page_title: Berlin Stadtbahn
section_title: Post-War situation
hierarchical_section_title: Berlin Stadtbahn / History / Post-War situation
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Transit-D-Zug im Bahnhof Berlin Zoo mit DR Baureihe 132;
context_page_description: The Berlin Stadtbahn is a major railway thoroughfare in the German capital Berlin, which runs through Berlin from east to west. It connects the eastern district of Friedrichshain with Charlottenburg in the west via 11 intermediate stations including Hauptbahnhof. The Berlin Stadtbahn is often also defined as the slightly longer route between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz, although this is not technically correct.
  The line was originally built in the 1880s. It is 12 kilometers in length, and is entirely elevated above the city's streets. The four track route carries S-Bahn, Regionalbahn, Regional-Express, Intercity, EuroCity and Intercity-Express trains.
context_section_description: After World War II, the Stadtbahn lay devastated by bombs, but was rebuilt very quickly. Because Joseph Stalin wanted to travel by train to the Potsdam Conference, the Stadtbahn was converted to the Russian 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) broad gauge in 1945. The national importance had diminished with the loss of eastern Germany; only a few trains ran towards the western zones. Some trains from the Soviet zone terminated on the Stadtbahn.
  During the Berlin Blockade, the long-distance traffic came to an almost complete halt. The Stadtbahn was useful for the re-established S-Bahn, however, now with connections to places line Königs Wusterhausen, Strausberg, Staaken and Falkensee.
  From 18 May 1952, when all Berlin terminal stations and all other long-distance stations in West Berlin were closed, the station Zoologischer Garten remained the only long-distance station for the western part of the city. The last domestic train of the GDR (East German) railways ran on the Stadtbahn in 1953.
  After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, Zoologischer Garten became the West Berlin and Ostbahnhof the East Berlin de facto central station. The station Friedrichstraße now was the terminal point of the separated West and East Berlin S-Bahn lines and departure point for the Interzonenzug (Inter-zone train) services between West Berlin and West Germany. Friedrichstraße station was separated into Eastern and Western parts with steel walls, and enabled West Berliners to change to S-Bahn trains running on the Nord-Süd-Bahn and the U6 line of the Berlin U-Bahn without passing through GDR border controls. The station also featured a border crossing into East Berlin.
  Through trains between Zoo and Ostbahnhof only existed in international traffic, for example the Paris to Warsaw trains. Later, through coaches and shuttle trains connecting to the night trains to Scandinavia crossed the intra-German border on the Stadtbahn as well.
  Due to a quirk in legislation, the West Berlin parts of the Stadtbahn belonged to the Deutsche Reichsbahn, which made it (and therefore the GDR government) one of the largest landowners in West Berlin. Regular quarrels erupted between the DR, the GDR government, the West Berlin Senate and the Allied occupation powers.
  Prices for the West Berlin S-Bahn were kept slightly below the fares of the West Berlin BVG. In East Berlin, a flat fee of 0.20 Mark was charged until 1991. West Berlin politics and most of the populace fully boycotted the S-Bahn, which was run by the East German railways, and introduced bus and U-Bahn lines running parallel to the S-Bahn network and the Stadtbahn.
caption: Transit train at Zoo station 1976
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