Berlin Gesundbrunnen station

Berlin Gesundbrunnen station (Template:Langx) is a railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is situated in the Gesundbrunnen district, part of the central Mitte borough, as an interconnection point between the northern Ringbahn and Nord-Süd Tunnel lines of the Berlin S-Bahn, as well as a regional and long distance station of the Deutsche Bahn network. The station is operated by the DB Station&Service subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG and is classified as a Category 1 station, one of 21 in Germany and four in Berlin, the others being Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Ostbahnhof.

History

File:1898 bahnhof gesundbrunnen.jpg

Rebuilt Gesundbrunnen station in 1898

When the Berlin–Stettin railway was opened in 1842, the tracks ran farther northwestwards with a hazardous level crossing on Badstraße. Nearby Gesundbrunnen station was inaugurated on 1 January 1872 with the northern Ringbahn line; it became an important railway hub with the opening of the Berlin Northern Railway to Neubrandenburg; the junction was finished on 10 July 1877. From 1 May 1897, it also offered access to the Berlin–Stettin line, whose original tracks were shifted southwards to meet the parallel Ringbahn here.

On 8 August 1924 Gesundbrunnen was one of the first stations to become part of the Berlin S-Bahn system when third rail trains ran from Stettiner Bahnhof to Bernau. After the opening of the Nord-Süd Tunnel in 1939, trains ran from Gesundbrunnen via Humboldthain station and Stettiner Bahnhof directly to Anhalter Bahnhof in the south.

File:U-Bahn Berlin Gesundbrunnen.JPG

U-Bahn platform

Plans for an access of Gesundbrunnen station to the Berlin U-Bahn network were already developed by the AEG electric company prior to World War I. Nevertheless, the present-day station, located on the Template:Lnl, was not opened until 18 April 1930. Designed in a New Objectivity style according to plans by Alfred Grenander with a separate reception building, the U-Bahn platform crossed deep beneath the railway tracks and served as an air-raid shelter during the bombing of Berlin in World War II.

File:Gesundbrunnen Bahnhofsgebäude-001.jpg

New entrance building

World War II and Cold War

On 3 February 1945, this station was destroyed by an air raid.

After World War II and the division of Berlin, long-distance train service diminished and was finally discontinued on 18 May 1952. The S-Bahn system was also affected by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, when the network was partitioned into an eastern and western half.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

In the Pilzkonzept master plan the station was modernized as Berlin's northern long-distance train station and during 2005 there were discussions to rename the station to Nordkreuz (North Cross) reflecting the names of the other connection stations on the Ringbahn namely Ostkreuz (East Cross), Südkreuz (South Cross) and Westkreuz (West Cross). Work on the railway hub was completed on 26 May 2006, with no development on the rename until 2016, when Nordkreuz was appended to Gesundbrunnen as an official alternative name.

Despite its station category 1 the station had no representative entrance building - the old entrance building had been demolished and it had never been replaced giving the new station a peculiar appearance. The area designated for the entrance building was left as a public open space (Hanne-Sobek-Platz). The planning was stopped not only by financial cuts but also due to the existence of the nearby Gesundbrunnen-Center shopping center that was opened in 1997 offering 25000 square meters of shopping facilities plus a direct connection to the railway station. The planning resumed during 2010 and construction work on a new entrance building began by the end of 2011, with the 3300 square meters projected to cost a total of 7.4 million euros. The new entrance building opened in autumn 2015.

Rail services

Long-distance services

Gesundbrunnen station is served by the following services:

Line	Route		Frequency
Template:Ric	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich		120 min
Template:Rcb	(Ostseebad Binz –) Stralsund – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin Hbf – Halle (Saale) – Erfurt – Frankfurt (Main)
Template:Ric	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich		One train pair
Template:Ric	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Leipzig – Erfurt – Fulda – Frankfurt – Karlsruhe – Freiburg – Basel – Zürich		5 train pairs
Template:Ric	Ostseebad Binz – Stralsund – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin Hbf		every 4 hours
Template:Rcb	München – Nürnberg – Erfurt – Leipzig – Lutherstadt Wittenberg – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – (Stralsund – Ostseebad Binz)		Some trains
Template:Rcb	Ostseebad Binz – Stralsund – Greifswald – Prenzlau – Eberswalde– Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Augsburg – Munich		3 train pairs
	Ostseebad Binz – Stralsund – Greifswald – Prenzlau – Eberswalde– Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg (train split)	– Augsburg – Munich	1 train pair
Template:Rcb		– Passau – Linz – Wien
Template:Rcb	Rostock – Waren – Neustrelitz – Template:Stn – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin Hbf – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Doberlug-Kirchhain – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Dresden Hbf (– Freiberg – Chemnitz)		120 min
Template:Rcb	Rostock – Waren – Neustrelitz – Oranienburg – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin Hbf – Potsdam – Brandenburg – Magdeburg		One train towards Magdeburg
Template:Rcb	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin Hbf – Halle (Saale) – Erfurt – Frankfurt (Main) – Heidelberg – Stuttgart		One train pair

Regional services

Gesundbrunnen station is served by the following services:

Line	Route		Frequency
Template:Rcb	Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Template:Stn – Template:Stn		30 min
Template:Rcb	Lutherstadt Wittenberg – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Eberswalde – Template:Stn –	Template:Stn
		Prenzlau – Pasewalk – Greifswald – Stralsund
Template:Rcb	Berlin Südkreuz – Template:Stn – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Template:Stn – Neustrelitz –	Template:Stn – Rostock
		Template:Stn – Stralsund
Template:Rcb	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Albrechtshof – Seegefeld – Falkensee – Finkenkrug – Brieselang – Nauen		Single train towards Nauen
Template:Rcb	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Template:Stn – Potsdam		60 min
Template:Rcb	Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Schönerlinde – Schönwalde – Basdorf – Klosterfelde		Individual services
Template:Rcb	Template:Stn – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Oranienburg – Template:Stn – Herzberg (Mark) – Template:Stn		Individual services

S-Bahn and U-Bahn services

Gesundbrunnen is a station on Berlin S-Bahn and Berlin U-Bahn networks. The station is served by the following services:

• S1 (Oranienburg – Frohnau – Wittenau – Gesundbrunnen – Friedrichstraße – Schöneberg – Rathaus Steglitz – Wannsee)
• S2 (Bernau – Karow – Pankow – Gesundbrunnen – Friedrichstraße – Südkreuz – Blankenfelde)
• S25 (Hennigsdorf – Tegel – Gesundbrunnen – Friedrichstraße – Südkreuz – Teltow Stadt)
• S26 (Blankenburg – Gesundbrunnen – Friedrichstraße – Südkreuz – Teltow Stadt)
• S41 (Ring Clockwise) (Gesundbrunnen – Ostkreuz – Treptower Park - Hermannstraße – Südkreuz – Innsbrucker Platz – Westkreuz – Westend – Gesundbrunnen)
• S42 (Ring Anti-clockwise) (Gesundbrunnen – Westend – Westkreuz – Innsbrucker Platz – Südkreuz – Hermannstraße – Treptower Park – Ostkreuz – Gesundbrunnen)
• U8 (Wittenau – Osloer Straße – Gesundbrunnen – Alexanderplatz – Hermannstraße)

See also

• List of railway stations in the Berlin area
• Rail transport in Germany

External links

• Berlin S-& U-Bahn network map Template:Webarchive
• S-Bahn station information Template:In lang
• Long distance/Regional station information