When Geoff met ... Louis (in Berlin)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ม.ค. 2020
- Time to go and ride the Berlin U-Bahn!
My friend Louis is a transport nerd with extensive knowledge of the Paris Metro, London Underground, and now lives in Berlin! So whilst there for the weekend last year, it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with and for him to take me on a tour of the Untergrundbahn!
More on the Berlin U-Bahn: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_...
Music by Purple Crow Sounds // Depeche "Mode On".
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Bonus Bonos! (Can you spot them all?)
Geoff Marshall You gotta admit the Berlin metro has got such a unique vibe, it’s so cool (not as cool as London Underground though)
I saw a few but I have been rewatching to look for more when I was not looking
Me to
Geoff I really recommend you to drive with the line U 55 the shortest Berlin U- bahn line
1:39
Long-term resident of Germany here, spent 10 years in Berlin. This is going to be a long comment.
Regarding Gleisdreieck: It was originally a junction without a station at all; the station wasn't built until the reorganisation of the lines following the derailment you talked about (which was actually a collision of two trains due to human error, with 20 fatalities).
The station where you nearly got on the wrong train probably wasn't Hermannplatz, unless they were running a shuttle service due to construction work or something. What you describe sounds more like Mehringdamm: one platform serves U6 trains going north and U7 trains going north-west, while the other serves U6 trains going south and U7 trains going south-east. The idea is that most commuters changing here just need to walk from one side of the platform to the other. Sometimes the platforms are stacked on top of each other instead of being side-by-side: the Germans call this a "Turmbahnhof" = "tower station".
Nollendorffplatz is particularly complicated. First the elevated lines were built: a line from the old Potsdamer Platz station (roughly where Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park now is) eastwards into Kreuzberg (now the eastern part of the U1), and where Gleisdreieck now is, it branched off towards the then independent city of Charlottenburg. However, that city didn't want an unslightly elevated tramway running through it, so after Nollendorffplatz the line went underground to Knie (now Ernst-Reuter-Platz). Later, the city of Schöneberg (also independent at the time) paid for its own railway, built underground southwards from Nollendorffplatz -- this is now the U4. Plans to extend it north and east never came to fruition. Then, when Gleisdreieck was built, the line from Kreuzberg was extended underground to Nollendorffplatz and beyond, where it met up with the U4 as a "Turmbahnhof", ultimately creating a station on three levels.
The windows were decorated with the Brandenburg Gate after vandals had, for years, used diamond cutters to scratch graffiti in the glass.
The London Underground sign was given in 1952 as an anniversary gift: 1902 is considered the "birth" of the Berlin U-Bahn.
The historical map at Wittenbergplatz is definitely post-WW1. It shows, for example, what is now line U5, the construction of which was delayed by WW1, and the first section wasn't opened until 1930. Incidentally, all the decor there is modern, just made to look historic: the "historic" adverts, if you look closely, are all for modern shops and commodities.
At 11:04, you show part of the map showing the U-Bahn station Olympia-Stadion, but in fact you're at the S-Bahn station Olympiastadion. Ahem.
At the end you get on at Friedrichstraße, but didn't mention the amazing Cold War fact. When Berlin was divided, the U6 and the north-south S-Bahn lines were examples of those lines you mentioned earlier, mostly in West Berlin but running through East Berlin. Friedrichstraße station was the only station on that bit that was open: passengers could change here, and they could also get to the one platform on the upper level for trains to and from West Berlin -- strictly separated from the other platforms by a huge metal wall (now removed). Holders of a valid visa could even pass through passport control and visit East Berlin for the day.
A couple of stops north on the U6 is Schwartzkopffstraße, one of the "ghost stations". In 1951 it was renamed Walter-Ulbricht-Stadion after a nearby sports stadium. The Wall was built, and this station closed, in 1961; in 1973 the stadium was renamed Stadion der Weltjugend, and the U-Bahn station was accordingly renamed. Despite the fact that nobody could get on or off at this station, the signs were dutifully changed.
Going back to the "tower stations", there are several in Berlin (all post-WW2) which were never finished. For example, Jungfernheide has two platforms stacked, but only one line running through it: trains going in one direction call at the upper platform, those going in the other direction at the lower platform. The intention was to build a branch line to Tegel Airport, but it never happened. One of the spare tracks is used by the emergency services to practice evacuations.
Geoff: you need to sign this guy up!
Even more remarkably the tracks in Jungfernheide are designated for the U5. A line which only ran in the east, when Jungfernheide was being built in the late 70s. So they actively planned for reunifaction and build infrastructure for a cross-town line. Reunification actually happened, but the U-Bahn probably never will, because Berlin is broke.
Oh hey! It is cool to see a TH-camr I sub to watches the same videos as me :P
@@Thewinner312 The U5 is being extended: part of it already operates as the U55, but the U5 is due to meet up with it very soon, and will run from Hönow to Hauptbahnhof. It may eventually be extended into Moabit, but since Tegel Airport is supposed to close *cough*BER*cough* it seems unlikely that it will ever go there. Berlin's financial woes are a major factor, but the reactivation of the S-Bahn lines following reunification also make a lot of the post WW2 plans redundant.
@@rewboss yeah, always take Berlin's plan to build something with a grain of salt. If everything that the city ever committed to actually had been built, Berlin would have the most impressive skyline of any city in the world today. Technically the U5 to Jungfernheide is still planned, but definetly not in the "near" future. At the moment they are planning to build a Tram from Hauptbahnhof to Jungfernheide in the next few years. So that will serve as a replacement for the U-Bahn.
"We're going to an East Berlin station that used to be closed"
Travels further west to Olympia-Stadion
Are you @SimonSchree? On the chance you are, I'd just like to say how I loved your "London S-Bhan" map. TfL should take it up. My missus can't use the Tube, too much anxiety. But a map showing all the overground connections looks great. Is there a website I could download it from?
According to a map from the time of division, there were also West Berlin stations closed when they were too close to the border.
