Berlin Northern Railway

Last updated
Berlin Northern Railway
Berlin–Neubrandenburg–Stralsund
Nordbahn, Bf. Lowenberg, sudliche Einfahrt.jpg
Looking south from Löwenberg station
Overview
Native nameBerliner Nordbahn
Line number
  • 6088
  • 6030 S-Bahn to Oranienburg
Locale Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Service
Route number200.1, 200.85, 205, 209.12
Technical
Line length222.6 km (138.3 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Electrification
Operating speed
  • 120 km/h (74.6 mph) (Birkenwerder-Nassenheide)
  • 160 km/h (99.4 mph) (Nassenheide-Neustrelitz)
  • 100 km/h (62.1 mph) (otherwise)
Route map

Preussische Nordbahn Karte.png

Contents

BSicon STR.svg
BSicon eABZg+r.svg
BSicon BUE.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
222.6
Stralsund Hbf
BSicon SBRUCKE.svg
BSicon ABZgl+l.svg
BSicon ABZgl.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
219.0
Voigdehagen
BSicon SBRUCKE.svg
B 96
BSicon HST.svg
214.7
Zarrendorf
BSicon BHF.svg
211.2
Elmenhorst
BSicon HST.svg
208.3
Wittenhagen
(former Bf)
BSicon BUE.svg
BSicon WBRUCKE1.svg
BSicon ABZg+l.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
199.6
Grimmen
BSicon eABZgr.svg
BSicon SBRUCKE.svg
BSicon HST.svg
192.7
Rakow
(former Bf)
BSicon eBHF.svg
189.2
Düvier
BSicon eBHF.svg
184.9
Toitz-Rustow
BSicon eABZgl.svg
to Loitz
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
176.1
Demmin
BSicon eABZgl.svg
from Tutow
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
172.4
Zachariae
BSicon HST.svg
169.8
Utzedel
BSicon BHF.svg
165.2
Sternfeld
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
Strehlower Bach
BSicon HST.svg
161.4
Gnevkow
BSicon eBHF.svg
157.4
Gültz
BSicon BHF.svg
149.1
Altentreptow
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon eBHF.svg
142.3
Neddemin
BSicon eABZg+l.svg
BSicon ABZg+r.svg
BSicon eABZg+r.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
133.7
Neubrandenburg
BSicon ABZgl.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
125.4
Burg Stargard
BSicon HST.svg
117.6
Cammin (Meckl)
former station
BSicon BS2+l.svg
BSicon BS2c4.svg
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon exSTR+l.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
BSicon exBHF.svg
113.4
Blankensee (Meckl)
BSicon eDST.svg
BSicon exLSTR.svg
105.2
Thurow
BSicon ABZg+r.svg
BSicon exLSTR.svg
BSicon ABZgl.svg
BSicon xABZg+r.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
BSicon STR.svg
98.5
Neustrelitz Hbf
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon KDSTxe.svg
Neustrelitz Süd
BSicon ABZgl.svg
BSicon xABZg+r.svg
BSicon KRZo.svg
BSicon xABZgr.svg
to Mirow  [ de ]
BSicon BS2l.svg
BSicon eBS2r.svg
BSicon eABZg+r.svg
95.2
Strelitz Alt junction
BSicon eDST.svg
88.7
Drewin
BSicon eBHF.svg
85.2
Düsterförde
BSicon STR+GRZq.svg
MVBrandenburg state border
BSicon eABZgl+l.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
78.0
Fürstenberg (Havel)
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
74.7
Drögen
BSicon BHF.svg
65.4
Dannenwalde
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
Wentowsee
BSicon eBHF.svg
60.8
Altlüdersdorf
BSicon eABZg+r.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
56.2
Gransee
BSicon eHST.svg
53.6
Buberow
BSicon eHST.svg
51.5
Gutengermendorf
BSicon ABZgxr+r.svg
BSicon ABZg+l.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
44.3
Löwenberg
BSicon HST.svg
40.8
Grüneberg
BSicon BHF.svg
34.8
Nassenheide
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon eABZgl.svg
31.5
BSicon eBHF.svg
31.5
Fichtengrund
BSicon eABZg+l.svg
31.5
BSicon HST.svg
29.5
Sachsenhausen (Nordb)
BSicon BS2c1.svg
BSicon BS2+r.svg
BSicon KSBHFa.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
27.4
Oranienburg,
terminus of Berlin transit icons - S1.svg
BSicon eABZg+l.svg
BSicon eABZgr.svg
BSicon eABZgr.svg
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon SHST.svg
BSicon STR.svg
25.7
Lehnitz
BSicon SHST.svg
BSicon STR.svg
22.5
Borgsdorf
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon ABZg+l.svg
BSicon ABZgr.svg
BSicon S+BHF.svg
BSicon STR.svg
19.4
Birkenwerder,
terminus of Berlin transit icons - S8.svg
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon ABZgl.svg
to Berlin outer ring
BSicon ABZgl.svg
BSicon ABZg+r.svg
BSicon KRZo.svg
BSicon ABZgr.svg
to Berlin outer ring
BSicon KRZu.svg
BSicon KRZu.svg
Berlin outer ring overpass
BSicon SBHF.svg
BSicon xABZgl.svg
17.3
Hohen Neuendorf
BSicon ABZgl.svg
BSicon xKRZ.svg
S-Bahn from Berlin outer ring Berlin transit icons - S8.svg
BSicon STR+GRZq.svg
BSicon exSTR+GRZq.svg
BrandenburgBerlin state border
BSicon SBHF.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
13.0
Frohnau
BSicon SHST.svg
BSicon exBHF.svg
10.9
Hermsdorf
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon exhKRZWae.svg
Tegel stream
BSicon SBHF.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
9.4
Waidmannslust,
terminus of Berlin transit icons - S85.svg
BSicon eKRZo.svg
BSicon exKRZo.svg
BSicon SHST.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
8.1
Berlin-Wittenau Berlin transit icons - U8.svg
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon exhKRZWae.svg
Nordgraben
BSicon STR.svg
BSicon exABZg+l.svg
BSicon SHST.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
5.5
Wilhelmsruh
BSicon ABZg+r.svg
BSicon xABZg+r.svg
BSicon SBHF.svg
BSicon DST.svg
3.8
Schönholz
BSicon SHST.svg
BSicon STR.svg
2.8
Wollankstraße
BSicon ABZg+l.svg
BSicon ABZg+l.svg
BSicon SBHF.svg
BSicon STR.svg
1.2
Bornholmer Straße
BSicon ABZqlr.svg
BSicon KRZo.svg
S-Bahn to Schönhauser Allee Berlin transit icons - S1.svg Berlin transit icons - S2.svg Berlin transit icons - S25.svg
and Gesundbrunnen Berlin transit icons - S8.svg Berlin transit icons - S9.svg Berlin transit icons - S85.svg
BSicon STR+l.svg
BSicon xABZglr.svg
BSicon ABZqr.svg
BSicon xKRZu.svg
BSicon exKDSTe.svg
0.0
Berlin Old Nordbahnhof
Source: German railway atlas [1]

