Trains
The Berlin U-Bahn uses 750-Volt DC electric trains that run on standard gauge (1435 mm) tracks. The first trains were based on trams; they have a width of 2.30 m (7.5 ft), and take their power from an upward facing third rail. To accommodate greater passenger numbers without lengthening the trains—which would require costly extended platforms—trains that ran on lines built after World War I were required to be wider. The original trains and lines, which continued to operate, were designated Kleinprofil (small profile), and the newer, wider trains and lines were designated Großprofil (large profile). Großprofil trains are 2.65 m (8.7 ft) wide, and take their power from a downward facing third rail. This is related to New York City's A Division and B Division systems, where the B Division trains are wider than A Division trains.
Although the two profiles are generally incompatible, Kleinprofil trains have been modified to run on Großprofil lines during two periods of economic difficulty. Between 1923 and 1927 on the Nord-Süd-Bahn, and between 1961 and 1978 on the E line, adapted Kleinprofil trains were used to compensate for the lack of new Großprofil trains: they were widened with wooden boards to reach the platforms; and had their power pickups adapted to accept power from the negatively-charged downward-facing third rail, instead of positively-charged upward-facing third rail.
As of 2007, Kleinprofil trains run on the U1, U2, U3, and U4 lines; and Großprofil trains operate on the U5, U55, U6, U7, U8, and U9 routes.
Read more about this topic: Berlin U-Bahn
Famous quotes containing the word trains:
“Conventions, at the present moment, are really menaced. The most striking sign of this is that people are now making unconventionality a social virtue, instead of an unsocial vice. The switches have been opened, and the laden trains must take their chance of a destination.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)
“To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm’s way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“In this country, you never pull the emergency brake, even when there is an emergency. It is imperative that the trains run on schedule.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)