@@nicktecky55 Hi, yes that's me. You can download the map (as an image file) where you found it: on Twitter or in the CityMetric article, but beware that it is really mostly just a map for fun. Do you know that there is a London rail map that shows all the regular aboveground map as well? You can find it at tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/national-rail it also shows the Underground, but except for two exceptions, all the white dashed lines are aboveground with no tunnels.
@@Wildcard71 Yeah, but from the point in the video where they say this, all the famous U-Bahn ghost stations are east of where they are (I think it was Wittenbergplatz). Of course closed national rail/S-Bahn stations were all around West Berlin
Fun fact: The Pyongyang Metro uses former Berlin U-Bahn rolling stock which is fascinating
From the eastern side because of the communist links I believe
@@Eliteerin I thought so, too but funny enough they've been sold between 1997 and 1999 and most are of west german production.
@@Eliteerin Yup, you're right, they are surface stock
@@connectingwings7212 No they are U-Bahn D stock, built for the West Berlin large profile lines in the 1950s, some sold to East Berlin in the 1980s for large profile line U5, then ran in unified Berlin, then sold to Pyongyang
Well, the reason for it is, that the eletric systems of the Pjöngjang metro were build by East Germany and therefore are the same as the the U-Bahn Berlin system. Therefore it's of course intelligent for North Korea to buy old working U-Bahn trains from Berlin, because they don't have to change anything in the electric motors.
Least-used stations on each U-bahn line! A new series is born!
I would love to hear Geoff explain Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Onkel-Toms-Hütte) station on the U3
That’s an easy one.
Klosterstraße on the U2 . Placed in the eastern heart of Berlin and barely anyone is using this station even at rush hour.
It's the second Saturday of the month, but nice try ;-) (Sonnabend is a north German word for Samstag)
Glad someone else caught that as well lol
Yep, Samstag/Sonnabend. Both are used here in Hamburg.
I'll forgive him for confusing Sonnabend but he should've known zweiten is second not first...
The “zweiten” made me go, “that’s not 1st..” and good to know there is/was another word for Saturday... (learned the language in college, it was actually somewhat useful when we visited Denmark (though we only got through one morning after arriving before someone asked us something in Danish and we had no idea what he was saying... oh well, at least we like our visit) and did one of those “learn Danish” courses online as I was able to pick up a lot more than my wife (pro tip, it’s actually easier to learn a new language if you do it with a partner.)
Sonnabend essentially means Sunday eve. Or the evening before Sunday.
I am a Berliner. Love that you did a video about Berlin. It is an amazing network. A few extra inside infos:
1. Hermannplatz does not actually have different lines on opposite platforms. Either you are mistaken or they did some construction. I figure you were thinking of Mehringdamm, because you mentioned that you are staying there.
2. The Hauptbahnhof has five main levels, from the bottom up they are: North-South trains, shopping concourse, Entrance level, shopping concourse, West-East trains AND then above the station there are actually two large arches which contain offices, which you didn't show unfortunately.
3. What you could have highlighted more is that there are two seperate subway systems, Kleinprofil and Grossprofil. Even though they are the same track width, they are not interchangeable. Alexanderplatz and Richard-Wagner-Platz do have service tunnels to change from one network to the other. Only the smaller trains can move along the wider tunnels without passengers if they are pulled by a special locomotive, though.
4. What's really interesting about the rolling stock is, that Berlin is running out of trains. And they are running out fast. So what they did is, to speed things up, they ordered a lot of Kleinprofil trains, which they had already finished specing out, and are now not only running them on the U2 (Kleinprofil), but also on the U5(Grossprofil). They simply put boards on the side to "make them wider" and changed their power supply. Once more Grossprofil-trains are available they will switch over to the Kleinprofil.
5. During the Berlin division, the U-Bahn was split in two companies, but the S-Bahn was initially solely operated by East-Berlin, even in the West! They had eastern drivers and all revenue went to the GDR. Which led to very low ridership, zero infrastructure investment and eventually the whole system was abandoned. Years later part of the S-Bahn in the West was reopened by the BVG, the U-Bahn operator in the West. However, they also invested basically nothing in infrastructure and only ran very few trains. By 1990 when the two systems were reunited the western part was in such bad shape, that basically the whole network had to be replaced from the ground up. The eastern part was also in pretty bad shape (as most things in the GDR), but renovation of the West-Berlin S-Bahn took priority, because large parts were simply unusable, which is why many stations in the east are still pretty run down to this day.
6. Berlin has been broke since forever and has not build many new stations since 2000. The only project, the U5 extension from Alexanderplatz via Museum Island and the government quarter to Hauptbahnhof has been in the works for 24 years now, even though it will only be six new stations. Ten years ago, they were so far behind schedule that they decided to open up part of the extension which was already finished as a mini line, the U55. It has only three stations and is not connected to the rest of the network. It will be joined with rest of the U5 eventually, supposedly this year, but we will see about that.
7. Berlin being Berlin, it has a lot of cool abandoned crap everywhere. A part of the S-Bahn that was abandoned in the west, was never removed, even though it is above ground in the middle of a busy neighbourhood and has very little chance of reopening because they build a U-Bahn in parallel instead. The Siemensbahn, it's fenced off, but pretty easy to get inside an abandoned S-Bahn line. Siemens, who originally build the line for it's main campus, actually has plans to revive it, but again, it's Berlin... We'll see^^
8. On weekends all S and U-Bahn lines operate through the night every 15 minutes, which is awesome! :-)
Danke Max. Sehr interessant. Bestimmt mehr interessant als Hamburg S&U-Bahn.
He's not mistaken about Hermannplatz - they're doing construction and it makes getting west from U Mendelsson-Bartholdy-Park a real pain.
I love your answer - so much good information!
I think the only thing you missed was the Berliner Unterwelten at U+S Gesundbrunnen, which are definitely worth a visit!
@@catherineallen6024 oh ok, construction might change things. But I don't understand how Mendelssohn-Bartoldy-Park is involved, that's on the U2, Hermannplatz is U7+U8?
