Berlin Südkreuz station explained

Berlin Südkreuz
Symbol:B
Symbol2:s-bahn
Symbol Location:berlin
Symbol Location2:berlin
Former:Berlin Papestraße (1898-2006)
Type:Bf
Address:General-Pape-Straße, 10829, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin
Country:Germany
Zone:

Berlin A/5555[1]

Years1:1990s–2006
Events1:Rebuilt as Südkreuz
Coordinates:52.4756°N 13.3644°W
Owned:Deutsche Bahn
Website:www.bahnhof.de
Map Type:Berlin#Germany#Europe
Map Dot Label:Berlin Südkreuz
Embedded:
Stroke-Colour:
  1. C60C30
Stroke-Width:3
Marker:rail-underground
Marker-Colour:
  1. 009D58
Zoom:15
Services Collapsible:yes

Berlin Südkreuz station (German: Bahnhof Berlin Südkreuz|lit=Berlin South Cross) is a railway station in the German capital Berlin. The station was originally opened in 1898 and is an interchange station. The Berlin Ringbahn line of the Berlin S-Bahn metro railway is situated on the upper level and connects to the east and west, whilst the Anhalter Bahn and Dresdner Bahn intercity railway routes reach the station on the lower, north-south level. The station was extensively rebuilt between the late 1990s and 2006, and was renamed Berlin Südkreuz on 28 May 2006.

History

The station's original name (Berlin Papestraße) originates from the nearby General-Pape-Straße, which is named after the Prussian general Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape. The Ringbahn platform opened as an island platform on 1 December 1901.[2]

The original Papestrasse station building, constructed from 1898 to 1901 was demolished, although a corner of the building, incorporating a clock tower, has been preserved as part of the new station.[3]

Becoming Südkreuz

The station played a vital part in Deutsche Bahn's new concept for long-distance services in Berlin; it was deemed necessary to have a long-distance station in southern Berlin for the new north-south axis, so it was decided to rebuild Papestraße and rename the station to Südkreuz, giving the station a more intuitive name like the Ostkreuz (East Cross) and Westkreuz (West Cross) stations on the Berlin Stadtbahn. Construction, however, was severely delayed due to unexpected difficulties and NIMBY complaints of residents living near the long-disused north-south lines. Instead of opening in 2000 as scheduled, the station only opened on 28 May 2006, together with the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Main Station) in the center of Berlin. It is now used as a terminal station for ICE trains to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, and sees a number of north-south services heading to and from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof or Halle Hauptbahnhof plus EuroCity services to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia via Dresden Hauptbahnhof.

After upgrades on the Berlin Dresden railway, the airport express (FEX) is to run via Südkreuz.

Facial recognition trial

During 2017 Germany's Ministry of the Interior announced a pilot project to employ facial recognition technology at Berlin Südkreuz station. The six-month trial will overlay facial recognition software over the station's existing video surveillance system and will track a database of volunteers. The project is being jointly undertaken by the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and Deutsche Bahn.Announcing the pilot, the ministry said the technology would be able to detect people in need of help, as well as suspicious behaviour, and report it automatically.[4]

Train services

The station is served by the following service(s):[5]

Long distance

Line Route Interval
Berlin GesundbrunnenBerlinBerlin SüdkreuzHalleErfurtNurembergMunichEvery 2 hours
Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin – CologneBonn
Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Berlin SüdkreuzLeipzig – Erfurt – Frankfurt – MannheimStuttgart – Munich – InnsbruckEvery 2 hours
(Rostock1 –) Berlin Hbf – Halle – Erfurt – Frankfurt (– Saarbrücken1, Stuttgart1 or Darmstadt1)Every 2 hours
(Kiel2 –) Hamburg – Berlin Hbf – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg3 – MunichEvery 2 hours
Hamburg – or (Binz1 – Stralsund1 –) Berlin Hbf – Leipzig – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg3 – Munich Every 2 hours
(Rostock –) Berlin Hbf – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich 5 train pairs
(Rostock –) Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nürnberg – RegensburgPassauLinzViennaOne train pair
Every 2 hours
(Kiel 1 or Westerland 1 –) Hamburg – Berlin Hbf – Dresden – Prague (– Budapest) Every 2 hours
Leipzig – Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Hbf – Berlin-Spandau – Hannover – Bielefeld – Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Aachen1 train pair
Notes.1 = one pair of trains each
2 = one train on line 11 to Kiel, one train on line 18 from Kiel
3 = train stops either in Ingolstadt, in Augsburg and Munich-Pasing or runs between Nuremberg and Munich without intermediate stops
4 = one train only towards Graz

Regional

LineRoute
Lutherstadt Wittenberg –  – Berlin SüdkreuzEberswalde – Angermünde –
Prenzlau – Greifswald – Stralsund
Berlin Südkreuz –  –  –  – Neustrelitz – – Rostock
 – Stralsund
Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Südkreuz –  –  –  –
Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Jungfernheide – Berlin-Spandau –  –
Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Jungfernheide – Berlin-Spandau – Falkensee – Nauen
As of 11 December 2022

S-Bahn

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Der VBB-Tarif: Aufteilung des Verbundgebietes in Tarifwaben und Tarifbereiche . Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam . . 25 November 2019 . 1 January 2017 . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201027142308/https://www.swp-potsdam.de/content/verkehr/pdf_7/vbb_wabenkarte_und_tarifbereiche.pdf . dead .
  2. Kuhlmann, B. Bahnknoten Berlin - Die Entwicklung des Berliner Eisenbahnnetzes seit 1838. Berlin, Verlag GVE, 2006.
  3. Preuss, E. Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Stuttgart, Transpress, 2006.
  4. https://www.globalrailnews.com/2017/08/02/facial-recognition-technology-to-be-trialled-at-berlin-railway-station/ Facial recognition technology to be trialled at Berlin railway station
  5. http://kursbuch.bahn.de/hafas/kbview.exe/dn?st_name=Berlin+S%FCdkreuz&st_filter=&cat_name=&searchmode=station&mainframe=result&orig=sS&dosearch=1&oblig_st=1&submitButton=Suche+starten Timetables for Berlin Südkreuz station