Metro Berlin - a scheme that covered a huge territory

The metropolitan of Berlin, also called U-Bahn (which means "underground railway", from the word Untergrundbahn) is one of the oldest in Europe. It opened in 1902 and currently serves 170 stations, which are divided into ten branches with a total length of 151.7 kilometers. Approximately 80% of the railroad tracks of the Berlin metro are hidden beneath the earth's thickness.

During the year, this system serves more than 400 million passengers, so in 2012, 507.3 million passengers used the U-Bahn. The daily passenger turnover of the subway is about 1,400,000 people. Its management, repair and maintenance is handled by the largest municipal transport company Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, better known by the acronym BVG.

Convenience of the system

The frequency of movement of the formulations has an interval of 2.5 minutes during the peak hours of weekdays and five minutes in the rest of the daytime. In the evening, the trains arrive every 10 minutes. There is also a schedule for the night period.

The main transport of the capital is the Berlin metro. The scheme is closely intertwined with a complex of city electric trains - S-Bahn. Therefore, the citizens and guests of the city have the opportunity to quickly and comfortably get to any place you need.

History

Berlin was the first city in Germany that built the metro, and the fifth in Europe after London, Budapest, Glasgow and Paris. A major role in the creation of the transport complex was played by Werner von Siemens, a well-known German engineer and inventor. He owns the idea of building an underground network of trains to solve growing transport problems in the German capital at the end of the 19th century.

The first direction in the metro was built and launched in 1902 after a long period of planning and discussion of the project. The line passed over the ground and in many respects echoed the technical decisions of the New York overpasses. In subsequent years, the number of branches of the Berlin metro increased. The scheme to the beginning of the First World War had four directions.

Further planning for the construction of the underground infrastructure was intended to connect the capital and its districts: Wedding, which was in the northern part, with Tempelhof and Neukölln, located in the south. These works began in December 1912 and dragged on until 1930 in connection with the war and the emergence of a mass of financial difficulties.

State with the National Socialists

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Germany changed a lot. These changes also touched the Berlin underground. Nazi flags were posted at all stations, two items were renamed in honor of the heroes of the new regime. The architect Speer developed an ambitious project to expand the Berlin metro. The scheme provided for the creation of a circular line, which would link the other branches to each other.

During the Second World War, the stations were used as bomb shelters. Infrastructure was often destroyed, some of which could be quickly eliminated. But to completely repair the damage prevented constant fighting. Despite this, the movement of the trains continued until the end of hostilities.

Only at the end of April 1945, the work of the metro Berlin temporarily stopped. The tunnel scheme indicated that they were flooded, and electricity was cut off. However, after a month, some of the tracks were again put into operation. Great merit in this belongs to the commandant of the city NE Berzarin.

Soviet time

The most important event in the life of the city was its division into two parts. A restriction was imposed on the movement of citizens from west to east and back. There was erection of the famous Berlin Wall - a fence dividing the space into two parts. This brought a lot of difficulties in the work of the underground.

Modernity

Today the Berlin metro has 10 lines - 9 main and one auxiliary. The network has an enormous length and covers the area not only of the city itself, but also of the nearest suburbs. For tourists on sale there is a metro map of Berlin with sights. Thanks to this, the guests of the capital can travel without fear of getting lost, and inspect all the interesting objects.