Berlin - Part two

[Ronald]

Let's take a closer look at transportation in Berlin.

The airport where we landed. This is Berlin-Tegel. The city has 2 other airports (Schoenefeld & Tempelhof), and another one is under construction (Berlin-Brandenburg International). I found this airport to be rather dull, but maybe that's because I am spoiled, with Schiphol being my 'home airport'.

For local transportation, Berliners use the S-bahn (elevated rail lines) and the U-bahn (subway lines). The two of them form an integrated network of urban rail, that enables you to get pretty much anywhere in the city, fast!

U-bahn station Bismarckstrasse.

The train departs again, from the Potsdamer Platz U-bahn station.

U-bahn station 'Stadtmitte'

Taken directly after the doors opened, even before people disembarked the trains

S-bahn station Nollendorfplatz

How the station is integrated in the local streets

Inside an S-bahn vehicle.

S-bahn station Savignyplatz at night.

In the former eastern section of Berlin, there is an extensive networks of trams, which complements the already extensive S- and U-bahn network. These pictures were taken at Alexanderplatz.

The Alexanderplatz station, where U-bahn, S-bahn, and local tramlines intersect.

Potsdamer Platz' railway station (for regional/ national traffic) was built underground.

Can't believe how clean everything was! If only Rotterdam was more like this.

Now let's see some pics of the interior of the Lehrter Bahnhof! Dare I say that it is the most magnificent station in the world?

Bombardier (originally from Montreal) makes trainvehicles for the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (the transit company of Berlin). In the front of the picture, one of their trains can be seen. Bombardier nowadays has their management office in Berlin.

This is where you arrive when you enter the station via the main entrance.

[Ronald]

This picture should give you a good idea of how the station was built-up: regional/ national lines all the way underground, then 3 layers of shops/ restaurants etc., then on top of it all, both local lines (the S- and U-bahn) and ICE (national/ regional lines) arrive at platforms that are situated from east to west, where as the platforms underground run from north to south.

The platforms that are situated underground.

Shops.

There's more ways of getting around in Berlin than just urban rail. You can grab a bicycle-taxi, for instance.

Because of the graffity epidemic that has been enhancing Berlin's streetscapes for decades, small private companies try to be ahead of graffity artists by painting their own cars.

Bas, for all your fruit and vegetable needs.

The courrier.

I hope I have shown you that, in my eyes, Berlin has the perfect urban rail network. It's an example of very well thought-out transportation planning.

That's it for part two, I will post one more thread about general pictures shortly.

[GRDadof3]

Wow! Great tour. That multi-level station is incredible. It puts many American airports to shame.

There is a great scene in the film "Bourne Supremacy" that features the tram that rides across Alexanderplatz.

Also, I was doing some research on this station about a month ago and stumbled on this interesting video of all the different transportation modes coming together (in fast motion) at Alexanderplatz:

[Ronald]

Thanks for the video! Very interresting indeed.

Besides cars, there's lots of pedestrians, local tramlines and municipal S-bahn trains and regional trains at the station.

I think that the multi-level trainstation puts many airports worldwide to shame

[dgreco]

great photos, thanks for both threads, interesting and great to view.

[Rural King]

Antoher very interesting thread! Thanks so much for taking the time to put these three great pic threads together for us! I know it takes some time to put them together. Very cool pics of a very cool city.

[seicer]

Oh my. Very clean, modernity abound, and it puts the states all to shame

The only other places I have seen this amount of transit coordinated into centralized locations is Japan and Korea.

[Ronald]

Antoher very interesting thread! Thanks so much for taking the time to put these three great pic threads together for us! I know it takes some time to put them together. Very cool pics of a very cool city.