state of Brandenburg.
caption: The former signalbox and part of the upper platform in 2009
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