Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station

Berlin Zoologischer Garten
Operations
Category	2
Type	Bf
Platforms in use	6
Daily entry/exit	100,000
DS100 code	BZOO
Station code	0533
Construction and location
Opened	7 February 1882
Location	Berlin
State	Berlin
Country	Germany
Local authority	Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Home page	www.bahnhof.de
52°30′26″N 13°19′57″E
Hardenbergplatz 10623 Berlin
Route information
Stadtbahn
List of railway stations in the Berlin area

Berlin Zoologischer Garten station (German: Bahnhof Berlin Zoologischer Garten, shortened to Berlin Zoo or colloquially Bahnhof Zoo) was the central transport facility in West Berlin during the division of the city, and thereafter for the western central area of Berlin until opening of the new Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) on 28 May 2006. