Berlin Südkreuz

Infobox DB station|name=Berlin Südkreuz|other_name=Berlin Papestraße (1898-2006)|logo=

street=General-Pape-Straße_1
10829 Berlin|ds100=BPAP|category=1|code=4859|start=1898|years1=1990s-2006|events1=Rebuilt as Südkreuz

Berlin Südkreuz (German: Berlin South Cross) is a railway station in the German capital Berlin. The station was originally opened in 1898 and is a crossing station. The Berlin Ringbahn line of the Berlin S-Bahn metro railway is situated on the upper level and connects to the east and west, whilst the Anhalter Bahn and Dresdner Bahn intercity railway routes reach the station on the lower, north-south level. The station was extensively rebuilt between the late 1990s and 2006, and has been renamed to Berlin Südkreuz on May 28, 2006.

History

The station's original name originates from the nearby "General-Pape-Straße", which is named after the Prussian general Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape. The Ringbahn platforms were opened on January 1, 1901, the Ringbahn platform opened as an island platform on December 1, 1901.

Becoming Südkreuz

The station played a vital part in Deutsche Bahn's new concept for long-distance services in Berlin; it was deemed necessary to have a long-distance station in southern Berlin for the new north-south axis, so it was decided to rebuild Papestraße and rename the station to Südkreuz, giving the station a more intuitive name like the Ostkreuz (East Cross) and Westkreuz (West Cross) stations on the Berlin Stadtbahn. Construction, however, was severely delayed due to unexpected difficulties and NIMBY complaints of residents living near the long-disused north-south lines. Instead of opening in 2000 as scheduled, the station only opened on May 28, 2006, together with the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Main Station) in the center of Berlin. It is now used as a terminal station for ICE trains to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, and sees a fair share of north-south services heading from and toward Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.