Berlin outer ring

The Berlin outer ring (BAR; ) is a long double track electrified railway located in Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany. Its route forms a ring around the former West Berlin, and includes parts of some older lines such as the Outer Freight Ring, Jüterbog–Nauen railway, and Michendorf–Großbeeren railway. The BAR was originally built by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) between 1950 and 1961 to bypass West Berlin for political, economic, and military reasons. It allowed East Germany to seal off West Berlin without disrupting its transport links, in preparation for the building of the Berlin Wall during the division of Germany, by encircling West Berlin through East Berlin and the suburbs in Bezirk Potsdam. The BAR was integrated into the Deutsche Bahn railway system in the 1990s after German reunification. The term Outer ring is used to distinguish the line from the Ringbahn of inner Berlin.

Route

Starting at the Anhalt line in the south, the outer ring runs from Genshagener Heide to Schönefeld Airport, Grünau Cross, Wuhlheide, Schönfließ, Golm, Potsdam Pirschheide, Saarmund, and back to Genshagener Heide.

History

In the late 19th century the military sought an outer connection between the railway lines radiating out of Berlin. Such a line also had advantages for freight traffic. In 1902, the Bypass Railway (Umgehungsbahn) was opened connecting the Magdeburg railway, the Lehrte Railway and the Hamburg Railway between Wildpark station (now Potsdam Park Sanssouci station) via Wustermark and Nauen. In the following years, the line was extended to Jüterbog on the Anhalt line and Oranienburg on the Prussian Northern line. In the 1920s, the Seddin marshalling yard was built on the Berlin-Blankenheim line and subsequently connected via Saarmund to Großbeeren on the Anhalt line. In the early 1930s a continuation of this link to the east via Schönefeld to Wuhlheide was planned, which would have approximated the route of the current outer ring. During the Nazi period the Berlin Outer Freight Ring (Güteraußenring) was built in 1940/1941 to create a provisional connection from Teltow on the Anhalt line via Schönefeld to eastern Berlin, linking with the Stettin Railway at Berlin-Karow. It was significantly closer to Berlin’s southern outskirts that the previous plan and the current outer ring. The division of Germany and Berlin after World War II caused the Soviet zone administration and later the East German government to build an efficient bypass of West Berlin. The first steps were the construction in 1948 of connecting curves to the outer freight ring between Werder and Golm and between the Berlin–Görlitz line and the north at Berlin-Grünau. In 1950, a connection was built at Berlin-Karow to link with Basdorf on the Heidekraut Railway, connecting with the Northern Railway via Wensickendorf to Oranienburg.

Passenger services

There is no passenger service around the entirety of the outer ring, but a number of services serve it in part.

Notes

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1316106298 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.

Names in other languages