Transportation and Industry
Transportation and industry have played an important role in the development of Marienfelde.
The Prussian military railway, the Königlich Preußische Militäreisenbahn, passed through the Marienfelde area on its way from Berlin to the town of Zossen. Between 1901 and 1904, the track was electrified and used as test track for high-speed locomotive testing. Ten kilovolt, three-phase alternating current with a frequency of 50 hertz was transmitted over three overhead wires, strung one above the other. Experimental electrical locomotives reached speeds of up to 210.8 km/h (131 mph) on the track.
Near the end of World War II, as part of the Elbe-Project, the world's first high-voltage direct current transmission lines were built from a power plant in Dessau, on the Elbe river, to Marienfelde. A substation was located in Marienfelde converted the direct current into alternating current. However, developments in the war prevented the project from ever becoming operational.
Today, Marienfelde is the location of a number of important industries, including a Daimler AG assembly plant. The main North-South rail line entering Berlin also passes through Marienfelde.
Read more about this topic: Marienfelde
Famous quotes containing the word industry:
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)