Berlin–Lehrte railway

The Berlin–Lehrte railway, known in German as the Lehrter Bahn (Lehrte Railway), is an east–west line running from Berlin via Lehrte to Hanover. Its period as a separate railway extended from its opening in 1871 to the nationalisation of its owner, the Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company on 1 July 1886. The company's Berlin station, the Lehrter Bahnhof was finally torn down in 1958.

Berlin–Lehrte railway
"Stammbahn" via Stendal (left) and the high-speed line bypassing Stendal (right) at Möhringen
Overview
Native name	Lehrter Bahn
Line number	6107 Berlin Hbf–Lehrte 6185 HSL from Berlin-Spandau to Oebisfelde 6399 Oebisfelde–Fallersleben (3 tracks)
Locale	Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin
Service
Route number	204 Berlin–Stendal 301 Stendal–Wolfsburg 300 Wolfsburg–Lehrte 349
Technical
Line length	239.3 km (148.7 mi)
Number of tracks	1–3 2, combined with HSL (Bamme junction–Ribbeck junction)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead catenary (partly)
Operating speed	200 km/h (120 mph) (maximum)
Route map Legend from Hanover from and to Celle 239.3 Lehrte old route to Hildesheim to Hildesheim, to Brunswick 231.1 Immensen-Arpke 223.9 Dollbergen Fuhse 219.7 Dedenhausen Plockhorst junction, to Plockhorst (high level) 216.3 Plockhorst (low level), Brunswick–Celle 213.7 Meinersen 211.8 Oker 206.3 Leiferde (b Gifhorn) 205.7 Leiferde (b Gifhorn) from Uelzen from Brunswick, until 1913 198.4 Gifhorn to Brunswick, since 1913 Elbe Lateral Canal tunnel (970 m) 192.1 Calberlah Mittelland Canal 186.3 from Brunswick, since 1942 185.6 Fallersleben to Brunswick, until 1942 180.9 Wolfsburg 176.5 Vorsfelde Danndorf to Schandelah, 1955–75 Aller Lower Saxony–Saxony-Anhalt state border from Schandelah, to 1945 from Helmstedt from Wittingen 267.9   167.3 Oebisfelde To Haldensleben (flying junction) Salzwedel Mittelland Canal (108 m) 157.7 Miesterhorst 151.6 Mieste 145.2 Solpke 238.7   137.5 Gardelegen / crossover To Haldensleben 131.3 Jävenitz 124.0 Uchtspringe 117.8 Vinzelberg 216.8   115.8 Nahrstedt junction 112.4 Möringen (Altm) (beginning of Stendal southern bypass) From Uelzen, from Wittenberge 105.1 Stendal To Alstom (Stendal depot), formerly to Borstel To Magdeburg To Tangermünde (end of Stendal southern bypass) 99.9 Bindfelde junction 198.8             Staffelde junction 97.1 Hämerten (station until 1998) Elbe bridge, Hämerten (810 m) 192.3     92.3 Schönhausen (Elbe)/Schönhausen HGV To Genthin To Sandau 85.8 Schönhauser Damm Saxony-Anhalt/Brandenburg state border 79.4 Großwudicke Havel (230 m) From Brandenburg 170.9     70.9 Rathenow To Neustadt (Dosse) 165.6     65.6 Bamme junction 160.7   (60.7) Nennhausen 152.2   (52.2) Buschow 148.5     48.9 Ribbeck junction 43.5 Groß Behnitz Osthavelland District Railway 35.7 Neugarten junction from Ketzin 35.4 Neugarten From Nauen 130.5     30.4 Wustermark Havel Canal (86 m) A 10 To outer ring Berlin outer ring From outer ring 26.3 Elstal Wustermark Rbf 24.1 Wustermark Rbf Wot (junction) 22.2 Dallgow-Döberitz 18.5 Berlin-Staaken Brandenburg–Berlin state border 16.6 Berlin-Staaken 115.9     15.9 Berlin Nennhauser Damm junction From Hamburg 14.4 Berlin-Spandau freight yard 112.7     12.7 Berlin-Spandau, terminus of Havel Berlin-Stresow Spandau Military Railway S-Bahn line to Stadtbahn 10.6 Berlin-Ruhleben freight yard 110.3     10.4 Berlin Wiesendamm junction To Stadtbahn 8.7 Berlin-Charlottenburg junction Freight line to Berlin Westkreuz Siemensstadt-Fürstenbrunn from Gartenfeld A 100 (Rudolf-Wissell Bridge) From Westend From Westkreuz ( only at weekends) Spree 5.7 Jungfernheide Charlottenburg Canal Beusselstraße 3.3 Moabit Westhafen To Wedding ( only at weekends) To Gesundbrunnen and HuL From Gesundbrunnen from Wedding (planned) North–South mainline Tunnel 0.0 Berlin Hbf, Lehrter Bf (low level), Stadtbahn 0.0 Lehrter Bahnhof to Berlin Südkreuz Source: German railway atlas^[1]^[page needed]