I remember when Hauptbahnhof was Lehrter Bahnhof and BVG and DR train crews used to change over.
@@Steve14ps Yes, it was Lehrter Stadtbahnhof, with platforms for the S-Bahn also. Incidentally this indicates that S-Bahn stands for Stadtbahn (Town or City railway... or Urban railway) Also the Stadtbahn predates the U-Bahn and was originally steam operated. I can't remember the year of the first opening but I'm sure Wikipedia will tell you!
To me London Overground is the London equivalent of the S-Bahn.
except that the S-Bahn runs into the city center
The Overground runs into the city centre (zone 1) as well.
@@matthewcatsey
It might but the London Overground only has 3 stations in zone 1 while the Berlin S-Bahn runs through the heart of the city on multiple different lines
Well, only the Berlin one. And only the Ringbahn. The Stadtbahn (East-West core section) and the North-South tunnel / core section are like Crossrail one and the proposed Crossrail two. Although Crossrail runs as pantograph trains as well (which all other S-Bahn Systems do as well). Most other S-Bahn Systems in Germany run on national rail track and have only one core section, where there's a higher frequency. Outside of that, they run like a stopper regional service, but mostly focused on the suburbs. This is like exactly Crossrail.
Traditionally, S-Bahn and S-Train networks (the nomenclature differs between countries) have been created by connecting regional/suburban lines on each side of a city, by building a connecting link running through the city. This is true for the Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Copenhagen systems. It is also true for the Paris RER system (which RATP translates to S-Bahn on the German signage). It is not true for the Overground, but it is true for the Crossrail.
Still, there is some merit to the London Overground being a type of S-line, but it doesn't fit as well as the Crossrail does.
For those wondering, in terms of rolling stock they're split into large profile (Großprofil) and small profile (Kleinprofil). Small profile lines are the U1, U2, U3, U4 whilst the U5, U6, U7, U8, U9 and the U55 all use Large Profile trains. Most small profile lines use 8 car trains whilst large profile lines use 6 car trains, however the U3 tends to run with 4 or 6 carriages and the U4 and U55 both only operate with 2 (the U55 is due to become part of the U5 by the end of the year). Also, some small profile trains currently operate on the U5 with these trains being modified by having their door steps extended and being raised to match platforms. The types currently in use are:
Kleinprofil:
-A3E: These were part of the A3 series and externally are almost identical to the A3L71, but were built from steel rather than aluminium. Only the A364 and A366 remain in service, having been refurbished in the mid-2000s, as part of which they were reclassified from A3 to A3E
-A3L71: These are part of the original A3L design and are 2 car units, allowing them to operate on all Kleinprofil lines. They're easily recognisable by their round headlights
-A3L92: These are the later variation of the A3L design, with a modified cab end and rectangular headlights. They were built to almost the same design of the earlier A3L82 but with slight interior modifications and traction changes. They were built after re-unification when the U1 was re-extended to Warschauer Straße and the two sections of the U2 were rejoined. They are able to work interchangeably with the A3L71 so it's not uncommon to find formations made up of both unit types.
-GI/1: These were the last type built for East Germany before reunification, entering service from 1988. They are unusual for other pre-unification Kleinprofil trains as they were built as 4 car units and only had 2 doors per carriage. They're distinctive in that they have a very rectangular shape with almost perfectly square fronts. They are only seen operating on the U1 and U2 and are only used on the U3 and U4 in very rare cases. Other variants of this design include the G, GI and GII units which were of a similar design, but were all withdrawn around the time of reunification and were either scrapped or sold to the Pyongyang metro, and now work on North Korea's regional network.
-HK: These are the first post-unification design, and operate mostly on the U2, only venturing onto other lines during trackwork or emergencies. They have interconnected carriages and were built as 4 car units, which couple together to form an 8 car train. The first prototype entered service in 2000, with the production run starting in 2005 allowing the replacement of the ageing A3L67 stock.
-IK: These are the newest design of trains on the U-bahn, and will replace the A3L71 trains. They are built by Stadler and have interconnected carriages as 4 car units. They operate on the U1 and U2, and also operate on the U5 with modifications to make them compatible for Großprofil lines.
Großprofil
-D: Essentially a Großprofil version of the early A3 stock, two units were modernised and brought back into service for the U55 in 2009. These will be withdrawn once the U5 is extended and the U55 is merged with it.
-F: These were built between 1974 and 1992, with multiple variations all based on the same rough design. The earlier variations (F74, F76 and F79) had sliding doors and are primarily used on the U5, U8 and U9, whilst the later variations (F84, F87, F90 and F92) had plug doors and are only used on the U6 and U7.
-H: These are just the Großprofil version of the HK, and operate on all Großprofil lines apart from the U55. They have walkthrough carriages their entire length and are formed of 6 carriages. They were delivered between 1995 and 2002.
Why is it U6, U7, U8, U9, and then suddenly U55?
Mikel Sopelana Durango The U55 is planned to merge with the rest of the U5 via a new link between Brandenburger Tor and Alexanderplatz.
Alasdair Clift Now the U1 uses 8-car trains, do the HK and IK go onto the U1 quite frequently? I have seen a few videos of them on the U1 but not many. Also is there still a lot of problems with graffiti on trains? There werent any shown in the video, but I know that started to get really bad in the past year or so, when I visited Berlin about 3/4 years ago the trains never had graffiti on them. Have BVG just stopped caring and not bothering to clean the trains anymore? Really sad to see 😔
@@reececollison5101 I'm not from the area so couldn't comment, but from what I believe the U1 is still mostly A3L/A3E and GI/1 stock, whilst the U2 is mostly, HK and IK stock
@@agent_605 Nah, it's still mostly mix and match, they are taking what's currently available (ie functioning and not in the maintenance works).
The only Kleinprofil line where is a single type is used is the U4, the low demand justifies 2-car units, so the G, Hk and Ik series are out of the question. The newer A3L92 are usually not seen there as well.
