Berlin: Infrastructure

This post is the second in a series on Berlin, the capital of Germany, which I recently visited

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In this second post, I am taking a look at Berlin’s infrastructure. Berlin is a big city, although not a metropolis. In the city itself, it has a population of 3.8 million, and the Berlin and Brandenburg metro area has a population of 6.1 million. The infrastructure of Berlin has changed a lot over the years due the world wars and the Cold War.

Public Transport

The Berlin transport system is impressive. To start with, it connects really well into the German national rail system, already regarded as one of the best in the world (although the trains don’t run on time very much!). Berlin Hauptbahnhof, opened in 2006 by Angela Merkel, is Berlin’s multi-level transport hub.

Berlin Hbf is where many enter the city, often on one of Germany’s ICE trains from elsewhere in Germany or sometimes as far away as Brussels in Belgium. Berlin Hbf is also a stop on many of Berlin’s underground (U-Bahn) and suburban (S-Bahn) rail services, as well as on Berlin’s bus and tram networks. Most of Berlin’s transport is managed by BVG, the state-owned public transport operator in the city (NB. The S-Bahn is run by Deutsche Bahn, the national rail operator). Berlin’s networks have a unique history, as following World War II, they developed seperately as the transport networks of West Berlin and East Berlin. For instance, there were “ghost” stations on the U-Bahn; stations which West Berlin trains travelled through but did not stop at, because they were in East Berlin. Ghost stations were often guarded by East German soldiers. Since reunification, many ghost stations have now been reopened, often for the first time since WWII.

Berlin’s Pipes

As you wander around Berlin, you often come across pink or blue pipes running above your head, along roads.

These pipes are actually temporary. They are designed to take away groundwater from building sites, as Berlin is actually built on swampy ground. It’s cheaper to use these pipes than to get rid of water through the normal sewer system, and with lots of construction going on, they stay put!

Berlin-Brandenburg Airport

We cannot talk about Berlin’s infrastructure without talking about Berlin-Brandenburg Airport “Willy Brandt” (BER). It has become a national embarrassment for many Germans. Berlin-Brandenburg was planned to replace all of Berlin’s airports (Tegel, Schönefeld, Tempelhof) with one new airport following reunification. After various attempts to get financing from private investors, it was agreed to build BER with public money, at the site of Schönefeld Airport. Construction eventually started in 2006, and costs began to balloon (coughs Crossrail coughs HS2 coughs). The planned opening date of 2011 was delayed until 2014, then 2017, and then 2020. And during this time, Tempelhof was shut and turned into a public space (in 2008). The budget was orginally around €2bn; actual costs were closer to €10bn when BER finally opened on 31st October 2020, and named after former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt.

NEXT TIME: POTSDAM