Berlin – Is that a joke? Or a serious warning? “Construction site. Do Not Enter. Danger of collapse ”: This is what the passengers who have descended on the lower platform in the Bismarckstrasse subway station get to read. In the Charlottenburg transfer station, other areas also seem as if it was better not to get too close to them. Raw concrete, covered with scribbles, barriers and exposed cables have dominated the sometimes only provisionally illuminated picture of woe for years. While the red-green-red coalition wants to tackle five new subway construction projects, the existing systems make a desolate impression in many places. The Bismarckstraße underground station, which is being renovated according to the design of the architectural office of today’s Senate Building Director Petra Kahlfeldt, is a particularly long-lasting example. Because now it has become known that the end of the construction work, which began in 2015, will be postponed again – to 2023.
Berlin has 175 elevated and underground stations. On a trip to the ugliest stations, the Bismarckstraße station, which opened in 1978 in the west of the city and where the U2 crosses the U7, should not be missing. When it was renewed, the workload became more and more extensive. It was soon found out that the damage in the concrete was greater than expected. Additional planning was necessary. There was also much else to do. Flammable wall panels made of synthetic resin and pressboard had to be removed. The aluminum panels that hung the lower ceiling could not stay either. They would have kept the smoke from rising up in the event of a fire.
Initiative regrets “total loss of design”
Because subway operations must not be completely interrupted on this project either, the work is concentrated in a few hours of the night. The fact that only little space was approved for the construction site on the road creates further complications. The many award procedures dragged the project out. Because it soon increased in price from nine million to 12.8 million euros, the BVG supervisory board had to approve a supplement – which also forced a break in construction. Project managers changed. But that’s not all: it had to be rescheduled. The concept of the architects Paul and Petra Kahlfeldt, to ensure more openness by demolishing load-bearing walls, could not have been implemented without expensive reinforcements in other areas.
After all: the glossy glazed tiles provided by the Kahlfeldt design already cover many wall areas. However, not everyone likes the somewhat pompous design. Like other stations, the Bismarckstrasse underground station, once designed by Rainer G. Rümmler, suffered a “total loss of design” when it was gutted, criticized the Kerberos initiative, which is committed to saving the modern age of the underground. Design from the 1970s gives way to a “historical impression”. But the work continues, it said at the BVG. Everything should be ready in April 2023 – in between there was talk of 2019, most recently summer 2022.
Gerd Engelsmann
The new design of the Bismarckstraße underground station can already be seen in some places. Instead of silver panels in the style of the 1970s, glossy tiles will cover the walls according to the design by Kahlfeldt.
The Schönleinstraße underground station on the U8 in Kreuzberg is another problem within the BVG. Not only because passengers complain about the dirt and the fact that people seem to live on the platform: The gloomy-looking system, on the ceiling of which bright red markings indicate damage, urgently needs to be renovated. There are also plans to make the underground station barrier-free and to renovate the tunnel inside and outside, says BVG spokesman Jannes Schwentu.
The structure, which was opened to traffic in 1927, was not the best from the start; the stamped concrete is of poor quality. “The station is a listed building, and it is one of the few that has been preserved in its original structure. That is why numerous investigations are carried out and individual plan packages are coordinated with the Lower Monument Protection Authority, ”says Schwentu.
The project is also complicated because of the high groundwater level. So that the subway station is not pushed up like a rubber duck in the bathtub, it has to be weighed down during the renovation. The construction time is planned for the period 2023 to 2027. Two years ago it was said that it would start in 2020.
Gerd Engelsmann
The Spittelmarkt underground station has become a confusing, mostly only provisionally illuminated cave. Chipboard blocks off construction site areas. The work will continue beyond 2022, according to the BVG.
Another example of many is the Spittelmarkt underground station on the U2 in Mitte. In recent months, regular users have noticed that more and more platform areas have been sealed off with chipboard and become construction site areas. The train station on the Spree Canal, which opened in 1908 and which was the scene of a rear-end collision with 14 injured people in 1990, has become confusing. The provisional construction lights cannot dispel the impression that many dark corners have arisen.
“The renovation work on all ceiling areas within the train station will continue through 2022,” said BVG spokesman Jannes Schwentu. “At the same time, the renovation work on the gallery windows of the subway station with a view of Fischerinsel began in late summer 2021.” This part of the project should be completed by the end of 2022.
The hellhound has returned to the terminus of the U9
On the other hand, it takes longer at the Yorckstraße underground station on the U7 in Kreuzberg. “The end of construction for the entire measure should be in 2024,” announced the BVG. The last mention was of 2023. Even in the train station, which opened in 1971 and is heavily used as a transfer station to the S-Bahn, work is only progressing slowly because the underground operation has priority. The building, in which all tiles had to be removed, looks like a cave – or an uncomfortable cellar. “The platform covering is currently being installed and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022. The concrete renovation is carried out on the walls and ceiling. “
Asbestos was a major problem in the Rathaus Steglitz underground station, with 20,000 square meters of floor space ten times the size of many other underground stations. At the terminus of the U9, the carcinogenic substance itself was contained in the filler. “The renovation and expansion work on the platform has been completed with the exception of the rest of the painting work,” reported Jannes Schwentu. 80 percent of the workload was processed in the distribution hall. The steel hellhound “Cerberus” by the sculptor Waldemar Grzimek was renovated and reassembled. This also applies to the installation, which lists all cities that had a subway when the station opened in 1974. In the summer of 2022, the two works of art, which have now been renovated, are to be reopened, according to the BVG.
Gerd Engelsmann
This section of the ceiling in the Schönleinstraße underground station shows how things are going with this structure. Water seeps into the concrete. During the renovation, the station under the Kottbusser Damm has to be closed for a long time.
These are five examples out of many. It is no coincidence that they are mostly located in western Berlin. According to the Senate’s public transport plan adopted in 2019, the investment requirement for the subway systems there will add up to 1.55 billion euros by 2035. For the east it amounts to 190 million euros. Since the basic repairs in the western part were postponed in favor of the eastern network after the fall of the Wall, the maintenance backlog is significantly higher there.
“The stability and operational safety is at risk”
According to the master plan, the risk that operations will have to be restricted by permanent speed limits or closures is increasing. The warning is clear: “The stability and operational safety of the systems is at risk, legal regulations cannot be complied with.”
“Many Berlin subway stations are in a poor condition,” says Jens Wieseke, spokesman for the Berlin passenger association IGEB. Also in the east of Berlin: The Heinrich-Heine-Straße station on the U8 in Mitte is a striking example. There’s a lot to do in the Berlin underground.
Gerd Engelsmann
Garbage in the Schönleinstraße subway station: The gloomy area is not a feast for the eyes either.
Dear readers! What are the worst stations for you? In your opinion, which underground stations are in urgent need of renovation? Where is construction not going ahead? Write to us: [email protected]. We will report on the worst cases – and tell how things are going there.
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