In the 90s, the Gs were used there for some time, but they had to be withdrawn from the line quickly due to noise complaints of the people living close-by (while is U4 is 100% underground, the tunnels are sub-surface and the G-type trains quite loud).
Love how the red door closing lights weren’t in sync, and look like a chaser.
i think that's intentional
"Berlin Hbf is like a railway temple"
Nah...
"It even has a Pret!"
...I stand corrected
According to wikipedia (so it must be true) it has 300,000 passengers a day, that works out as 190.5million passengers a year, yeah not too shabby
What's a Pret?
@@jesusgonzalez6715 You must be new here.
@@jesusgonzalez6715 pret a manger
www.tripadvisor.de/Restaurant_Review-g187323-d15277199-Reviews-Pret_a_Manger_HBF-Berlin.html
Depending on the area S-Bahn can mean completely different things. You can find the "classic" S-Bahn in Berlin and Hamburg which means metro-style trains on a third rail network with an intensive timetable. Then from the 70s came about the concept of running fast metro-style trains on a mixed network of existing or expanded regional railway lines (which means using overhead wires), that converge on entering the city, run in a high frequency though a new underground section through the city centre, a so called Stammstrecke, and afterwards diverge onto different regional railway lines again. Actually this concept is where Crossrail is most closely related to. This style of S-Bahn can be found around Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich, and following the same concept but without the underground Stammstrecke also around Cologne/Rhein-Ruhr area, Hannover and more recently Leipzig. The most recently introduced S-Bahn networks however, can best be described as a bunch of random regional trains that just happen to be called "S-Bahn". Even when trains only run every half hour or even hourly. This makes it difficult to describe exactly what the concept S-Bahn really means.
I think it's pretty easy to describe. Berlin and Hamburg are the only real S-Bahns, everything else is a fake^^ They only build those, because towns like Munich and Frankfurt would also like to be considered "big cities", so they imitate Berlin.
@@Thewinner312 Munich has a 6 line U-bahn system and isn't much smaler then Hamburg
I have to correct myself by the way. The Leipzig S-Bahn originally was more like a "random bunch of regional trains" system, but has since 2013 evolved into a FrankStuttMunich-style S-Bahn with underground Stammstrecke and is since then officially called S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland.
@@Thewinner312 In my opinion is a real s bahn a frequent service with trains with many doors
Munich s bahn has 1 double door per 2 widows
S-Bahn is really a marketing term that describes different systems, from metro like to regional trains to light rail. The fact that Berlin and Hamburg have third rail is just a historic accident. They were conceived when mainline rail was still all steam, so they were free to choose their own electric system. Later when mainline became overhead, new S-Bahn systems used that as well, for example Munich which otherwise is also metro like. This leads to the fact that rolling stock between newer S-Bahn systems is compatible, but Berlin and Hamburg rolling stock is specific to these cities
All the Germans here: “must correct those errors” ;)
This has to be the precursor to more non British Isles train videos from Geoff!
I was wondering that too. Geoff could or may well branch out and do more international metro system videos
I would compare the S-Bahn (Stadtschnellbahn) with the London Overground system.
Yep, Overground would probably be the closest comparison in the UK.
And historically the Stadtschnellbahn was abbreviated "SS" with two overlapping letters on the green circles already used back when the system opened - but they haven't been used for some pretty obvious reasons since the mid 40s...
Well, only the Berlin one. And only the Ringbahn. The Stadtbahn (East-West core section) and the North-South tunnel / core section are like Crossrail one and the proposed Crossrail two. Although Crossrail runs as pantograph trains as well (which all other S-Bahn Systems do as well). Most other S-Bahn Systems in Germany run on national rail track and have only one core section, where there's a higher frequency. Outside of that, they run like a stopper regional service, but mostly focused on the suburbs. This is like exactly Crossrail.
@@connectingwings7212 as this video is about the Berlin system my answer was obviously coined at Berlin - the double-S for example was never used outside of Berlin, for obvious reason given the dates the other S-Bahns in Germany where inaugurated...
And by the way: Hamburg uses a rare system with the shoes taking current from the side of the third rail... - only the latest extension to Stade uses the catenary, and they had to buy bipowered trains for that one ;)
It's not really like the London Overground since S Bahn typically goes through the city centre as well as serving the suburbs but with fewer stations in the centre than U bahn. So it's the same as the RER in Paris and the same as Crossrail. If there is a choice between U Bahn and S Bahn in a city like Frankfurt or Munich then S Bahn is normally the best since there will be less stops along the way.
@@sethanix3969 Ik, that was my point (for both the Berlin and Hamburg system) :)
Did you know that the new proposed line S4 in Hamburg will probably use this system as well?
Geoff + trains + Berlin = perfection
Well put!
Well, if you include Louie.
8:56
Some close matches between names of Berlin stations (U- and S-Bahn) and London stations:
Alexanderplatz is "Alexander Place", but superficially similar to Alexandra Palace.
Yorckstraße is very close to York Road.
Blankenburg could probably be translated as White City (although it could also be "white fortress", as depicted on their coat of arms).
Tempelhof is Temple (with "yard" attached).
Bellevue is "beautiful view" in French. Belvedere is "beautiful view" in Italian.
Schöneberg is Belmont.
Südende is Southend.
Grunewald is Wood Green (backwards).
Eichwalde is Oakwood (in plural).
Marienfelde is "Mary field". So not far from Maryland.
Wedding is only 2 letters from Welling.
Viktoria-Luisa-Platz is only 2 superfluous words from Victoria.
I tell ya, EVERY SINGLE TIME I'm there, "Wedding" cracks me up. Just like the trams in Rotterdam that say "Holy" on them, because that's their destination.
I thought that Tempelhof is Berlin Tempelhof Airport
@@MalaysianAviator737-8 Tempelhof is also a district - the airport closed years ago.
