A railway crossing point in the area later called Ostkreuz was created in 1871 with the commissioning of the Ringbahn, which there crossed the tracks of the Lower Silesian–March Railway (
Niederschlesisch-Märkische Bahn, also called the Silesian Railway), which was opened in 1842, and the Eastern Railway, which was extended to Berlin in 1867. This crossing was supplemented by two connecting curves from the Ringbahn to the tracks towards the city in 1872. Initially, they only served freight traffic, but on 1 January 1872 passenger traffic ran from the newly built
Stralau station on the south curve to the
Niederschlesisch-Märkisches station (later called just the
Schlesischer—"Silesian"—station, now the
Ostbahnhof). There was no station at the intersection of the lines at that time. A transfer station was instead built to the south at the junction with the connecting curve. It was initially called
Niederschlesisch-Märkischer Anschluß ("Lower Silesian–March connection") and was renamed
Stralau in April 1872. This provided connections between passenger trains on the connecting curve and commuter trains to and from the Silesian station. Around 1880, the railway facilities in the area were completely rebuilt. While the Eastern Railway and the Silesian Railway formerly ran in parallel and ended at different stations, they were combined with the reconstruction of both lines east of the connecting curves to the Ringbahn. Passenger traffic of both lines ran to the Silesian station and subsequently the old terminus of the Eastern Railway,
Old Ostbahnhof, served only goods traffic.
Two lines connected the newly built shunting yards in
Lichtenberg-Friedrichsfelde and
Rummelsburg to the Ringbahn. Previously, freight trains from the lines from the east to the Ringbahn had to make an awkward reversal in the Silesian station. During the construction of the tracks at the Silesian station, the passenger tracks running from there to the east were also rebuilt. The southern pair of tracks served traffic to the Eastern Railway and the Silesian Railway, which branched in the area where the Ringbahn crosses. The northern track pair was built in a slightly different position than the earlier connecting curves. It served only the suburban traffic and connected to the Ringbahn to the north and south. The construction of new connecting ramps in the area of the later Ostkreuz station, in a different location than the old ones, began on 1 September 1879 together with the reconstruction of the tracks in the Silesian station. During this work, passenger traffic was temporarily relocated to the old Ostbahnhof station. In July 1880, the Silesian station went back into service for passenger traffic, followed by further construction work to connect it with the new
Berlin Stadtbahn.
Stralau-Rummelsburg station was opened with the commissioning of this work on 7 February 1882.
Stralau-Rummelsburg station The station was named after the nearby villages of Stralau and
Rummelsburg, and replaced
halts on the Ringbahn at Stralau on the Ringbahn and
Rummelsburg on the Silesian Railway. The station was owned jointly by the Eastern Railway, the Silesian Railway and the Ringbahn. It had a platform (later platform A) between the two connecting curves, an "intermediate" platform (in Germany, a low island platform with one platform edge and sometimes accessed by passengers across a rail track) on each of the curves connecting in opposite directions and a side and intermediate platform on the tracks of the Silesian Railway. There was no platform on the tracks of the Eastern Railway, so its trains stopped at the platforms of the Silesian Railway if necessary. There was a crossover east of the station and another crossover at the present Modersohn bridge to the west of the station. As there was no platform on the through Ringbahn tracks, no passenger trains stopped on it. The suburban trains of the Ringbahn coming from both the north and south ran via the connecting curves to Stralau-Rummelsburg station on the Stadtbahn and vice versa in the opposite direction. Stralau-Rummelsburg was also the end or starting point for some trains running on the Stadtbahn. The later platforms B and C were opened in 1896 on the outsides of the two connecting curves and replaced the existing intermediate platforms. They were built to serve increased traffic as a result of the
Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin held in Treptow in 1896.
First major reconstruction At the beginning of the 20th century, the station and the railway facilities adjoining to the east were rebuilt because the at-grade junctions of the Eastern Railway and the Silesian Railway at the station had become an obstacle to the growing traffic. East of the station, the tracks for the long-distance lines were separated from the suburban lines and elevated on both lines. The Eastern Railway received two suburban tracks and a goods track to their north, while the long-distance traffic of the Eastern Railway ran over the
VnK line to join the Silesian Railway further east. On the Silesian Railway the suburban tracks were separated from the long-distance tracks. The suburban tracks of the Stadtbahn were connected with those of Eastern Railway and the Silesian Railway in Stralau-Rummelsburg station. The associated platforms were put in operation on 1 October 1903 (Eastern Railway, platform D) and 18 April 1903 (Silesian Railway, platform E). The new platform F on the Ringbahn on the upper level of the station went into operation on 1 May 1903. At the same time, platform D also received a new entrance building on the west side of the platform giving access to the upper-level platforms A, B and C. Since the reconstruction, suburban trains have run directly from the Eastern Railway and the Silesian Railway to the suburban tracks of the Stadtbahn and the suburban tracks of the Ringbahn have run through the upper platform of the station. The design of the core of the station remained essentially unchanged for more than a century. Some alterations took place from 1923 to designs by Richard Brademann. A pedestrian bridge was built over platforms D and E with exits to Hauptstraße and Sonntagstraße and ticket offices at each end. Electrical operations gradually commenced on all suburban lines in 1928 and 1929, and they were rebranded as the
Berlin S-Bahn in 1930. A
rectification plant was built on the Markgrafendamm south of the station. The platforms were raised to a height of 96 centimetres.
