No, not that U2. The other one, Berlin'sU-Bahn line 2, which normally runs betweenPankow andRuhleben. It seems that a section of bridge over a century old betweenGleisdreieck and Bülowstraße is no longer as young and sprightly as it once was and will have to be replaced, putting that section of line out of action from August 18 2006 to ca. March 21, 2007.

In true Berlin fashion this stretch of the U2 was largely reconstructed as recently 1992 as part of the restoration of the line between Mohrenstraße andNollendorfplatz, which had been out of service since the construction of the Berlin Wall. Fifteen years ago it seems they reckoned the bridge would hold a lot longer, but now it is starting to show worrisome cracks. Of course it also happens to be the bridge over the main-line railway tracks at the entrance to the recently opened North-South Tunnel - bad timing if there ever was.

For the course of the works the U2 will run between Pankow and Gleisdreieck. A "new" line, the "U12", will run from Warschauer Straße to Ruhleben via Wittenbergplatz, and the U1 will be shortened to the stretch of line between Wittenbergplatz andUhlandstraße. Additionally the U3 will be extended from Nollendorfplatz to Gleisdreieck at peak hours.

Note for U-Bahn afficionados: This is pretty much the constellation of the Kleinprofil network as it was until 1992, only the modern-day U3 was the U2, the line between Uhlandstraße and Wittenbergplatz was the U3 (subsequently U15, for the duration of the works the U1) and the then U1 has been temporarily revived as the U12. Got that?

Posted at 5:12 PM in