David Bumstead I see
@@MalaysianAviator737-8 Yeah, but the word "hof" does not only mean yard, but also farm or farmhouse.
Berlin's transport sounds are weirdly satisfying especially the trams.
Try the ICE 3 while departing, spaceship like
That is a weird statement - but it is very true! Berlin transit sounds are great, even the chime just before they announce the next station.
Don't forget the sax train! (Siemens Taurus)
@@flemingdh or "zurück bleiben bitte" I don't know why I like it so much but it cheers me up.
@@rebeccah4201 I want to buy that guy a drink!
You should have ridden the U55 from start to finish! (It's only three stops, Central Station - Parliament - Brandenburg Gate)
Yeah, big missed opportunity there, because soon it'll be absorbed into U5.
@@jesusgonzalez6715 yes, right now its the shortest subway line in the world (yes, shorter than Waterloo&City)
Yeah and it's only 2 cars long!!
Line R in Madrid has only two stops!
@@MarcoFHQ but they are further apart. Waterloo&City also does only have two stops.
Love Geoff's enthusiasm when there's a Pret.
4:10 fun fact: it’s mostly just the newer trains in which the Brandenburg Gate stickers are printed correctly, in all other trains it’s designed in a pretty weird perspective 😅
Yaaay! Berlin 🇩🇪❤
Funny how a roundel looks quite in place with Geoff standing next to it, even in Berlin.
When I saw the thumbnail I assumed Geoff had faked it as he sometimes does. Really surprised to see it is real.
Man I miss this city. Even the door-closing beeps and sounds make me so nostalgic for my time living there. Amazing how such simple things bring back so many memories.
Did anyone else have ‘Zoo Station’ in their heads during this video btw? :)
I'd say that Crossrail is actually v similar to the S-Bahn in Munich, stopping at lots of city centre stations before departing out.
Well, the whole Underground and especially the Overground system in London is more like the Munich S-Bahn. The Berlin or Hamburg U-Bahn and S-Bahn stops mostly at the border of the city state, it serves, only some suburbs are also connected (sometimes even just for history reasons, where the S-Bahn took over old local lines, like the Blankenese - Wedel line or the U1 to Großhansdorf, which was until 1938 a part of Hamburg)
Hmmmm, not really in terms of lots of stops. Crossrail has stops at only five, Zone 1, main central London stations out of its 40 stops (Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street). Out of those Bond Street is a non-major station, though it is busy due to its Jubilee Line connection.
Crossrail's main purpose is to extend fast commuter rail connections out to previously less well connected, or long journey time locations, to create a greater practical commuter area, WITHOUT the multiple central London stops at locations which are already heavily over-provisioned with connections.
Woolwich and Abbey Wood are good examples - 12 minutes from Liverpool Street, vs a journey of one hour or more currently. Compare that with the twice-as--long journey from hideously expensive but grubby Stoke Newington, with numerous stops that's only half the geographic distance (so effectively a QUARTER of the speed), and you can see the effect on journey time cutting out multiple stops en-route and in the centre of London has on commute time. It's the difference between getting home at midnight and getting home at 1am after a night out. It's mostly the acceleration, deceleration and waiting time for passengers to alight and board that slows the tube down in central London. Crossrail gets around this problem by simply cutting out the vast number of station stops in the centre and having a higher station density in the suburban areas.
@@2112jonr Crossrail has a lot of purposes behind it, but I wouldn't say that was the main purpose.
The main reason they came up with was that a new east-west line through the city was needed with the Central line being at capacity and becoming slower as it gets more overcrowded. Crossrail provides much faster trips across central London with far more interchange opportunities. Connecting it to also under-pressure suburban rail lines terminating at Paddington and Liverpool St was more of a massive side benefit that boosted the business case by a decent margin.
there was actually someone fleeing from east berlin to the west through an u-bahn connection tunnel (waisentunnel), they flagged down a train in one of the ghost stations.
The love depeche mode themed opening slide
I must say, when it comes to traction noise, the best by far, is the all the Bombardier Electrostars; they make a fabulous noise upon acceleration and deceleration. I'll say the next ones are the Siemen Desiros and the Bombardier Aventras.
I've been to Olympia-stadion a few years ago while waiting to go back to Schonefeld airport - the station building is amazing and the area around it is really tranquil, the stadion has alot of history too and is worth a visit!
One thing I found out from a regional news programme for that region was that the timetables are all coordinated/centred on one station - Wuhletal to the east. Because the U and S Bahn trains connect as a cross platform, all timetabling eventually leads back there! Berlin has a fascinating transport history; thanks for another great video!
So nice to see you were around my hometown and its U-Bahn system
Loved it, brought back memories of my brief stay in Berlin years ago
I'm going to Berlin in late June, and the U-Bahn and S-Bahn are definitely on my hit-list. A lot of things got added, such as Hauptbahnhof station. That place looks mega
Yeah it's awesome. Unusually clean for Berlin.
Hauptbahnhof is about a 10 min walk from the Reichstag - the German parliament building. It’s a nice walk across a bridge the Spree river.
@@runarandersen878 really? I rarely go there. Just for regional trains to other cities. There are no U-bahn lines there except super short U55 that doesn't go anywhere. And just 3 tram lines go there. I usually change somewhere on Alexanderplatz or Friedrichstrasse or Ostkreuz in the East.
@@runarandersen878 oh yeah sorry my bad. U-bahn and S-bahn are essential of course :)
You've actually missed the best station for a segway between U-Bahn and S-Bahn, which is Wuhletal. There you have the U5 arriving on one side of the platform and the S5 arriving on the other track of the same platform.
Wonderful video Geoff. Have been lucky enough to have visited Berlin twice in the past and enjoyed riding the U and S Bhan. And yes the Hauptbahnhof is just the greatest station EVER!
Thank you for another excellent video!
Love the traction noise of the S-Bahn, it's a sound that is unique to Berlin.
Me too, it sounded almost sad so I had a huge affinity to those trains almost out of pity!
Have you ever been to Hamburg?