The 239 km long route, which is still open, runs from Berlin Hauptbahnhof in a westerly direction to Spandau. From there it runs through Rathenow, Stendal, Oebisfelde, Wolfsburg and Gifhorn to Lehrte, where it connects with the Hanover–Brunswick line to Hanover.

The Lehrte railway has a maximum speed of 200 km/h on the busy line between Hanover and Oebisfelde, which forms part of the Hanover–Berlin high-speed line. Between Oebisfelde and Berlin, the new line runs largely parallel with the Lehrte line. The Lehrte line is mostly unelectrified between Wustermark in the western of the suburbs of Berlin and Vorsfelde, near Wolfsburg, as long-distance passenger services use the new line.

History

In 1867, Adolph von Hansemann's Magdeburg-Halberstadt Railway Company (German: Magdeburg-Halberstädter Eisenbahngesellschaft, MHE) obtained the concession for the construction of this line, and a branch from Stendal via Salzwedel to Uelzen, the so-called America Line. The route would reduce the distance between Berlin, Hanover and the Rhine Province compared to the already existing line via Potsdam, Magdeburg and Brunswick. It went into service in the following stages:

• 15 March 1870: Stendal–Salzwedel
• 1 February 1871: Gardelegen–Stendal–Spandau
• 15 July 1871: Spandau–Berlin
• 1 November 1871: Lehrte–Gardelegen for freight; 1 December 1871 for passengers

 

Lehrte Station and Moltke Bridge in 1900

The government of Prussia bought the MHE in December 1879 and thus acquired the Berlin–Lehrte railway and it became part of the Prussian state railways. From 1884 the operations in Berlin of the Lehrte Railway were united structurally and operationally more and more with the nearby Hamburg Railway. This was accompanied by the separation of passenger and freight transport in Berlin with the building of the relief line between Wustermark and Nauen, the construction and refurbishment of the Spandau station and the opening of the Wustermark marshalling yard completed before the First World War.

The railway line became increasingly important for passenger and freight transport between Berlin and Hanover, the Ruhr and Bremen. With the division of Germany after the Second World War, the line lost most of its long-distance passenger trains. Because of the need to make reparations, the rail networks in the Soviet occupation zone were reduced to a minimum, partly due to strange, time-consuming operating procedures for rail movements that resulted. In Berlin, the remaining traffic was concentrated on other routes and stations, so that Berlin's Lehrte station ceased operation in 1952. In 1974 a 970 m long cut and cover tunnel was completed under the newly constructed Elbe Lateral Canal.

Starting in 1976 the line between Wustermark and Berlin began to be used for transit trains between Berlin and Hamburg. New passport inspection facilities were set up in Berlin-Staaken station. After German reunification in 1991, long-distance trains from Berlin to Hanover returned to the line.

High-speed

Main article: Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway

In the 1980s, planning was untaken on upgrading the Lehrte railway for high-speed transit traffic between West Germany and West Berlin. It was planned to build a new track parallel with the Lehrte railway for transit traffic, with the existing tracks used for the domestic services within the German Democratic Republic. This plan is reflected in the line as built with the old railway, which is still largely not electrified, being used for regional services.

Connection of the Hamburg and Berlin Lehrte railways

The first connection to the new Berlin Ringbahn was built in 1879 when a connection was built in Fürstenbrunn to the Charlottenburg-Westend freight yard (now Westend). This connection was further developed in 1882 to create a link for passenger trains between the Lehrte railway and the Berlin Stadtbahn to connect with Charlottenburg station. For the same purpose a connection was also built in 1882 between the Hamburg railway and the Stadtbahn between Ruhleben and Charlottenburg station.