Ostkreuz station after 1933 On 15 March 1933, the station was renamed
Ostkreuz, following the renaming of
Westkreuz a few years earlier. According to the
Germania plan of the
Nazis for the reconstruction of Berlin as capital of the
Third Reich, a major station would have been built at Ostkreuz as the
Ostbahnhof (east station). The planned nine mainline platforms would have been east of the Ringbahn. The S-Bahn services would have used three low-level platforms instead of two platforms and another new platform was intended as a replacement for platform A on the connecting curve from the city to the southern Ringbahn. In the Second World War, the station area was severely damaged by bombing. Nevertheless, from June 1945, operation gradually resumed. The southern Ringbahn curve was out of service from February/March 1945 and was only usable again from August 1946. As a result,
Deutsche Reichsbahn announced in early 1956 that the stairs from the Ringbahn platform to the low-level platform D would be widened by . However, a complete renovation of the station would be necessary after this "small solution" was carried out. Planning for more extensive remodelling continued. In 1957, the construction of a second Ringbahn platform west of the existing platform to relieve congestion was considered. In 1959, it was announced that the reconstruction of the station would begin in 1962 or 1963. This would involve the construction of a -wide tunnel below the lower platforms to connect with both the station's entrance hall and the broad steps down from the lower platforms. Provision was made for the construction of escalators. The work was expected to cost 7.5 million
marks. In 1986,
Erich Honecker announced the beginning of the "complex reconstruction" of the Ostkreuz S-Bahn junction for the period up to 1990. The Reichsbahn ultimately failed to implement this scheme because of its complexity and high cost. No major changes occurred at the station for decades and it was referred to ironically as
Rostkreuz ("rust cross"). It is now partially protected as a monument, The reconstruction of the railway facilities at Ostkreuz went into full operation in December 2018, at which time transport planners expected the station to be used by over 123,000 passengers a day as a result of the reconstruction.
Construction project The project included, in addition to Ostkreuz station, the tracks between
Ostbahnhof in the west and Nöldnerplatz and Rummelsburg in the east, including the reconstruction of
Warschauer Straße station and the tracks to the
Treptower Park station to the south. The reconstruction amounted to new construction, which was carried out while trains continued running and therefore took over ten years to complete. All essential facilities of the station, such as platforms, stairs, bridges and track systems were remodeled or rebuilt. Among other things, 12
lifts and 17
escalator were installed and new entrances from all four surrounding districts were built. The facilities of the new station differ in many ways from those of the old. Prior to the rebuilding, S-Bahn trains on the line to
Erkner stopped at one platform and the trains on the lines to
Strausberg,
Ahrensfelde and
Wartenberg via
Lichtenberg stopped at another. Since the reconstruction, the two lower platforms have been served by train running in the same direction to allow easy interchange (known as
Richtungsbetrieb—directional operation). The northern platform is served by all trains running towards the city centre, while the southern platform is used by trains running in the opposite direction. The track from Erkner crosses the track to Lichtenberg on a bridge to the east of the platforms. The Ringbahn S-Bahn platform was rebuilt at the old location, but it is now much wider and has been given a
train shed. There is now no platform at the connecting curve from the southern Ringbahn to Stadtbahn, which is used by line S9 from
Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Regional platforms were built on the low-level part of the station on both the Silesian Railway (south of the S-Bahn) for trains running east–west and the Eastern Railway (north of the S-Bahn). In addition, a regional platform was built on the Ringbahn in the high-level part of the station. Provision has been made for a tunnel section under the tracks of the Stadtbahn for the planned extension of
autobahn 100 (Berlin city ring, 17th construction phase). It is long and consists of a reinforced concrete slab resting on deep
diaphragm walls. This allows an actual motorway tunnel to be built in the future without further interference with rail traffic. The
tramway that now runs through Boxhagener Straße will in future run directly to Ostkreuz and stop in the northern area under the platform of the Ringbahn. The aim is to shorten transfer times and to provide direct access for feeder traffic from the surrounding residential areas.
