Berlin OstBhf, is there engineering work

[STEVIEBOY1]

Hi, I was just looking on DB website at trains in the next month or so from Koln to Berlin OstBhf & VV and there do not seem to be any direct services at the moment. I know there used to be a couple of years ago as I travelled on them. Some services seem to be going to Berlin Gesundbrunnen via Berlin Hbf (tief). I wonder if there are either large engineering works going on, or are there are no longer any long distance trains using OstBhf? I looked at services to/from Hannover, Dresden and Hamburg and they all seem to be the same. Thanks.

 

[Mag_seven]

Looking at the European Timetable indicates that all Koln-Berlin services no longer serve Berlin OstBhf. Whether this is a permanent change I don't know but I do remember these services as you say terminating at the OstBhf in the past.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thanks, it just seemed a bit odd, every train destination I put in, seemed to exclude OstBhf just now, even to Dresden which was in the East. I recall there was a load of track work a year or so ago that caused similar changes, maybe it is something to do with that..

 

[Spoorslag '70]

There still are some long-distance services using Berlin-Ost, e.g. the ICs to Amsterdam, ICEs to Switzerland and some additional services (such as a pair of Aachen-Berlin ICs). Everything else goes through Hbf (Tief) and mostly to/from Gesundbrunnen. Trains from Dresden approach Berlin from the south and thus don't use Berlin-Ost.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

There still are some long-distance services using Berlin-Ost, e.g. the ICs to Amsterdam, ICEs to Switzerland and some additional services (such as a pair of Aachen-Berlin ICs). Everything else goes through Hbf (Tief) and mostly to/from Gesundbrunnen. Trains from Dresden approach Berlin from the south and thus don't use Berlin-Ost.

Ok, thank you for that, do the trains using HBF and Gesundbrunnen have to reverse at the HBF? (and what is the Tief at HBF?)

 

[Spoorslag '70]

Yes and no. Most of them reverse but some arrive from the south (via Südkreuz). Tief is the lower level (platforms 1-8).

 

[Groningen]

Connection with Ostbahnhof is mainly by S-bahn. There are some ICE, but a journey with the S-bahn only takes (about) 12 minutes.

 

[JonathanP]

Since reunification a great deal of money has been spent on providing fast connections from Berlin to Halle, Leipzig and Dresden, all of which connect into the route which runs via Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Hbf low level.

The only through long distance trains serving the station now are the Berlin-Warsaw express. A few other services start/end their journeys, more as a matter of operational convenience to avoid using up platform space at the Hauptbahnhof while the train whilst the train crew prepare and sweep the train than because anyone actually wants to get on or off there. Primarily this is the Berlin - Amsterdam via Hannover and the Berlin - Basel via Frankfurt services.

It's something of a relic of the division of Berlin these days. They don't even bother stopping all the regional services there anymore, some go through without stopping.

 

[43096]

Looking at the European Timetable indicates that all Koln-Berlin services no longer serve Berlin OstBhf. Whether this is a permanent change I don't know but I do remember these services as you say terminating at the OstBhf in the past.

It's a permanent change: in my experience there were major issues with the East-West Stadtbahn in terms of capacity which caused delays to build up - effectively DB were trying to run too many trains over that route, which is mostly two track (the two S-bahn tracks are totally separate and not electrified at 15kV). As a result the Berlin-Köln service now starts/terminates at Berlin Hbf tief (=low level) so that it runs in from Spandau via Jungfernheide.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Many thanks for all your answers/input, the only reason I was interested in the OstBhf services, was because I used to stay nearby and OstBhf was a much easier station to negotiate around rather than the nice, but much bigger and busier Hbf.