Do you like the sound of an ÖBB Taurus powering up?
@@jesusgonzalez6715 oh yes love the musical loco. But that loco is everywhere around Europe (also a part of the RE1 train that goes through Berlin) so it doesn't remind me of Berlin as much.
@@jesusgonzalez6715 The best sound in Austria is the one of the Type V of the Vienna U-Bahn (Metro).
The best train sound ever in my opinion is:
🥁
DB BR (Class) 425
Just check this out: th-cam.com/video/IeDjwT_Jbe0/w-d-xo.html
You talked about Charles Holden, yet you didn't pay a visit to the U3 "Krumme Lanke" station, which was designed by Alfred Grenander, and was one of the influences (the station) that inspired Charles Holden! Needless to say it is an absolute stunning station!
Definitely Krumme Lanke qualifies! I travelled out there very early one morning during my visit last year. It's a very pleasant suburb too!
@@markstefanwiszowaty2466 The area around Krumme Lanke is very nice, I took the U-Bahn there, bus to Wannsee, ferry to Kladow, bus to Spandau and S-Bahn to Zoo, a pleasant day out.
@@Steve14ps .....a very nice city -trip . You see one of the most beautyful sides of Berlin....
Grenader actually was the Architect for large portion of Berlins U-Bahn network. The entire northern part of the U2 for example with its overground section alongside Schönhauser Allee was also Designed by him.
U3 definetly has some lovely stations. My favourite is Heidelberger Platz, looks beautifully spacious and elegant!
Really enjoyed watching. Thank you
Wow,what a epic metro system
Bald bin ich wieder in London ! Ich freue mich schon sehr auf den London Underground. Ich mag den viel lieber als alle anderen U Bahn / Metro / Subway Systeme!
Geoff Marshall maybe we see each other in London underground 😊
12:48 Yay! Polish PKP Intercity train
That's suprisingly rare. I didn't even know PKP did services there! Or is it the berlin-moscow line?
Don't know I thing it may just go to Berlin. Russia uses different guage and I'm not sure the go to Russia
There are also Russian sleeper trains that run from there a few times a week.
@@mixererunio1757 They do, it just involves a gauge change via jacks or a special machine at Brest in Belarus.
Just checked, it is the Berlin Moscow train! The locomotive is the EU-01, used only on that line
That was different. Thanks to both of you.
Would love to see more from you exploring germany!
Nice video but the museum is open always on the second Saturday of the month not on the first Sunday at 10:02
Yup. Louis got "Sonnabend" (an alternative worth for Samstag) confused with "Sonntag" www.ag-berliner-u-bahn.de/index.php/museum
You cannot go to Gleisdreieck without talking about the M-Bahn.
Is that the monorail system there?
@@samuelsmith6281 it was a maglev system
It was a maglev system, it came down with the wall.
So the M can also stand for "Mauer"?
@@Wildcard71 Indeed!
I was hoping for this video! Last year I visited Berlin for the first time and I really enjoyed the Berlin underground. I was very interested in Geoff's experience with it.
There's something extremely satisfying about how tightly the U-bahn fits with it's surroundings, the platforms, the walls, and the roof are all an inch or two away at all times, it appears.
The train you see appearing at 12:47 ist actually an “Intercity” connecting Paris and Warsaw. As far as I know it’s going back and forth between those cities twice a day. It even stops at my home town’s station right before it crosses the border to Poland. If I miss my RE (Regional Express) home I can still take this train. It’s rather old-fashioned but comfy :)
It's the Berlin-Warszawa-Express, operated by the Polish Railways (this is why it looks so different as compared to the German trains and actually has a nice board restaurant). It used to run Amsterdam-Warsaw via Berlin (as far as I know, it never went as far as Paris) twice a day, with additional connections between Warsaw and Berlin (and once a day Gdańsk/Danzig and Berlin, diverging north in Poznań/Posen). However, it was notoriously late from Amsterdam (I remember once waiting at Hbf over 2h for it, at 5 a.m. in the winter ca. 2010, with everything closed at the station and nowhere to go) and apparently fewer people were using it for the whole distance, so they cut it in half. The ICE now only goes Berlin-Warsaw and Berlin-Gdańsk. Trains to Paris and Amsterdam do exist, but are run by the German/Dutch/French operators.
11:35 In most cities EXCEPT for Berlin the S-Bahn IS suburban.
U-Bahn lines generally stay within city limits and form a net in the center, but S-Bahn lines run trough the center in one single main line and then branch out and go outside of the city, just like Crossrail. Again this doesn´t really apply to Berlin, but to everywhere else.
Her is s good visualization: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-train#/media/File:Shema_U-Bahn_S-Bahn.PNG
Felix W. In Hamburg, S-Bahn is even more exclusive to the city
@@nopeoppeln Stade? Aumühle?
But again Hamburg isn't a good example. The S-Bahn systems in Berlin and Hamburg are tge oldest and were build before WWII. That's why they use a 3rd rail, overhead powerlines weren't reliable enough back then. And this prevented them from running on main line and instead a separate network was build for them.
The "real" S-Bahn networks that fit every definition of the therm are Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. They run on heavy rail lines as well as on their own lines, use overhead powerlines and go up to an hour out of the city centre.
Felix W. and that’s I like it, it’s way better to build systems totally independent from national rail
@@nopeoppeln and also more expensive and it will take longer. Never mind the locals would rather have more Trains on the existing tracks than new tracks being build
@@felixw19 well, while i'm in Germany, I also go from Halstenbek to the city. it barely goes outside of the city.
It is a lovely sound
I travelled around Berlin a few times before the Wall came down. It was absolutely fascinating, especially as the S-Bahn was run by DR (the East German Railway authority), even in West Berlin, with East German staff. Crossing the border was an experience, having to detrain at Friedrichstrasse, go through immigration and customs, change currency, then return to an other platform to continue the journey eastwards. The fares were very different, too. Putting into current UK equivalents, I paid (say) £4 to go from West to East and 20p to come back.
