Construction work at Berlin Central Station
© dpa
Rail travelers must be prepared for restrictions at Berlin Central Station and changed timetables over the Easter weekend. From Friday evening until Tuesday morning, the lower level of the station will be completely closed. In recent weeks, four of the eight tracks there were still open.
“Despite the closure, traffic to and from Berlin is still running,” Deutsche Bahn announced. However, long-distance trains are not stopping at the lower eight tracks and at Südkreuz station, but mostly in the above-ground part of Hauptbahnhof. There are also stops in Gesundbrunnen, Ostbahnhof, Ostkreuz and Lichtenberg. The detour will extend the journey by up to 20 minutes. According to Bahn, some trains will also be canceled, especially on the connection between Hamburg via Berlin to Munich. Regional trains are also being diverted and stops are being canceled. Construction work in the basement of the capital's main station has been underway since mid-February. Since then, only four of the eight tracks in the underground station have been usable. One weekend in March, all eight tracks were closed.
The reason for the construction work was to install additional points and signals on the tracks in the basement “so that trains can reach the platforms more quickly and flexibly in future”. The new points are intended to ensure that trains can switch to the adjacent track if a track is occupied, for example. The new so-called “train cover signals” will allow two trains to stop behind each other at one platform in future. According to Deutsche Bahn, this will allow more trains to be handled and long trains to be split if necessary.
From Tuesday morning onwards, trains will also return to the underground station. The work is on schedule, the railroad announced. The S-Bahn and the above-ground part of the main station are not affected by the work.