Monday, September 24, 2012

Twenty odd years ago, when your author first came to Berlin, maps were things which were printed on paper and became outdated pretty quickly (thanks to among other things the constant renaming of street and station names in the former East Berlin following reunification).

Now, thanks to the wonders of digital mobile communications, you can experience cartographical obsolesence from the comfort of your own iPhone (or other iDevice), as long as you're running the latest iOS6. For along with many other errors, Apple has replaced Berlin's modern main railway station, the Berlin-Hauptbahnhof, with the historical S-Bahn station Lehrter Stadtbahnhof, which was located just to the north of Hauptbahnhof until it was demolished in 2002.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Berlin's U-bahn line U2, parts of which are among the oldest on the U-Bahn network, is currently undergoing extensive reconstruction and the section of line between Gleisdreieck and Wittenbergplatz will be closed from June 24th until November 10th 2011.

Additionally, the western section of the U2 from Wittenbergplatz to Olympiastadion will be combined with the eastern section of the U1 as the U12, while the U1 will be scaled back to run between Wittenbergplatz and Uhlandstraße.

Not that Bülowstraße will be closed during this period. Bülowstraße is within easy walking distance of Kurfürstenstraße and is also served by bus M48.

(Fans of Berlin's transport history might be interested to know that this configuration of the Kleinprofil network resembles the situation before the reunification of the West and East Berlin halves of the U2 in 1993, except the line numbers have been shuffled around, and of course the U2 was not operational at all between Mohrenstraße and Gleisdreieck).

Sunday, August 29, 2010

It looks like the S-Bahn will still be suffering from restricted service for a while yet. A series of technical problems with its newest trains introduced over the last decade has resulted in severely limited availability, and the original schedule for returning to normal service in December 2010 will now no longer be met. It will probably be towards the end of 2011 when all trains can be restored to full working order - the S-Bahn is awaiting delivery of new sets of axles and wheels to replace the current ones, which are prone to cracking.

Service is currently restricted on the following lines:

• S25 Teltow_(Station) - Potsdamer Platz Service every 20 minutes
• S45 Schönefeld Airport - Bundesplatz No service (all stations on route served by other lines)
• S85 Grünau - Waidmannslust No service (all stations on route served by other lines)

On other lines trains will be operating with four instead of the usual 6 or 8 cars.

The latest U-Bahn and S-Bahn network plan is available for download here (PDF).

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Following the sudden 39 hour U-Bahn, bus and tram strike last Friday and Saturday, little progress has been made in negotiations between the public transport workers' union Verdi and public transport operator BVG. Verdi has however announced that no strikes or other industrial action will take place before Monday, February 11th.

The strike last week was haevily criticised by public transport users due to the short notice given - many commuters were caught out on Friday morning and had to make alternative travel arrangements. It looks like further strikes will not be quite as disruptive; Monday, February 11 and Tuesday, February 12 are likely dates for the next round of industrial action.

Note that services run by Deutsche Bahn - particularly the S-Bahn network and regional trains are not affected by this round of industrial action, although in the event of any strikes they will be more crowded than usual.

On Friday and Saturday a bus shuttle service was in operation between Tegel Airport and Alexanderplatz via Berlin-Hauptbahnhof replacing the TXL airport bus. It's likely this service will be operated during any future strikes, providing a reliable public transport connection to Tegel.

Schönefeld Airport| is mainly served by the S-Bahn and Regionalbahn|regional trains, meaning access from there to the centre of Berlin will not be disrupted by any BVG strikes.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

From midight Friday until 3pm Saturday, the BVG - Berlin's public transport system - will not be running due to strike action.

All U-Bahn and Tram services are affected. A few bus lines run by private companies on behalf of the BVG will run as usual, but these are mostly in the suburbs.

The TXL bus service from Tegel Airport to Berlin-Hauptbahnhof will be operating at 10 minute intervals.

The S-Bahn and Regionalbahn services operated by Deutsche Bahn will not be affected and are running as normal. The S-Bahn will be running more frequent services.

Taxis will be hard to get and traffic jams can be expected.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Due to maintenance work between Wittenbergplatz and Gleisdreieck, U-Bahn line U1 is being split into two parts from today until December 21. During this period the station Kurfürstenstraße will be closed.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

So - you're in a rush to catch your plane, and realise you left the suitcase with the ropes and gags in it at home. Or your Aunty Maud sends you a text asking you to get one of those German vibrators. Or you were going to go to Beate Uhse but it was a Sunday. Or you just need a little something to while away the lonely nights in the business hotel in Runcorn. Then worry not! For Berlin's Tegel Airport now has its own, erm, adult shop in Terminal E: the "LSD Erotik Store" is open daily from 6am to 10pm in the Boulevard Tegel.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Current situation (Thursday, November 22nd, 10am): No strikes are currently planned.

Deutsche Bahn has made a new offer to train drivers' union GDL, who is considering whether to recommend acceptance. Their decision will taken by Monday next week (November 26th) which means no strikes are likely before then.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Good thing the S-Bahn isn't going on strike in the next couple of days: the BVG, which runs Berlin's U-Bahn network and which is traditionally strapped for cash, is running trains on some lines this week to a reduced "holiday timetable" because it's the autumn school holidays.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Looks like another round of stoppages is upcoming: train drivers' union GDL will be striking across Germany on Thursday and Friday this week, and Monday and Tuesday next week. The strikes will affect non-intercity trains, i.e. regional lines and S-Bahn networks only, following an injunction obtained by Deutsche Bahn.

In contrast to the last strike on Friday, which was known in advance and only lasted three hours, the upcoming strikes will take place without advance notice. Deutsche Bahn won't be putting any emergency timetable in place this time.