10:56 Good brakes on that train!
"The closest we have is St. Pancras"...
*Laughs in Liverpool Street*
Loved the video. I'm a frequent visitor to Berlin, and usually Wittenbergplatz and Nollendorfplatz are my home stations. So it's like I'm recognizing every brick, even the U-Bahn Museum when I go for a Hertha match. Thanks!!
Glad to see Geoff covering the Berlin system, feels good to see a network that I know:)
Louis looks like the younger brother of Geoffs mate Rob who did Redcar British Steel!
HOLD UP! That's my home town.
U-Bahn all the way. S-Bahn is so unreliable it's so often late, especially in winter. But maybe I'm biased bc I use the U-Bahn more often, the S-Bahn is more around the center of Berlin and into Brandenburg. The S-Bahn is most famous for the S42 and S41 which are circle-"lines" going, clockwise and anti-clockwise, through all the intercity train stations and stations between.
Ha ha 🤣 love the Depeche Mode Playing The Angel graphics in the opening and closing credits. Supercool.
How awesome! That was fun :-)
For someone like me who was born and raised in Berlin and is living for 30+ years here now this is very exciting to catch a glimpse from visitors. Guys, your enthusiasm is contagious! Thank you so much for this video! I fell in love with „my“ city all over again :-)
By the way, there is still old GDR stock running, like the train at 5:24 at Wittenbergplatz. And it is called „Gisela“ :-)
I love your channel, Geoff! Looking forward to more brilliant content. Greeting from Berlin.
Did the same Berlin train routes last year. That multi level station towards the end of the vid also has a special overnight train coming in from Sweden.
It’s an interesting journey. It goes direct to Malmö in Southern Sweden. It heads to the north ferry port of Sassnitz in Germany where the train actually boards onto the ferry parked next to the lorrys and cars. The ferry sails to the Swedish port of Trelleborg where the train continues journey to Malmö. Avoid the summer time as there is no air conditioning and it is like 40c+ inside.
With the cessation of the Puttgarden to Rodby train ferry this uses the only remaining passenger train ferry between Sassnitz and Trelleborg, but as DB would say “it runs not every day”. In fact it is highly seasonal, but maybe in future it could run more often if the demand were perceived to be there.
Christopher Noble yes there are already talks to incease services from Sweden to the rest of Europe, they have notice extra demand in 2019. Also to replace the old trains. The increased services are expected after 2022.
The Berlin "we trust you system" does have its issues... for one that's what makes graffiti in the stations so common because the vandals can just get in easily. Also late at night I've had several encounters of not-so-nice drunk people (who would probably have been held back if there was a barrier)
Berlin is too white.
@@BirbarianHomeGuard what is that supposed to mean
Yeah now imagine this system in a bigger city. Big cities have lots of shady people and poor/homeless people. They will flock to already overcrowded stations.
@@nicktankard1244 "bigger city" um, do you not know it's Germany's capital city? No? Okay
@@ronylouis0 what? It's what i said. We were talking about Berlin having those problems. And i said imagine this system in a city bigger than Berlin like Moscow, NYC, London. Berlin is not that big and it's not a megapolis. It's metro area population is just 6 mil. Moscow and NYC are about 20 mil and London is about 15.
He’s an awesome guest for the channel - and I have to say I totally relate to his train noise thing and how it sounds like the GTO 96TS
love to meet this man Mr geoff marshall have watched every single one of your videos :)
Brussels used to be a "we trust you" system between the 70's and 2007, where they reintroduced boarding buses by the front door only (except on bendy buses where you can still board through all doors) and where they started putting gatelines in stations. Fun fact: as of now, there are still a few stations without gatelines. And I've been fare inspected only twice: once on a bus when I was a kid and once on a tram 3 years ago.
it would cost millions to install such a system in berlin and berlin has been broke for decades now...
imaginox9 Ticket inspections occur at Centraalstation metro station quite often though...
Really ? Well my mother got fare inspected a few weeks ago so I'd assume they intesified fare inspections, but for some reason I seem to avoid them. Or maybe they don't come often in my part of town (Anderlecht, the western part of Brussels)
Probably. I mostly take buses and I don't go to the city centre often so that's maybe a reason why I manage to avoid fare inspections
imaginox9 Yeah probably. You seldom see any inspectors on MIVB buses.
Sadly no Stadtmitte. Blew my mind when I got into a lift on the platform to street level. And by "street level" I mean "traffic island in the middle of the road".
I know a street level station in Ellerau near Hamburg, but it isn't in the middle of the road.
I haven't been there for long, so I don't know if it is rebuilt meanwhile. If so, my information is useless.
@@Wildcard71 I think you misunderstood. It's a normal underground station. However, once you have taken the stairs or lift up to street level, you see roughly this: ziel-mobil.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Stadtmitte-U-Bahnhof-Bild-1.jpeg
We have a lot of such stations on U6 line.
Geoff, thanks for this video. I was lucky enough to spend a week in Berlin in August and wanted to know more about their network.
This just makes me miss Berlin so much! I loved the trains when I went but I would love to see more of the system
Ich Liebe Berlin!
* Ick lieve Bärlin
Really like the Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel - looking intro pic
Didn’t a couple of the band members live in Berlin?
@@matnichol Martin Gore did for a few years in the 80s
They did during their industrial years from 1982 to 1987 or so ;)
Love the Kraftwurkesque music
I love Berlin! Great video.
Actually, to my knowledge there is no rail system in Germany that has ticket barriers. In some places you can still see where they used to be, but everyone got rid of them in the 1970s. Figured random inspections are just as effective and require no maintenance.
Yep but it's because there are no megacities like London in Germany. I don't think it's possible to have this system for huge overpopulated cities.
@@nicktankard1244 Don't see what city size has to do with it. The larger the city, the more inspectors you need, but also the more you save from not having to man and maintain the gates.
The Ruhr area is a city as large if not larger than London and doesn't have gates either.