With the nationalisation of the Hamburg railway in 1884, its operation was further integrated with the Lehrte railway in Berlin and Spandau:

• Transfer of Hamburg passenger services to Berlin's Lehrte station and closure of the Hamburger Bahnhof in October 1884
• Merger of their goods yards in Berlin in May 1893
• Restructuring between 1888 and 1892 of the two companies' stations in Spandau, with the station west of the Havel river (formerly Spandau's Lehrte Station, now Spandau station) becoming the freight yard and station east of the Havel (formerly Spandau's Hamburg Station, now Stresow S-Bahn station) becoming the passenger station. In 1885 a freight rail had been built here to create a link between the two lines.
• At the same time, the two pairs of tracks between Berlin and Spandau were rearranged to operate as passenger-only and freight-only tracks, with the Lehrte tracks being used for freight trains. As part of development of the Ringbahn with four tracks Moabit station was rebuilt.

Putlitzstraße station opened in 1898 allowed for the first time transfers between trains on the north ring and suburban trains between Spandau and Berlin's Lehrte station. More stations were opened on the Lehrte railway:

• Staaken (1900)
• Fürstenbrunn (1905) for the Siemens workers of Siemensstadt (closed after the West Berlin railworker strike with the Siemens Railway in 1980)
• Jungfernheide (1908)

Reconstruction of Spandau railway

 

Berlin-Spandau Station

The steadily growth of long-distance, suburban and freight services made necessary the radical transformation of the Spandau railway between 1905 and 1912. It was also necessary to relocate freight services, for which the Berlin railway had become too congested, to outer areas.

Between Ruhleben and the Spandau freight yard the old freight line, originally the route of the Lehrte railway was closed in order to create a new eight or six track railway on an embankment on the alignment of the Hamburg railway. Long-distance passenger, suburban and freight services each gained their own pair of tracks.

West of Spandau goods yard (Spandau West), new passenger train tracks were created in 1908 for the Lehrte railway. As previously, east of Spandau the original tracks of the Lehrte railway were available only for freight. In 1909 Wustermark marshalling yard opened, replacing the Spandau marshalling yard and part of the function of several inner Berlin goods yards. In 1911, the Ruhleben goods yard (east of Spandau) opened to traffic with several connecting routes.

At the same time, in order to cope with the increasing commuter traffic, tracks were built connecting the Berlin Stadtbahn with the new Spandau West suburban station west of the Havel, which was opened in 1910. In 1911 the Spandau suburban line was completed, branching off the connection between the Hamburg line and the Stadtbahn at Heerstraße station and passing through Rennbahn (opened in 1909) and Pichelsberg.

With the relocation of the Stadtbahn link between Heerstraße and Charlottenburg in 1928 to the southwest to make room for the new Exhibition Ground separate tracks were built for long-distance and suburban services between Heerstraße and the Stadtbahn. From August 1928, the electrified S-Bahn services were extended to Spandau.

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.

• Bley, Peter (1996). 150 Jahre Eisenbahn Berlin-Hamburg (150 years of the Berlin-Hamburg railway) (in German). Düsseldorf: alba-Verlag. ISBN 3-87094-229-0.
• Kuhlmann, Bernd (2006). Bahnknoten Berlin (Berlin railway junction) (in German). Berlin: Verlag GVE. ISBN 3-89218-099-7.
• von der Leyen, Alfred, ed. (1982). Berlin und seine Eisenbahnen (Berlin and its Railway)—1846-1896 (in German). Berlin: Verlag Aesthetik und Kommunikation. ISBN 3-88245-106-8. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Philipps, Wolfgang (2014). ""Die beste Verbindungslinie zwischen dem Osten und dem Westen." Politische Hintergründe der Berlin-Lehrter Eisenbahn" [The best connection between East and West. Political backgrounds of the Berlin-Lehrte railway]. Lehrter Land & Leute: Magazin zur Geschichte, Kultur und Heimatkunde (in German). 42: 14–16. ISSN 0946-0365.

External links

•   Media related to Berlin–Lehrte railway line at Wikimedia Commons