The Berlin Northern Railway (German : Berliner Nordbahn) is a 223-kilometre-long main line route, that runs from Berlin via Neustrelitz and Neubrandenburg to Stralsund on the Baltic Sea coast. Nowadays, long-distance and regional traffic on the Nordbahn is routed at Hohen Neuendorf onto the Berlin Outer Ring to the Karower Kreuz and on to Berlin Main Station or Berlin-Lichtenberg.

History

Construction of the line was preceded by decades of planning from 1843 until 1870 when the newly founded Berlin Northern Railway Company (German: Berliner Nord-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) gained the concessions from the states of Prussia and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. For financial reasons, the company was dissolved on 15 December 1875. The Prussian government acquired the unfinished railway and handed over further construction of it to the Lower Silesian-Markish Railway (Niederschlesisch-Märkische Eisenbahn). The opening took place in three stages:

The construction of the Northern Railway had a significant impact on the villages to the north of Berlin that were in the catchment area of the railway line. In some cases their population multiplied in the following decades. The term Nordbahn became part of place-names (for instance, Glienicke/Nordbahn) and newspapers used its name (Nordbahn-Nachrichten).

Water tower at Lowenberg station Loewenberger Land Neuloewenberg Wasserturm Bahnhof.jpg
Water tower at Löwenberg station

The Berlin terminus of the railway, but only for freight, was the first freight yard at Eberswalder Straße, now the site of Mauerpark. Passenger services began at the original Nordbahnhof (North Station) in Pankow, today's Wollankstraße station, still evident in the design of the station and its forecourt. At the end of the 19th century the terminus of the railway or passenger trains for Berlin regional services was relocated to the Stettiner Bahnhof (Stettin—now Szczecinstation), built on Invalidenstraße; the freight remained at Eberswalder Straße.

Up to 1912 separate suburban tracks were built next to the long distance tracks between Gesundbrunnen and Frohnau. At the same time the line was moved to an embankment, to eliminate level crossings. In 1926, the section from Frohnau to Borgsdorf was treated similarly.

In 1925 the suburban services were electrified on the DC system on the section from Gesundbrunnen to Oranienburg. The route later became part of the Berlin S-Bahn. In 1950 the Stettiner Bahnhof was renamed the Nordbahnhof. Electrical operations continued until the building of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, when the line between Frohnau and Hohen Neuendorf was closed. The Berlin section of the Northern Railway had already been closed for mainline traffic to Nordbahnhof on 18 May 1952.

Immediately after the wall was built, the S-Bahn between Oranienburg and Hohen Neuendorf became an isolated operation. Subsequently, S-Bahn tracks were built and electrified along the Berlin outer ring between Hohen Neuendorf and Blankenburg. This line was connected in November 1961 to the main S-Bahn network. In Berlin, S-Bahn services continued to Frohnau until the handover of operating rights of the S-Bahn in West Berlin from the East German Railways to the BVG on 9 January 1984. Services were first closed and only resumed on 1 October 1984. Rehabilitation carried out on the S-train tracks in 1985 placed them on a track profile that would make the restoration of the old main line for long distance traffic difficult.

After the reunification, many of the smaller stops were however closed (Düsterförde (1996), Strelitz Alt (1995), Neddemin, Randow, Toitz-Rustow.

In 1992, the gap between Frohnau and Hohen Neuendorf was reopened so that continuous S-Bahn services could resume on the Northern Railway to Oranienburg.

In the long term, the recommissioning of the direct route from Berlin to Birkenwerder is planned. For this purpose, the long-distance railway tracks of the northern railway between the station Berlin-Gesundbrunnen and Birkenwerder on a length of 18.8 kilometres are to be rebuilt with two tracks with a line speed of 160 km/h, but no date has been set for this.

See also

References

  1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2017. pp. 7, 8, 16, 26, 36, 124–25, 128–29. ISBN   978-3-89494-146-8.