Construction process Pre-construction work began in the spring and summer of 2006 with the demolition of old buildings and the removal of vegetation. The ground-breaking ceremony was scheduled for 16 January 2007 but had to be postponed. Construction started with the building of a bridge over the railway tracks for Kynaststraße, to the east of the station. In February 2008, a temporary pedestrian bridge was installed connecting the entrances of the station with platforms D and E. It replaced the old heritage-listed bridge, which had to be demolished for the construction, but was later faithfully recreated. The old platform F on the Ringbahn was partly taken out of service on 31 August 2009 and fully closed on 11 September. The tracks of the Ringbahn were pivoted towards the future regional platform. The concourse for the S-Bahn tracks of the Ringbahn was completed in late 2011 and the station shell was commissioned on 16 April 2012. The regional platform on the upper level was originally scheduled to go into operation in 2014. After delays in construction, it was put into operation on 13 December 2015. The newly constructed platform Rn1 was put into operation in May 2013. It was used by S-Bahn services during the early years of the construction and now serves as a regional platform for services on the Eastern Railway. Platform D was taken out of service at the same time and rebuilt. The regional train platform Ru on the Stadtbahn level went into operation on 30 June 2014 and was initially used during construction work on S-Bahn platform E of S-Bahn line S3. The commissioning of the new platform D followed on 7 October 2014. S-Bahn trains running towards Lichtenberg initially stopped here on the northern edge of the platform. A reconstructed landmark supervisory building on the new platform as well as two historic roof pillars on the western platform are reminders of the old Ostkreuz. In this period, platform E went out of service and was subsequently rebuilt. The reconstruction of the historic pedestrian bridge, which spans the western end of the lower platforms, began in summer 2016. In addition, the north curve embankment, including the bridge over the approach from Sonntagstraße, was demolished. Driver-only operation supported by driver's cab monitor (called
Zugabfertigung durch den Triebfahrzeugführer mittels Führerraum-Monitor; ZAT-FM) went into operation in August 2016 on the platform formerly used for services towards Lichtenberg (platform D). Major parts of the reconstruction project were completed by the end of 2017. Thus, with the commissioning of the rebuilt platform E on 21 August 2017, S-Bahn line S3—with trains now running in the same direction on the opposite sides of each platform, unlike in the previous lay out—again ran through to the city centre, where at first there were considerable operational problems. Since August 2017, a new
computer-based interlocking has controlled the S-Bahn tracks of the Stadtbahn level between Ostbahnhof and Rummelsburg or Nöldnerplatz, using the new
Zugbeeinflussungssystem S-Bahn Berlin (Berlin S-Bahn Train Control System, ZBS) as standard. Assembly using the
incremental launch method of the steel bridge for the south curve to the Ringbahn, which consists of 22 individual parts, began in early 2015, with a total of €21.4 million invested in the construction of the new south curve. Since 10 December 2017, line S9 has run again on the newly built curve, but without stopping at Ostkreuz station. At the same time platform Ru became operational for regional services on lines RE1, RE2, RE7 and RB14. Regional services also stopped serving
Karlshorst station. The four-track infrastructure of the S-Bahn between Ostbahnhof and Ostkreuz went into operation on 6 December 2017. It and four S-Bahn platform edges have been used in scheduled operations, using directional operation, since 9 December. The inauguration of the pedestrian bridge and platforms Rn1 and Rn2 on the Eastern Railway took place on 9 December 2018. Since then, RB26 services and some RB12 and RB25 services have started and stopped at these platforms. The reconstruction of the historic entrance building at the northern end of the pedestrian bridge and the layout of the forecourts had not yet begun at this time. The commissioning of the new tram line was originally planned for 2016. In autumn 2015, 2019 was mentioned as the opening date of the tram line. The project has aroused opposition among some residents; when comments were sought for planning approval in January 2018, more than 1000 objections were received, and construction was therefore delayed. In early 2021 it was further delayed to allow for additional public comment, with the projected completion date being deferred from the end of 2023 to 2025.
Costs The planned costs amounted to 726 million
marks in 1998. According to
Deutsche Bahn's medium-term planning in April 2007, €62.6 million would be invested in the project by 2010. The investment proposed for 2010 in the federal transport infrastructure plan (
Investitionsrahmenplan bis 2010 für die Verkehrsinfrastruktur des Bundes) provided for the expenditure of €143.1 million on the project (2006 costs). By 2005, a total of €9.6 million had been spent on it. Between 2006 and 2010, federal funding of €75.2 million was to be invested in it. Beyond this period there was to be a financial contribution of €58.4 million (federal funding from 2011, DB funding and third-party contributions since 2006). The cost was estimated to be €411 million in 2006. In 2013 the planned cost of the overall project (including the reconstruction of Warschauer Straße station) was set at €411 million, including an additional €6 million for new work at
Ostbahnhof. The roof of the upper regional platform is being funded by the government of Berlin with €1.5 million from funds for overcoming the operational constraints of the Berlin S-Bahn. The work carried out to enable the extension of the A 100, costing €16 million, was financed by the federal government. ==Infrastructure==