@ Ruhr is not that densely populated. It's basically just a large village.
In a big city you have too many shady people that don't want or can't pay. But the main problem is overcrowding. It's impossible to check tickets when it's always packed and there is no room to walk.
There is a reason why all(afaik) megacities have turnstiles. Even in wealthy counties.
@@nicktankard1244 Take your pick en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof-of-payment
A system without turnstiles provides much more efficient passenger flow. Checking tickets onboard is not a problem. I've seen teams of inspectors check everybody on board a packed Cologne subway in between two stations. Packed as in "you have to struggle for standing room". Certainly possible, doable and being done.
In Munich, they are at some stations.
Berlin Haubtbahnhof has a model of the station somewhere on one of the levels.
Cannot confirm if that model has a similar model inside of it
Now i need to check that :)
It's on the second lowest floor. :)
Should be at the level below the Invalidenstraße entrance. I did see it once since I frequented the station while living in Dessau (RE 9 boyos where you at?!!?)
Interesting stuff as usual Geoff and nice to have, not only a guide, but a train buff guide. I've only changed trains in Berlin and was only on the one U-Bahn train. I'd love to spend some timein the place; I seem to remember the beer was rather good.🍻🍻
Loved that shot with all the door lights flashing in sync ~ very fancy.
Cheers for now,
Dougie.
It looks great and very new, parts that I’d love on underground. That multi-level station, gods that is amazing
14:14 If you think that’s high just go to Kyoto station in Japan and go to the upper level up all those escalators to the walkway overhead 😂
TFL have adopted a “we trust you” system on the DLR remember... I’ve been revenue inspected on the DLR a fair few times!!
I'm from America, so I've only been on the DLR once in my life ... and we were revenue inspected. We were fine, but somebody nearby to us was caught.
The inspector was trying to convince the unlucky passenger that he was a tourist, because apparently that made the fee lower, but the passenger kept on insisting that he wasn't. Apparently, better to be out a few dozen pounds than be thought of as a tourist!
I always love the sound of the 1500DC DART trains in Dublin and former Ganz Mavag trains in Wellington.
This is great, more transit of the world please!
Many levels of track? Haven't you been to Antwerp Central Station?
Indeed, I was thinking that also
12:44 Warsaw - Berlin train
That train will be part of my Shanghai-London mega train tour. A month on trains and changing trains. (Shanghai - Beijing - Ulaanbaatar - Moscow - Minsk - Warsaw - Berlin - Frankfurt - Brussels - London)
@@hikaru-live wow! Do you plan to make a vlog? I would so totally watch it. I could give you tips for travelling in Russia and Poland ! if you have any other social media where you'll be posting updates, please tell me!
@@hikaru-live that sounds amazing. Good luck and safe travels
ronylouis that is just a plan now, I don’t have the funds yet.
Dick Johnson Sorry to disappoint you, but this is just a plan now. I don’t have enough money to do this yet.
Thanks Geoff, spent the week in Berlin last June 👍🏻 really is a great city to visit and a great public transport system. Think you should return to Berlin to more videos 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
It's great to see a video from Germany! Another nice U-Bahn thing in Berlin is the U55, which runs 2 minutes along 3 stations and is isolated from any other track until construction is completed. The trains were put down in the tube by a crane
Guten Tag Berlin!
*guten
Whoops!
@@Daae07_ worrying moment for the gluten intolerant there.
By the way, all transport systems in Germany are without barriers.
Like in Prague and Budapest and Vienna (Im not sure if in the whole country ;) )
I loved it when I took the S-Bahn from OlympiaStadion after the Wold Athletics Championships as there are so many turn back platforms they had a load of trains waiting and just opened up a platform when the previous train was full and I was in and out in 10 mins. This does not happened in the UK due to lack of platforms and in Manchester lack of train/tram length as well.
I already thought this video was cool with the U2 thing going on. Then the ceiling shot that got Geoff all excited. And to top it off, the quote at 8:30: "TfL, hi, could you watch my videos?" This video is gold!
Geoff Cool dass du Berlin Besuchst cool wäre wenn du noch die Tram fahren würdest
Es kann sein dass er kein deutsch kann
wieso hat er dann bei einem Kommentar auf Deutsch geantwortet?
Wo?
Kann man das verlinken
bei diesen Kommentar:
Jan dfgdfgdfg1 day ago
Bald bin ich wieder in London ! Ich freue mich schon sehr auf den London Underground. Ich mag den viel lieber als alle anderen U Bahn / Metro / Subway Systeme!
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Geoff Marshall
Geoff Marshall1 day ago
aber auch das berliner system gefällt mir sehr gut!
Are you planning to visit The Netherlands to explore the Dutch rail network some time?
matthijs110 All The Stations Nederland should be in the works.
@@erik_griswold has it been done? I'd love to see it.
Great video Geoff! More of those, please. There are two tram lines and a commuter train to ride here in my home town. 😁👍
Very enjoyable.
Louis seems cool, I'm sad he doesn't have a TH-cam channel
Louis seemed like a youtube natural - surely he must make videos ?
Great city, good Public transport. Not enough cycling infrastructure tho. (I have to be harsh on that as an amsterdam local)
They're working on that
Tbf, as an Amsterdamer you probably have the right to be harsh on that of most cities you visit!
Yay! My hometown!
Got to agree I love the be 481 sound!
That intro music!
Least used station in Berlin?
It has to be one of the U55 ones.
@@xaverlustig3581 Well then probably the middle one, because the other two have different services... And once U5 extension opens the least used station will probably be a U4 one...
Flughafen Berlin-Brandenburg :D
@@hegemon88 only S-Bahn, no U-Bahn tho
@@jesusgonzalez6715 Hehe, there is currently no out of service U-Bahn station, but unfortunately a large number on the S-Bahn, both ancient and to-be-opened ones. I nominate Stahnsdorf.
Yay Berlin! It's where i live. Love this city and U-bahn.
Lovely video. Berlin is a remarkable city.