Sanna Akehurst takes a tour around one of her favourite Berlin train stations – Ostkreuz – as it finally undergoes renovations.
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So far as I know, Berlin is streets ahead in terms of exploiting something called Construction Tourism. The first well-known example is the elevated box that showed visitors what Potsdamer Platz was going to look like. The in-progress new international airport (BER Airport Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt) has a visitor’s tower and various tours to admire its progress, but my latest opportunity to investigate a major construction site was at Berlin’s Ostkreuz station, where I enjoyed an actual guided tour – free of charge.
Nearly everyone who arrives in, leaves or passes through Berlin encounters Ostkreuz, one of the busiest stations in Germany and one I have a personal fondness for. When I first moved to the city I always confused Ostbahnhof and Ostkreuz; one late night I ended up going in the wrong direction and had to wait half an hour for the return train. Since it was 4am and the platform was mainly deserted, I sat on a bench near the fruit and veg man setting up his stall and must have drifted off for a bit because the next thing I knew I was tapped on the arm and the aforementioned gent gave me a banana and an apple – “for vitamins“.
The woman who sells coffee at Ostkreuz always makes sure it’s sealed up in a beaker in time for you to catch the next train, and a former colleague of mine used to compose poems on his way to work via Ostkreuz because the sunrises are spectacular, particularly in autumn. On the other hand mothers with pushchairs, cyclists and people with limited mobility hate the place. Upstairs downstairs and then upstairs again is no fun; the station reconstruction will be a Godsend for them.
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The station was originally opened in 1882 as Stralau-Rummelsburg, but was given the Ostkreuz name in 1933. During the Cold War years, when links between East and West Berlin public transport were severed, Ostkreuz was the main hub of the East Berlin S-Bahn network. Modernization of the station was proposed as early as 1937, and again during East German rule. While the architecture wasn’t such a problem, the frequency and intensity of the station’s usage laid the plans to waste each time.
By the turn of the century, its buildings and track layout essentially unchanged since the 1920s, pondering had to be turned into action otherwise the station — fondly known at this point as Rostkreuz (Rost = rust), would be shut down due to serious safety risks. Finally, in 2006, the Deutsche Bahn (the German Railway who operate the S-Bahn) and the city of Berlin agreed on the zoning approval for the conversion of Ostkreuz and the almost entirely new buildings and overpasses which need to be built.
The tour started with a presentation that explains the history, present and future of the station. It was very informative and the group I was with were full of oohs and ahhs. We learned several interesting things:
- Ostkreuz has about 16 million people passing through it each day.
- The original architecture includes Bauhaus and Art Nouveau styles.
- As the various train companies set up their routes, they built their own platforms.
- When the Berlin to Erkner stretch first opened it cost a day’s wages for a single ticket.“]
- There are over six different historically protected architectural features including the famous brick water tower.
- The Senate has prohibited the complete closure of the station at any time over its eleven-year rebuilding period.
- The neighbours are regularly re-housed in hotels over weekends.
- Despite three heavy winters and certain suppliers going bust, the building schedule is still on target for 2016.
- There are already foundations laid for a submerged tunnel should the motorway extension ever be realised, so that there will be no further interruptions to daily rail traffic.
- The mainline trains passing through currently have no access to power on that stretch and have to build up enough speed to cruise through — while the train drivers were getting used to it, they sometimes had to drag out an old diesel locomotive to tow them through.
We got to wear high visibility vests and hard hats and I felt really like an engineer for the day. And any illusion that this was some sort of serious educational excursion was soon dispelled – one gains enormous childish pleasure at being dwarfed by the scale of the construction work and the machinery used. The guide, moreover, was not only willing and able to answer any questions, he had a lot of funny anecdotes up his sleeve.
The only requirements for a tour are that you bring decent footwear and are able to ascend and descend steps with ease. You can go as often as you like (the works are obviously changing all the time so repeat visits are popular) and the tour is completely free of charge. To get on a tour, call in at the Info-Box am Ostkreuz, a red container-like building whose entrance is on Markgarfendamm (Tues 14:00 to 19:00) or call Ostkreuz-Info-Telephone (030) 297 12973.
You can keep up to date with the rebuilding of the station on this dedicated blog (German only).
