Berlin Südkreuz

Berlin Südkreuz (in English, literally: Berlin South Cross) is a railway station in the German capital Berlin. The station was originally opened in 1898 and is an interchange station. The Berlin Ringbahn line of the Berlin S-Bahn metro railway is situated on the upper level and connects to the east and west, whilst the Anhalter Bahn and Dresdner Bahn intercity railway routes reach the station on the lower, north-south level. The station was extensively rebuilt between the late 1990s and 2006, and was renamed Berlin Südkreuz on 28 May 2006.

Berlin Südkreuz
Bf
Berlin Südkreuz
Location	General-Pape-Straße, 10829, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin Germany
Coordinates	52°28′32″N 13°21′52″E
Owned by	Deutsche Bahn
Operated by	DB Netz DB Station&Service
Line(s)	North–South mainline (KBS 203, 204, 205) Anhalt Suburban Line (KBS 200.2, 200.25) Ringbahn (KBS 200.41, 200.42, 200.46)
Other information
Station code	4859
DS100 code	BSKR (S-Bahn, upper) BPAF (long-distance, lower) BSKV (S-Bahn, lower)[1]
IBNR	8011113 (long-distance) 8089073 (S-Bahn)
Category	1[2]
Fare zone	: Berlin A/5555[3]
History
Opened	1898
Previous names	Berlin Papestraße (1898-2006)
Key dates
1990s–2006	Rebuilt as Südkreuz
Services Preceding station   DB Fernverkehr   Following station Berlin Hbf towards Berlin-Gesundbrunnen ICE 15 via Halle (Saale) - Erfurt Halle (Saale) towards Frankfurt Berlin Hbf towards Hamburg-Altona ICE 18 via Nürnberg - Erfurt - Halle (Saale) - Berlin Bitterfeld towards Munich Berlin Hbf towards Hamburg-Altona or Stralsund ICE 28 via Nürnberg - Erfurt - Leipzig - Berlin Lutherstadt Wittenberg towards Munich Berlin Hbf towards Berlin-Gesundbrunnen ICE 29 via Nürnberg - Erfurt - Halle (Saale) Halle (Saale) towards Munich Berlin Hbf towards Berlin ICE 91 Lutherstadt Wittenberg towards Vienna Berlin Hbf towards Warnemünde IC 17 via Berlin Doberlug-Kirchhain towards Dresden Berlin Hbf toward Hamburg-Altona or Berlin EuroCity Dresden-Neustadt toward Budapest Berlin Hbf toward Ostseebad Binz Hbf Dresden-Neustadt toward Prague Berlin Hbf toward Westerland (Sylt) Terminus Berlin Hbf towards Stuttgart IC/EC 32 FlixTrain Halle (Saale) towards Stuttgart FLX 10 via Frankfurt (Main) - Erfurt Berlin Hbf towards Berlin Berlin Hbf towards Aachen FLX 30 via Hannover - Berlin Lutherstadt Wittenberg towards Leipzig DB Regio Nordost Berlin Potsdamer Platz toward Stralsund or Schwedt RE 3 via Berlin Berlin-Lichterfelde Ost toward Falkenberg (Elster) Berlin Potsdamer Platz toward Rostock or Stralsund RE 5 via Berlin Berlin-Lichterfelde Ost toward Wünsdorf-Waldstadt or Elsterwerda Berlin Potsdamer Platz toward Nauen RB 10 via Berlin-Spandau Terminus ODEG Berlin Potsdamer Platz toward Rathenow RE 4 via Berlin Berlin-Lichterfelde Ost toward Jüterbog Berlin S-Bahn Priesterweg toward Blankenfelde Yorckstraße toward Bernau Priesterweg toward Teltow Stadt Yorckstraße toward Hennigsdorf Priesterweg toward Teltow Stadt Yorckstraße toward Waidmannslust Tempelhof One-way operation Schöneberg Ringbahn (clockwise) Schöneberg Ringbahn (counter-clockwise) Tempelhof One-way operation Schöneberg toward Südkreuz Tempelhof toward BER Airport – Terminal 1-2 Schöneberg toward Westend Tempelhof toward Königs Wusterhausen
Location
Berlin Südkreuz Location in Berlin Berlin Südkreuz Location in Germany Berlin Südkreuz Location in Europe

Construction works in 2005

History

The station's original name (Berlin Papestraße) originates from the nearby General-Pape-Straße, which is named after the Prussian general Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape. The Ringbahn platform opened as an island platform on 1 December 1901.[4]

The original Papestrasse station building, constructed from 1898-1901 was demolished, although a corner of the building, incorporating a clock tower, has been preserved as part of the new station.[5]

Becoming Südkreuz

The station played a vital part in Deutsche Bahn's new concept for long-distance services in Berlin; it was deemed necessary to have a long-distance station in southern Berlin for the new north-south axis, so it was decided to rebuild Papestraße and rename the station to Südkreuz, giving the station a more intuitive name like the Ostkreuz (East Cross) and Westkreuz (West Cross) stations on the Berlin Stadtbahn. Construction, however, was severely delayed due to unexpected difficulties and NIMBY complaints of residents living near the long-disused north-south lines. Instead of opening in 2000 as scheduled, the station only opened on 28 May 2006, together with the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Main Station) in the center of Berlin. It is now used as a terminal station for ICE trains to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, and sees a number of north-south services heading to and from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, plus EuroCity services to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia via Dresden Hauptbahnhof.

