Pony taken on to train

[northwichcat]

Commuters in Berlin got the fright of their lives last week when a woman boarded a subway train with her Shetland pony.

Footage of the unidentified blonde woman leading the pony onto Berlin’s S-Bahn subway and enjoying a ride together has been uploaded onto YouTube, where one clip has been watched almost a quarter of a million times.

Jarkko Riihimaki, one of the passengers who witness the bizarre event, is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: ‘This was supposed to be a normal trip home with the S-Bahn.

‘After one stop, a girl – pretty conventional looking – comes in with a pony. Yes, with a pony!

‘I don’t know what to say about the whole thing.’

The video on YouTube shows the well-behaved pony calmly standing in the carriage as its owner sits in silence.

Passengers on the carriage are shown looking bemused at the animal, while some try to capture the unique commute on their mobile phones.

While internet users have reacted with joy at the clip, S-Bahn spokesman Burkhard Ahlert was less than impressed.

‘One may smile but according to our transport regulations, this is clearly not allowed,’ he said.

‘This clearly violates our conditions of carriage.

‘A horse can be dangerous. What if it escapes? The S-Bahn is no place for such animals.

‘We have informed the police already.’

It is though the pony may belong to a local circus group that collects charitable donations.

http://metro.co.uk/2012/12/16/shetland-pony-takes-a-ride-on-berlin-subway-3318457/

There's obviously a mistake in the article though. If it was the subway system it was the U-Bahn or if it was the S-Bahn it wasn't a subway system.

Someone in Wales tried something similar but they were stopped from doing so by rail staff.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Well it was in an underground tunnel section of the S-bahn - in the video you can hear the announcement that the train is stopping at Nordbahnhof which is on the north-south tunnel line. So I think that counts as a subway.

 

[Waldgrun]

I think I would notice this more than a small pony!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffi

 

[tsr]

Well it was in an underground tunnel section of the S-bahn - in the video you can hear the announcement that the train is stopping at Nordbahnhof which is on the north-south tunnel line. So I think that counts as a subway.

Not being familiar with that system... is it somewhat like the "underground" areas on Thameslink, or more like the subsurface Metropolitan line? (Just out of interest. )

 

[Michael.Y]

Someone in Wales tried something similar but they were stopped from doing so by rail staff.

Wrexham last year :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13437279

 

[crosscity]

Many cities in Germany have U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems. U-Bahn (Untergrund) services are light rail or underground-type services, many narrow guage, and built and operated by local transport authorities. S-Bahn services (Stadtschnellbahn) are usually heavy-rail suburban services usually provided for and operated by Deutsche Bahn.

 

[30907]

But in Berlin the distinction is blurred because S-bahn and some U-bahn trains are very similar and both have a mixture of tunnel and surface/viaduct.

 

[northwichcat]

But in Berlin the distinction is blurred because S-bahn and some U-bahn trains are very similar and both have a mixture of tunnel and surface/viaduct.

They're different in a way that a child could understand. U-Bahn have yellow trains and S-Bahn have trains that are mostly red.

When I stayed at a hotel in Berlin the hotel referred to Wittenbergplatz station as being the nearest 'subway' station.

 

[317666]

S-Bahn stands for Stadtschnellbahn, which literally translates as "city rapid railway". U-Bahn stands for Untergrundbahn, which literally translates as "underground railway". If you ask me the S-Bahn doesn't count as a subway, as it's really quite similar to CrossRail - various branches out in the suburbs which all come together to form a central route (or routes as in Berlin's case) through the city centre.

On a more on-topic note, I wonder how they got it down the stairs? (Presuming they boarded at one of the underground stations in the Nord-Süd tunnel.)

 

[WestCoast]

Anything goes in Berlin, doesn't surprise me at all.

S-Bahn systems are indeed rapid transit lines which resemble a suburban railway, usually with underground sections in the centre of cities.

 

[johnnychips]

'Commuters in Berlin got the fright of their lives last week when a woman boarded a subway train with her Shetland pony.'

An anaconda on a lead, maybe. A pony, indeed a Shetland pony, no.

 

[Wath Yard]

It looks pretty vicious to me. I once sat near a woman with a kitten in a carrier. I couldn't muster the courage to travel on a train again for 2 years.

 

[WestCoast]

It looks pretty vicious to me. I once sat near a woman with a kitten in a carrier. I couldn't muster the courage to travel on a train again for 2 years.

I once sat next to a woman with a hen on her lap - although this was a train in Tunisia! Unsurprisingly, it didn't make the papers.

 

[starrymarkb]

Not being familiar with that system... is it somewhat like the "underground" areas on Thameslink, or more like the subsurface Metropolitan line? (Just out of interest. )

The Berlin S-Bahn is probably more like the Met. It's completely segregated from the main DB system (though DB run it for now - the City is tendering for new operators after getting crap service from DB following reunification) and uses a Third Rail system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B...S-Bahn_Berlin_DBAG-Baureihe_481_10.8.2009.jpg

Other S-Bahn systems are more Thameslink like, with standard heavy rail using city centre tunnels. (ie Frankfurt, Rhine-Ruhr, Munchen)

U-Bahn systems are more light rail, think similar to the DLR