page_title: U8 (Berlin U-Bahn)
section_title: Gesundbrunnen to Neukölln: the GN-Bahn
hierarchical_section_title: U8 (Berlin U-Bahn) / History / Gesundbrunnen to Neukölln: the GN-Bahn
caption_attribution_description: English: Platform of Leinestraße U-Bahn station, Berlin (Germany) Deutsch: Bahnsteig der U-Bahn-Station Leinestraße, Berlin (Deutschland) Русский: Станция метро Лайнештрассе, Берлин (Германия)
context_page_description: U8 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. It has 24 stations and is 18.1 km long. The U8 is one of two north–south Berlin U-Bahn lines, and runs from Wittenau to Neukölln via Gesundbrunnen. The original proposal was for a suspended monorail like the Wuppertal Schwebebahn.
context_section_description: In 1902, a Nuremberg company, the Continentale Gesellschaft für elektrische Unternehmungen, approached Berlin's executive council, the Magistrat, about building a monorail like the one that had already been built in Elberfeld-Barmen (now part of Wuppertal). Their preferred route ran from Gesundbrunnen to Rixdorf (later renamed Neukölln). However, the Magistrat and city council were sceptical about the project, above all fearing accidents.
  In 1907, AEG made a competing proposal for almost the same route, in the form of an underground line within the city and an elevated railway in the suburban districts. After lengthy negotiations, in March 1912 the City of Berlin and AEG finally agreed upon a contract for the construction and operation of the line. Agreement was ultimately reached under considerable time pressure, because planning authority in matters of transport was to pass in April 1912 to the Greater Berlin Association and their position on this project was undetermined.
  The line was to begin as elevated track on Schwedenstraße and then continue to Humboldthain via Badstraße. From there it would run underground to Hermannplatz via Brunnenstraße, Rosenthaler Straße, Weinmeisterstraße, Münzstraße, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße, Neue Friedrichstraße, Brückenstraße, Neanderstraße, Dresdener Straße, Luisenufer, Reichenberger Straße, Kottbusser Straße and Kottbusser Damm. AEG intended to build the line for the wider of the two train formats, known as Großprofil (large profile), like the first north-south line.
  Construction began in 1912. Like Siemens, AEG had formed a subsidiary elevated railway company, AEG-Schnellbahn-AG. However, in the short period before and during the First World War, only a few tunnel sections were completed, among them the tunnel under the River Spree, between the Waisenbrücke and the Jannowitzbrücke. Finally, AEG's financial situation became so difficult that they ceased all construction work in October 1919. Thereupon the City of Berlin brought a successful legal action against AEG, as a result of which AEG-Schnellbahn-AG was liquidated. The city then received all the tunnel sections which had been built and planned to complete the line itself, but was at the time still in the process of constructing the first north-south U-Bahn.
  At that time plans were considered for eventually extending the line, some of them adventurous, for example a connection to the Heidekrautbahn railway to the north and another to the Neukölln-Mittenwald Railway to the south, so that theoretically a mass transit line would have been created extending from Groß Schönebeck in Schorfheide through Berlin to Mittenwalde.
  Work did not resume on the GN-Bahn until 1926. The change of oversight had advantages for Berlin, because it made it possible to correct some sections of the route, for example, the northern elevated section, which was entirely eliminated, and the location of the tunnel at the Alexanderplatz.
  The first work was on the southern portion of the GN-Bahn, so that service began on 17 July 1927 between Boddinstraße  and Schönleinstraße. Between these stations was the Hermannplatz station, which had been built as part of the simultaneous construction of the first north-south U-Bahn, finished 4 years earlier; here passengers were now for the first time able to transfer from one "large profile" (wide-body) line to another. A switching track was built between the two.
  Construction then progressed north. At the Kottbusser Tor station, the existing elevated station was relocated to make changing trains easier. Operation of the trunk line continued on wooden trestles.
  It now seemed natural to continue the line via Dresdener Straße and the Oranienplatz to Neanderstraße (now Heinrich-Heine-Straße) - perhaps too natural: the stretch to Kottbusser Tor would have been very short. In addition, noting the Karstadt store at Hermannplatz, the Wertheim department store had realised the advantages of a connection to the U-Bahn and reputedly paid 5 million Reichsmarks for a change in the plans. The GN-Bahn would now be diverted to Moritzplatz 
caption: The sparse Leinestraße station on the U8 line
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