Facial recognition trial

During 2017 Germany's Ministry of the Interior announced a pilot project to employ facial recognition technology at Berlin Südkreuz station. The six-month trial will overlay facial recognition software over the station's existing video surveillance system and will track a database of volunteers. The project is being jointly undertaken by the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and Deutsche Bahn. Announcing the pilot, the ministry said the technology would be able to detect people in need of help, as well as suspicious behaviour, and report it automatically.[6]

Train services

The station is served by the following service(s):[7]

Long distance

Line	Route	Interval
ICE 11	(Hamburg –) Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Leipzig – Erfurt – Frankfurt – Stuttgart – Munich	Every 2 hours
ICE 15	(Binz – Stralsund –) Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Frankfurt	Every 2 hours
ICE 18	Hamburg – Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg – Munich	Every 2 hours
ICE 28	Hamburg – or (Stralsund/Rostock –) Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Leipzig – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg – Munich	Every 2 hours
ICE 29	(Rostock –) Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich	5 train pairs
ICE 91	(Rostock –) Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nürnberg – Regensburg – Passau – Linz – Viena	One train pair
EC 27	(Kiel ^1 or Westerland ^1 –) Hamburg – Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Dresden – Prague (– Budapest)	Every 2 hours ^1 pair of trains each of Kiel and Westerland
IC 28	(Binz –) Stralsund – Pasewalk – Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz	2 train pairs
IC 32	(Berlin Südkreuz – Hannover –) Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Cologne – Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Stuttgart (– Nürtingen – Reutlingen – Tübingen) or (– Ulm – Augsburg – Munich)	Individual services
IC 32	Berlin Südkreuz – Wolfsburg – Hannover – Dortmund – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Aachen (– Düren – Cologne)	One train pair on Fri/Sun
FLX 10	Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle (Saale) – Erfurt – Gotha – Eisenach – Fulda – Frankfurt South – Darmstadt – Weinheim – Heidelberg – Stuttgart	1-2 train pairs
FLX 30	Leipzig – Lutherstadt Wittenberg – Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Hbf – Berlin-Spandau – Hannover – Bielefeld – Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Aachen	1-2 train pairs

Regional

Line	Route			Interval (min)
RE 3	Lutherstadt Wittenberg –	Jüterbog – Berlin Südkreuz – Eberswalde – Angermünde –	Schwedt (Oder)	120
	Falkenberg/Elster –		Prenzlau – Greifswald – Stralsund	120
RE 4	(Jüterbog –) Ludwigsfelde – Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin-Spandau – Dallgow-Döberitz – Wustermark – Rathenow (– Stendal)			060
RE 5	Elsterwerda – Wünsdorf-Waldstadt – Berlin Südkreuz – Oranienburg – Neustrelitz –		Güstrow – Rostock	120
			Neubrandenburg – Stralsund	120
RB 10	Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Jungfernheide – Berlin-Spandau – Falkensee – Nauen			060

S-Bahn

• Berlin S-Bahn services Bernau - Karow - Pankow - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Sudkreuz - Blankenfelde
• Berlin S-Bahn services Hennigsdorf - Tegel - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Sudkreuz - Lichterfelde - Teltow
• Berlin S-Bahn services Waidmannslust - Wittenau - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Sudkreuz - Lichterfelde - Teltow
• Berlin S-Bahn services (Ring Clockwise) Südkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Westkreuz - Westend - Jungfernheide - Gesundbrunnen - Ostkreuz - Treptower Park - Hermannstraße - Südkreuz
• Berlin S-Bahn services (Ring Anti-clockwise) Südkreuz - Hermannstraße - Treptower Park - Ostkreuz - Gesundbrunnen - Jungfernheide - Westend - Westkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Südkreuz
• Berlin S-Bahn services Südkreuz - Neukölln - Schöneweide - Berlin-Schönefeld Airport
• Berlin S-Bahn services Westend - Westkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Südkreuz - Neukölln - Schöneweide - Grünau - Königs Wusterhausen

References

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas) (2009/2010 ed.). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.
2. "Stationspreisliste 2021" [Station price list 2021] (PDF) (in German). DB Station&Service. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
3. "Der VBB-Tarif: Aufteilung des Verbundgebietes in Tarifwaben und Tarifbereiche" (PDF). Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam. Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
4. Kuhlmann, B. Bahnknoten Berlin - Die Entwicklung des Berliner Eisenbahnnetzes seit 1838. Berlin, Verlag GVE, 2006.
5. Preuss, E. Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Stuttgart, Transpress, 2006.
6. Facial recognition technology to be trialled at Berlin railway station
7. Timetables for Berlin Südkreuz station (in German)

External links