Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof - The M-Bahn

The M-Bahn

In the latter years of the Wall's existence, part of the abandoned U-Bahn section, the stretch between Gleisdreieck and Potsdamer Platz, had actually been utilised by another line - the M-Bahn (Magnetic Levitation Railway) which, instead of diving underground as before, once it had crossed over the Landwehrkanal, remained above ground on a lengthy elevated structure supported on steel columns, which curved across the Potsdamer Bahnhof's former site to end at a terminus of its own at Kemper Platz, very near the Philharmonie (Philharmonic Hall, home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra).

As early as the late 1970s the West Berlin government had discussed introducing such a system to the city, particularly a section linking Tegel Airport with the centre. The go-ahead was finally given for the building of a test track at Potsdamer Platz on 2 December 1980, with a ground-breaking ceremony taking place on 16 June 1983, construction starting in earnest in December 1983 and the first test runs occurring in June 1984. Five years of intensive testing followed, not without incident. On 18 April 1987 an arson attack at Gleisdreieck destroyed two cars, while a more spectacular mishap occurred on 19 December 1988 when a train with badly adjusted brakes ran through the end wall of the Kemper Platz terminus, much to the amusement of the local press. However, with some spare cars pressed into service the line, just 1.6 km in length, was opened to the public on 28 August 1989, although it did not really run from anywhere to anywhere. Nevertheless, it was regarded as an interesting curiosity and was quite heavily used on that basis, although it was to be short-lived.

Less than three months later the Wall came down, which afforded the opportunity to restore the U-Bahn and S-Bahn, thus rendering the M-Bahn redundant. Closed on 18 July 1991, stripping out of the electrical system began on 31 July, followed by dismantling of the track and the elevated steel deck between September 1991 and January 1992. Today there is nothing left to show that it ever existed. Similarly it was decided not to proceed with any M-Bahn plans elsewhere in the city. The possibility of going ahead with the line to Tegel Airport resurfaced periodically, but with the airport itself set to close in 2012 after the massive expansion of Berlin Schönefeld Airport to transform it into the vast new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, due for completion in 2011, these plans have now been consigned to history.