Berlin Ostbahnhof

For the former train station, see Berlin Old Ostbahnhof.

Berlin Ostbahnhof (German for Berlin East railway station) is a main line railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the Friedrichshain quarter, now part of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, and has undergone several name changes in its history. It was known as Berlin Hauptbahnhof from 1987 to 1998, a name now applied to Berlin's new central station at the former Lehrter station. Alongside Berlin Zoologischer Garten station it was one of the city's two main stations; however, it has declined in significance since the opening of the new Hauptbahnhof on 26 May 2006, and many mainline trains have been re-routed on the North–South mainline through the new Tiergarten tunnel, bypassing Ostbahnhof.

Berlin Ostbahnhof
Station building (2022)
General information
Location	Koppenstraße 3 10243 Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin, Berlin Germany
Coordinates	52°30′36″N 13°26′05″E
Owned by	DB InfraGO
Line(s)	Stadtbahn Prussian Eastern Railway Lower Silesian-Markish Railway
Platforms	4 island platforms 1 side platform
Tracks	11
Train operators	DB Fernverkehr DB Regio Nordost S-Bahn Berlin
Connections
Construction
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	1071
DS100 code	BHF,[1] BOSB[2]
Category	1
Fare zone	: Berlin A/5555[3]
Website	www.bahnhof.de
History
Opened	1842
Services Preceding station DB Fernverkehr Following station Berlin Hbf towards Bonn Hbf ICE 9 Sprinter Berlin Ostkreuz Terminus Berlin Hbf towards Aachen Hbf, Köln Hbf or Oldenburg Hbf ICE 10 Terminus Berlin Hbf towards Chur or Interlaken Ost ICE 12 Berlin Hbf One-way operation ICE 13 Berlin Hbf towards Aachen Hbf ICE 14 Berlin Hbf towards Saarbrücken Hbf or Stuttgart Hbf ICE 16 Berlin Hbf towards Bremen Hbf or Koblenz Hbf ICE 19 Berlin Hbf towards Norddeich Mole IC 56 Königs Wusterhausen towards Cottbus Hbf Berlin Hbf towards Münster Hbf or Amsterdam Centraal ICE 77 Terminus Berlin Hbf towards Amsterdam Centraal IC 77 Berlin Hbf Terminus EC 95  EIC  Frankfurt (Oder) towards Warszawa Wschodnia EC 95  IC  Frankfurt (Oder) towards Gdynia Główna Frankfurt (Oder) towards Przemyśl Główny EC 96  IC  Preceding station European Sleeper Following station Berlin Zoologischer Garten One-way operation Brussels - Prague Dresden Hbf towards Prague Berlin Hbf towards Brussels-South Preceding station DB Regio Nordost Following station Berlin Alexanderplatz towards Dessau Hbf RE 7 Berlin Ostkreuz towards Senftenberg Berlin Alexanderplatz towards Golm RB 23 Berlin Ostkreuz towards BER Airport Preceding station Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn Following station Berlin Alexanderplatz towards Brandenburg Hbf or Magdeburg Hbf RE 1 Berlin Ostkreuz towards Cottbus Hbf or Frankfurt (Oder) Berlin Alexanderplatz towards Nauen RE 2 Berlin Ostkreuz towards Cottbus Hbf Berlin Alexanderplatz towards Wismar RE 8 Berlin Ostkreuz towards BER Airport Preceding station Berlin S-Bahn Following station Jannowitzbrücke towards Spandau S3 Warschauer Straße towards Erkner Jannowitzbrücke towards Westkreuz S5 Warschauer Straße towards Strausberg Nord Jannowitzbrücke towards Potsdam Hbf S7 Warschauer Straße towards Ahrensfelde Jannowitzbrücke towards Spandau S9 Warschauer Straße towards BER Airport
Location

History

Early history

The station opened on 23 October 1842 as Frankfurter Bahnhof, the terminus of an 81 km (50 mi) railway line to Frankfurt (Oder) via Fürstenwalde (Spree). In 1845 the previously independent Berlin–Frankfurt railway merged into the Niederschlesisch-Märkische-Eisenbahngesellschaft (Lower Silesian-Markish Railway Company, NME), aiming at the extension of the line from Frankfurt to Breslau.

