Berlin Westkreuz station

Westkreuz station is located in a sparsely populated area on the border between the districts of Charlottenburg, Halensee, Westend and Grunewald. The boundaries between the districts of Charlottenburg in the north and Halensee in the south follow the course of the platforms in the station area, so that they are completely in Charlottenburg, while the tracks to the east, west and south are in Halensee. The border with the districts of Westend in the north and Grunewald in the south is only a few metres west of the tracks, while the only access to the platforms is on the northwest side of the station from the district of Westend.[5]

The route to the Messe Berlin (exhibition grounds) is via the streets of Am Westkreuz and Halenseestraße. Although originally intended as one of the main access stations to the exhibition grounds, they are better served by the stations of Messe Süd (formerly: Eichkamp) and Messe Nord/ICC (formerly: Witzleben) and the U-Bahn stations of Kaiserdamm and Theodor-Heuss-Platz and the buses of the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe. Therefore, the station is mainly used for changing trains.

Before the station was built, a pair of tracks ran west of Charlottenburg station to Berlin-Grunewald station as an extension of the Stadtbahn. Two further pairs of tracks connected the station with the northern half of the Ringbahn via Witzleben and Westend and with the southern Ringbahn via Halensee. The extended Stadtbahn and the curve to the southern Ringbahn crossed on the level in the system of tracks to the west of Charlottenburg station. The Ringbahn and suburban trains coming from the east ran to Charlottenburg via the Stadtbahn tracks. Since 1911 there was a connection for suburban traffic with the Spandau Suburban Line to Spandau via Rennbahn and Pichelsberg. This was connected to the existing pair of long-distance tracks of the Stadtbahn at Heerstraße station to minimise costs. The number of trains that could run on the Spandau Suburban Line was therefore limited by the occupancy of the long-distance tracks of the Stadtbahn. Operation of all suburban traffic to Spandau via the Berlin–Lehrte railway, which runs further north, was ruled out because the Lehrter Bahnhof had already reached the limit of its capacity.[6]

Peak hour crowd on the Ringbahn platform, 1946

As part of the main electrification of the suburban railways between 1924 and 1933, the Berlin Stadtbahn, Ringbahn and suburban line to Spandau was to have its own pair of tracks between Charlottenburg and Heerstraße. In addition, it was planned to remove the level junction between the Stadtbahn and the south ring curve and to construct a turnback east of Charlottenburg station. A station would be built to improve the interchange between the two lines at the intersection of the extended Stadtbahn and the Ringbahn. Previously passengers who arrived on trains running on the full Ringbahn had to change trains twice to reach Heerstrasse or Grunewald (in Halensee or Westend and in Charlottenburg).[7] During the construction, the Reichsbahn had to take into account the interests of the city of Berlin, which wanted to build an exhibition grounds on an area of around 100 hectares south of Kaiserdamm. In order not to cut up the site, the Reichsbahn had to relocate the lines to Spandau on the southern edge of the site. The new pair of suburban tracks to Spandau went into operation on 23 August 1928.[6]

Two BVG trains on the platform for trains towards Wannsee / Spandau with the signal box behind, 1986

Provisional regional platform next to the Ringbahn train shed, 1997

In addition to its primary use as a transfer station between the Stadtbahn and the Ringbahn, the new station was also intended as an entrance and exit to the planned exhibition centre and was therefore given the name of Ausstellung (exhibition). For this reason, the station was given a large entrance building[8] that was connected via a side road with Halenseestraße. Two island platforms were built for the Stadtbahn with operations in the same direction on both sided of each platform. Turnbacks were built at both ends of the platforms; the western turnback was primarily intended for trains stopping at Messe station, the eastern turnback for trains to/from Grunewald yard reversing to/from Spandau. An island platform was built on the Ringbahn at right angles to and above the two Stadtbahn platforms. The entrance and exit to the station building was made from the Ringbahn platform via a pedestrian bridge. Structural provisions were made for a second Ringbahn platform if traffic warranted. Likewise, the station building could have been extended to the west and given a separate entrance to the Stadtbahn platforms.[7][9]

