U55 (Berlin U-Bahn) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Line of the Berlin U-Bahn Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...

style="margin: auto; border: 0;">
Length	1.8 km (1.1 mi)
Stations served	3
Profile
Line opened	8 August 2009

style="margin: auto; border: 0; border-collapse: collapse;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
U55 is a U-Bahn

Berlin U-Bahn

The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...

line in the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

capital city of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. It connects the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

' , is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily...

, or main railway station, to an interchange with the S-Bahn

Berlin S-Bahn

The Berlin S-Bahn is a rapid transit system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It consists of 15 lines and is integrated with the mostly underground U-Bahn to form the backbone of Berlin's rapid transport system...

at Brandenburger Tor. Currently, it has only three stations, does not connect to any other U-Bahn line, and is operated as a shuttle line using a single train.

The line is the newest U-Bahn line, and was constructed as part of an extension of the U5

U5 (Berlin U-Bahn)

U5 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. It runs from Alexanderplatz in Mitte eastwards through Friedrichshain, Lichtenberg and Friedrichsfelde, surfaces in Biesdorf to pass Kaulsdorf and Hellersdorf above ground and finally reaches city limits at Hönow....

that was subsequently postponed due to financial difficulties. As much of the work on this disconnected section of the extension had been completed, it was decided to complete the section and open it as a separate line. The line was opened in 2009, and work is now under way on the missing section needed to unite it with U5.

Origins

The unusual nature of U55 reflects Berlin's troubled finances. When the German

Germany

government decided to move from Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

to Berlin

Berlin

after German reunification

German reunification

German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

, it decided to refurbish the area around the Bundestag

Bundestag

The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

into a modern government complex. As part of this effort, there were plans to extend line U5

U5 (Berlin U-Bahn)

from its current western terminus at Alexanderplatz

Alexanderplatz

Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...

through the city centre, past the Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...

and the Bundestag, to the new central train station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

. This Kanzlerlinie (Chancellor Line), so nicknamed because it passed through the government quarter, was originally planned as a diagonal line through central Berlin, continuing to Turmstraße

Turmstraße

Turmstraße is a main street in the Berlin district of Moabit.The street runs along the "Kleine Tiergarten" park, and past the Moabit courthouse.Turmstrasse is also the name of an U-Bahn stop on the U9.-External links:*...

in Moabit

Moabit

Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...

, where it would link with the U9

U9 (Berlin U-Bahn)

U9 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. The line was opened on 28 August 1961 as Line G.-References:...

, and on to Jungfernheide, where it would connect with the S-Bahn ring

Berlin S-Bahn

and U7. Beyond the S-Bahn ring, the line might continue to Berlin Tegel Airport or—if the airport is closed as planned—to the new neighbourhoods to be built in its place. As this was a long-planned route, short tunnels exist at both Jungfernheide and Turmstraße to accommodate the new line. However, these plans were cut back for financial reasons before construction began. For now, the line is planned to terminate at the Hauptbahnhof, with the route to Jungfernheide and beyond to be built at an unspecified later date.

Construction

In the late 1990s, construction began on the western end of this extension. However, around that time the city council suffered a major financial crisis, and in 1999 completion of the partially built extension was postponed indefinitely.

However, the city had accepted money from the German federal government for the construction work already finished, and by the terms of the agreement, the city would have had to return the money if there were no operating trains on the line. In 2004, the city and federal governments reached a compromise: the city would complete the short section of line that was largely complete between Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

and Unter den Linden S-Bahn station and run it as a single-track shuttle with a single train, without any signaling. Although transit planners projected that such a shuttle would not attract a significant ridership, the city determined that the cost of building and operating the line would be less than the cost of returning the money to the federal government.

Opening

The opening of the line between Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Brandenburger Tor was delayed owing to extreme groundwater problems at the site of the latter new station. It was finally opened on 8 August 2009.

Operation

Stations	Transfers
U55
Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof ' , is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily...	, , ,
Bundestag Bundestag (Berlin U-Bahn) Bundestag is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on the . The name of this station was changed in April 2006 from Reichstag to Bundestag after deputations from the Bundestag which sits in the Reichstag building.-History:...
Brandenburger Tor	, ,

Stations

With the opening of the U-Bahn station, the existing Unter den Linden S-Bahn station was renamed Brandenburger Tor (for the nearby Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburg Gate

). The title "Unter den Linden" will ultimately be given to a station (not yet built) further east at the junction with Friedrichstraße

Friedrichstraße

The Friedrichstraße is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood. It runs from the northern part of the old Mitte district to the Hallesches Tor in the district of Kreuzberg...

, where the proposed U5 will intersect the U6

U6 (Berlin U-Bahn)

U6 is a 19.9 km-long line on the Berlin U-Bahn with 29 stations. It belongs to the Großprofilnetz, that is larger profile rail vehicles run through its larger tunnels...

. This new interchange station will replace the current U6 station at Französische Straße

Französische Straße (Berlin U-Bahn)

Französische Straße is a Berlin U-Bahn underground station of the located under the road Friedrichstraße in central Berlin.This station was built by Grenander/Fehse/Jennen and opened in 1923. In 1945 it closed for a few months; it was permanently closed in 1961. During the Cold War , the station...

, located a little further to the south on Friedrichstraße, which will then be closed.

Rolling stock

Because the U55 is not physically connected to the rest of the U-Bahn system, any trains being delivered to the new line will need to be towed along mainline or S-Bahn

S-Bahn

S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...

tracks to reach a connecting tunnel near Hauptbahnhof.

Future plans

The designation of the line as U55 indicates that it is ultimately intended to become part of the U5 line

U5 (Berlin U-Bahn)

. Construction of the link to enable this commenced in April 2010 and is expected to be completed by 2017. The link will be 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi) in length, and connect the Brandenburger Tor terminus of the current U55 to the Alexanderplatz terminus of the current U5. Along its route it will serve new U-bahn stations at Berliner Rathaus, Museumsinsel and Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....

, with the latter providing an interchange with line U6

U6 (Berlin U-Bahn)

U6 is a 19.9 km-long line on the Berlin U-Bahn with 29 stations. It belongs to the Großprofilnetz, that is larger profile rail vehicles run through its larger tunnels...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.