The Frankfurter Bahnhof in 1870

In 1867, the Old Ostbahnhof (also called Küstriner Bahnhof), the terminus of the Prussian Eastern Railway line was opened, located slightly north of the present Ostbahnhof station. This station briefly functioned as the replacement for a new Frankfurter Bahnhof, which was opened in 1869. This station stood for a mere ten years, until construction began to transform it into a through station for the Berlin Stadtbahn, an elevated railway through the Berlin city center built to link the city's major stations. The Stadtbahn was completed in 1882; two of the four tracks later came to form one of the main routes of the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway. On the opening of the Stadtbahn, the Küstriner Bahnhof was closed, and trains on the Ostbahn came to terminate at the now renamed Schlesischer Bahnhof (Silesian station).

As the terminus of both the Silesian and the Eastern Railway line, the station quickly developed into Berlin's "Gate to the East". Until World War I, trains ran from the German capital via Königsberg to Saint Petersburg (Nord Express) and to Moscow as well as to Vienna, Budapest, and Constantinople via Breslau and Kattowitz. During the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire, numerous Jewish refugees arrived here to travel on to the emigration harbors in Hamburg and Bremerhaven.

World War II and GDR

The Ostbanhof after its reconstruction following WWII (1954)

The station was severely damaged by strategic bombing during World War II and had to be completely rebuilt by the East German railway, the Deutsche Reichsbahn. In 1950 it was renamed Berlin Ostbahnhof, as upon the implementation of the Oder–Neisse line, the former Silesia province was now largely a part of Poland, and its German population expelled. Memories of the German history of Silesia were repressed by the German Democratic Republic. Following the division of Germany, the station was, together with Berlin-Lichtenberg, one of two major railway stations in East Berlin. The Berlin Wall ran only 200 metres (660 ft) away from the station; today that part is the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining fragment of the wall. Express trains ran from Ostbahnhof to Leipzig, Halle, and Dresden. The station was again served by international trains like the Vindobona to Vienna.

In 1987 the postwar building was demolished and the station began to be rebuilt as East Berlin's main station, grandly renamed Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station). The plan called for a hotel and a large reception area for arriving Soviet bloc dignitaries. However, only part of the work was complete by the time of German reunification in 1990. A partially built staircase to the underground car park from this period in front of the station remains (in 2006) unfinished and fenced off. A partly constructed hotel was demolished in the early 1990s.

Looking west from a mainline platform, facing the two S-bahn platforms

Recent years

The name Hauptbahnhof remained long after the division of Berlin ended, until 1998, when the station was re-renamed Berlin Ostbahnhof, restoring the 1950-1987 name. One year later, work began to demolish the station and rebuild it once again, which was completed in 2002. Little remains of the 1980s structure except for an administrative block, some façade elements, and parts of the platform structure.

Characteristics

The station has 11 tracks and 5 platforms. 5 tracks are used for main line and 4 for S-Bahn. 2 tracks are through tracks.

Train services

Awaiting eastbound departures in 1973.

The station has been known by several names over its 160-year history

The station is served by the following service(s):^[4]

Long distance

Line	Route				Interval
ICE 9	Berlin Ostkreuz – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin – Cologne – Bonn				One train pair
ICE 10	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin – Wolfsburg – Hanover –	Bielefeld – Hamm –	Dortmund – Duisburg – Düsseldorf –	Cologne	Hourly
				Mönchengladbach – Aachen	One train
		Wuppertal – Cologne		Every 2 hours
Bremen – Oldenburg			One train pair
ICE 12	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Braunschweig – Göttingen – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Fulda – Frankfurt (Main) – Mannheim – Freiburg – Basel (– Bern – Interlaken Ost)				Every 2 hours
ICE 13	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Braunschweig – Göttingen – Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe – Fulda – Frankfurt South – Frankfurt Airport				Every 2 hours
ICE 14	(Ostseebad Binz – Stralsund – Pasewalk –) Berlin Ostbahnhof – Hannover – Bielefeld – Hamm / Osnabrück – Duisburg – Cologne / Aachen				Some trains
ICE 19	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Hbf – Berlin-Spandau – Hanover – Bielefeld – Hagen – Wuppertal – Cologne (– Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Mannheim – Heidelberg – Stuttgart)				Every 2 hours
IC 56	Norddeich Mole – Emden – Oldenburg – Bremen – Hannover – Magdeburg – Potsdam – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Cottbus				One train pair
ICE 77	Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Hbf – Wolfsburg – Hanover – Osnabrück	– Münster (ICE)			Some trains
IC 77		– Rheine – Amersfoort – Amsterdam (IC)			Every 2 hours
EC 95 PKP:  EIC	Berlin-Warszawa-Express: Berlin Hbf – Frankfurt (Oder) – Poznań – Warszawa Centralna				Four train pairs daily
EC 95 PKP:  IC	Gedania: Berlin Hbf – Frankfurt (Oder) – Poznań – Gdynia Głowna				One train per day
EC 95 PKP:  IC	Wawel: Berlin Hbf – Frankfurt (Oder) – Wrocław – Katowice – Kraków – Rzeszów – Przemyśl				One train per day
NJ Berlin-Zürich	Berlin Ostbahnhof – (Braunschweig – Göttingen –) Frankfurt (Main) Süd – Mannheim – Freiburg – Basel – Zürich				One train pair
NJ	Nightjet Berlin-Charlottenburg – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Frankfurt (Oder) – Wrocław –		Ostrava – Breclav –	Vienna	One train pair
				Bratislava – Budapest
			Katowice – Kraków – Przemyśl
ES	Brussels – Rotterdam – Amsterdam – Amersfoort – Bad Bentheim – Berlin – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Dresden – Bad Schandau – Prague				1 train pair thrice a week

Regional services

Line	Route
HBX	Harz-Berlin-Express Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Zoologischer Garten – Potsdam – Magdeburg – Halberstadt (train split) (– Quedlinburg – Thale) / (Wernigerode – Goslar)
RE 1	Magdeburg – Brandenburg – Potsdam – Berlin-Wannsee – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Erkner – Fürstenwalde (Spree) – Frankfurt (Oder) (– Cottbus)
RE 2	Nauen – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Ostkreuz – Königs Wusterhausen – Lübbenau (Spreewald) – Vetschau – Cottbus
RE 7	Dessau – Bad Belzig – Michendorf – Berlin-Wannsee – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Königs Wusterhausen – Lübben (Spreewald) – Senftenberg
RE 8	Wismar – Schwerin – Wittenberge – Nauen – Berlin-Spandau – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Ostkreuz – BER Airport
RB 23	Golm – Potsdam – Potsdam Griebnitzsee – Berlin-Wannsee – Berlin Alexanderplatz – Berlin Ostbahnhof – Berlin Ostkreuz – BER Airport
	Spandau – Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Karlshorst – Köpenick – Erkner
	Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg – Strausberg Nord
	Potsdam – Wannsee – Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof – Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Ostkreuz – Lichtenberg – Ahrensfelde
	Spandau - Westkreuz – Hauptbahnhof - Alexanderplatz – Ostbahnhof – Schöneweide – BER Airport

In popular culture

The Ostbahnhof was featured in the 2004 movie The Bourne Supremacy. In the film, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is seen parking his car here, entering the station and leaving a bag in a locker, and tracking down Pamela Landy (Joan Allen).

See also

• East Side Gallery
• Maria am Ostbahnhof
• Deutsche Bahn
• Sibirjak
• S-Bahn Berlin
• B.V.G.
• Berlin Wriezener Bahnhof