Ausstellung station was opened on 10 December 1928. While the Stadtbahn platforms were used by electric trains from the beginning, only steam-hauled trains ran on the Ringbahn platform until 18 April 1929.[10] 16,000 to 20,000 passengers were expected to transfer traffic between the Stadtbahn and the Ringbahn on weekdays and around 700 trains stopped at the station every day.[9] After a possible thinning of the traffic on the north and south ring curves, up to 50,000 passengers were expected. In addition, there were another 50,000 passengers who were expected to attend exhibitions.[7] The name was changed to Westkreuz on 15 January 1932.[11]

The Nazi Party plans to transform Berlin into Germania envisaged relocating long-distance traffic to the Ringbahn. Westkreuz station was to be redeveloped with a western extension that would provide a link to the Grunewald carriage sidings.[12] Plans from 1941 included the building of two additional platforms on the S-Bahn tracks on the Stadtbahn. Five platforms would have been built to the north and four platforms to the south for long-distance traffic. Two Ringbahn platforms, one each for the S-Bahn and steam-hauled passenger trains, were to be built on the lower level. These plans were never finalised.[13]

From the beginning there were problems with the subsoil, which consists of a sand-filled ice age meltwater channel. Settlement damage occurred during construction, including the signal box tilting. The Ringbahn train shed also sagged, with differences in settlement of up to 60 centimetres. Therefore, it had to be rebuilt over and over again. In 1968, the Reichsbahn began the largest rebuilding to date: the Ringbahn train shed was hydraulically raised, new foundations were laid, and an attempt was made to build deep foundations. This work dragged on until 1976.[8]

The closure of the S-Bahn after the Berlin S-Bahn strike in 1980 also affected Westkreuz station. There was only minimal traffic on the Stadtbahn and no operations on the Ringbahn. Even after the BVG took over the business in 1984, nothing changed at first. It was not until 1989 that the Senate of Berlin began to rebuild the Ringbahn. It noted that there was a particularly large need to renovate Westkreuz station. In 1993, the entrance building and signal box had to be demolished; the signal box had a dangerous overhang of 30 cm.[11] The station was equipped with escalators and lifts.

The first section of the Ringbahn was put back into operation on 17 December 1993. As a result the Westkreuz was restored as an interchange station after 13 years. Westkreuz was also the terminus of the regional railway services toward Spandau between 27 June 1994 and 31 May 1997. This required a temporary timber platform to be built on the freight tracks of the Ringbahn, which was then demolished as part of the renovation of the Ringbahn freight tracks. As part of the renovation of the Stadtbahn in Westkreuz, both the tracks and the two Stadtbahn platforms have been completely renovated since 2004. The work was completed in time for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[11]

The station is one of 20 so-called Stammbahnhöfen (stem stations) of the Berlin S-Bahn with local supervision of trains (ZAT-FM).[14] At the Ringbahn platform, the train is dispatched by the driver using the driver's cab monitor.[15] Contrary to the standard ZAT dispatching procedure, special services on the track towards Spandau are dispatched by local supervisors.[16]

The building of an additional eastern entrance has been approved by the State of Berlin. In 2016, this was expected to be completed in 2018.[17] It has not been built (as of November 2020).

Train departing towards Wannsee and turnback tracks, 1997

Ringbahn train shed, 2011

S7 train at the southern platform, 2008

The station was built to a plan of Richard Brademann.[8] The only access to the station is via the street of Am Westkreuz. Until 1993, the entrance building was at the end of the section controlled by Electro-mechanical signalbox Wk. A pedestrian bridge spans the freight tracks of the Ringbahn and the Westend–Halensee passenger track, connecting the station building to the Ringbahn platform. Stairs connect the Ringbahn platform to the two Stadtbahn platforms.