page_title: Berlin U-Bahn
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Berlin U-Bahn / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karte der Entwicklung der Berliner U-BahnEnglish: Expansion map of the Berlin U-BahnРусский: Схема истории развития Берлинского метрополитена
context_page_description: The Berlin U-Bahn is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train lines, and a tram network that operates mostly in the eastern parts of the city, it serves as the main means of transport in the capital.
  Opened in 1902, the U-Bahn serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of 151.7 kilometres, about 80% of which is underground. Trains run every two to five minutes during peak hours, every five minutes for the rest of the day and every ten minutes in the evening. Over the course of a year, U-Bahn trains travel 132 million km, and carry over 400 million passengers. In 2017, 553.1 million passengers rode the U-Bahn. The entire system is maintained and operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, commonly known as the BVG.
  Designed to alleviate traffic flowing into and out of central Berlin, the U-Bahn was rapidly expanded until the city was divided into East and West Berlin at the end of World War II.
context_section_description: The Berlin U-Bahn was built in three major phases:
  Up to 1913: the construction of the Kleinprofil (small profile) network in Berlin, Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, and Wilmersdorf;
  Up to 1930: the introduction of the Großprofil (large profile) network that established the first north–south lines;
  From 1953 on: further development after World War II.
  At the end of the 19th century, city planners in Berlin were looking for solutions to the increasing traffic problems facing the city.  As potential solutions, industrialist and inventor Ernst Werner von Siemens suggested the construction of elevated railways, while AEG proposed an underground system.  Berlin city administrators feared that an underground would damage the sewers, favouring an elevated railway following the path of the former city walls; however, the neighbouring city of Charlottenburg did not share Berlin's fears, and disliked the idea of an elevated railway running along Tauentzienstraße.  Years of negotiations followed until, on 10 September 1896, work began on a mostly elevated railway to run between Stralauer Tor and Zoologischer Garten, with a short spur to Potsdamer Platz.  Known as the "Stammstrecke", the route was inaugurated on 15 February 1902, and was immediately popular.  Before the year ended, the railway had been extended: by 17 August, east to Warschauer Brücke (Warschauer Straße); and, by 14 December, west to Knie (Ernst-Reuter-Platz).
  In a bid to secure its own improvement, Schöneberg also wanted a connection to Berlin.  The elevated railway company did not believe such a line would be profitable, so the city built the first locally financed underground in Germany. It was opened on 1 December 1910. Just a few months earlier, work began on a fourth line to link Wilmersdorf in the south-west to the growing Berlin U-Bahn.
  The early network ran mostly east to west, connecting the richer areas in and around Berlin, as these routes had been deemed the most profitable.  In order to open up the network to more of the workers of Berlin, the city wanted north–south lines to be established. In 1920, the surrounding areas were annexed to form Groß-Berlin ("Greater Berlin"), removing the need for many negotiations, and giving the city much greater bargaining power over the private Hochbahngesellschaft ("elevated railway company").  The city also mandated that new lines would use wider carriages—running on the same, standard-gauge track—to provide greater passenger capacity; these became known as the Großprofil ("large profile") network.
  Construction of the Nord-Süd-Bahn ("North-South railway")  connecting Wedding in the north to Tempelhof and Neukölln in the south had started in December 1912, but halted for the First World War.  Work resumed in 1919, although the money shortage caused by hyperinflation slowed progress considerably.  On 30 January 1923, the first section opened between Hallesches Tor and Stettiner Bahnhof (Naturkundemuseum), with a continuation to Seestraße following two months later.  Desperately underfunded, the new line had to use trains from the old Kleinprofil network; the carriages exits had to be widened to fill the gap to the platforms with wooden boards that passengers jokingly referred to as Blumenbretter ("boards for flower pots").  The line branched at Belle-Alliance-Straße, now (Mehringdamm); the continuation south to Tempelhof opened on 22 December 1929, the branch to Grenzallee on 21 December 1930.
  In 1912, plans were approved for AEG to build its own north–south underground line, named the GN-Bahn after its termini,  Gesundbrunnen and Neukölln, via Alexanderplatz.  Financial difficulties stopped the construction in 1919; the liquidation of AEG-Schnellbahn-AG, and Berlin's commitment to the Nord-Süd-Bahn, prevented any further development until 1926. The first section opened on 17 July 1927 between Boddinstraße and Schönleinstraße, with the intermediate Hermannplatz becoming the first station at which passengers could transfer between two different Großprofil lines. The completed route was opened on 18 April 1930. Before cont
caption: U-Bahn development 1902–2009
exif: {}