Berlin Ringbahn

Berliner Ringbahn
Ringbahn, Messe Nord ICC station
Overview
Line number	6020 (S-Bahn) 6170 (mainline)
Locale	Berlin, Germany
Service
Route number	200.41 200.42
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	S-Bahn: 750 V third rail main line: 15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Route map Legend Berlin-Moabit 0.7 Berlin Westhafen from and to Hauptbahnhof 2.5 Berlin-Wedding from north-south S-Bahn 4.2 Berlin Gesundbrunnen former West-Berlin–East-Berlin border from and to Bernau and Oranienburg 5.8 Berlin Schönhauser Allee 6.8 Berlin Prenzlauer Allee 7.8 Berlin Greifswalder Straße 9.4 Berlin Landsberger Allee (flying junction) 10.4 Berlin Storkower Straße 11.7 Berlin Frankfurter Allee from and to Lichtenberg to Warschauer Straße (until 2006) detour during reconstruction 14.2 Berlin Ostkreuz Stadtbahn from Warschauer Straße (under construction) 14.3 Treptower Park to Baumschulenweg Görlitz Bahn former East Berlin–West Berlin border formerly from Görlitzer Bahnhof 15.7 Berlin-Treptow Gbf Industriebahn Berlin Neuköllner Schiffahrtskanal 16.5 Berlin Sonnenallee from Baumschulenweg 17.7 Berlin-Neukölln 18.5 Berlin Hermannstraße NME to Berlin-Rudow 21.9 Berlin-Tempelhof to Marienfelde 22.510 22.522 km change −0.012 km 23.2 Berlin Südkreuz Anhalter Bahn, Anhalt Suburban Line, Dresden railway from Marienfelde via Tempelhof Rbf Südringspitzkehre (until 1944) former main line 24.6 Berlin-Schöneberg (since 1 March 1933) Wannsee Railway Berlin Ebersstraße (until 1 March 1933) 25.3 Innsbrucker Platz 25.5 Berlin-Wilmersdorf freight yard 26.1 Berlin Bundesplatz 27.4 Berlin Heidelberger Platz 28.6 Berlin Hohenzollerndamm 29.7 Berlin-Halensee to Grunewald (freight line) to Charlottenburg Berlin–Blankenheim 30.4 Berlin Westkreuz Stadtbahn from Charlottenburg until 1944 from Grunewald 31.2 Berlin Messe Nord/ICC (Witzleben) 32.4 Berlin-Westend to Spandau (flying junction) from Spandau and Gartenfeld until 1980 34.6 Berlin Jungfernheide 36.7 Berlin Beusselstraße 36.9 0.0 Berlin-Moabit Source: German railway atlas[1]

The Ringbahn (German for circle railway) is a 37.5 km (23.3 mi) long circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the Berlin S-Bahn network. Its course is made up of a pair of tracks used by S-Bahn trains and another parallel pair of tracks used by various regional, long distance and freight trains. The S-Bahn lines S41 and S42 provide a closed-loop continuous service without termini. Lines S45, S46 and S47 use a section of the southern and western ring, while lines S8 and S85 use sections of the eastern ring. The combined number of passengers is about 400,000 passengers a day.^[2] Due to its distinctive shape, the line is often referred to as the Hundekopf (Dog's Head).^[3]

The Ringbahn is bisected by an east–west railway thoroughfare called the Stadtbahn (city railway), which crosses the Ringbahn from Westkreuz (Western Cross) to Ostkreuz (Eastern Cross), forming a Südring (Southern Ring) and a Nordring (Northern Ring). The north-south S-Bahn link (with the North-South S-Bahn-tunnel as its core) divides the Ringbahn into a Westring (Western Ring) and an Ostring (Eastern Ring), crossing at Gesundbrunnen station in the north and both Schöneberg station and Südkreuz in the south. These four sections served as tariff zones of the suburban fare structure before World War II. Over time, these four rings ceased to exist with the removal of track connections. Only at Westkreuz does an original such track remain, used only for utility purposes. At Ostkreuz, a newly-designed bypass provides access to southern branches without having to enter the station. Gesundbrunnen is not a typical crossing, but rather has parallel tracks that curve to the south after leaving the station, allowing trains to run towards Südkreuz.

The approximately 88-square-kilometre (34 sq mi) area encompassed by the Ringbahn comprises the "Berlin A" zone in the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg's fare structure. The Ringbahn also serves as the border for Berlin's low-emission zone, established on 1 January 2008.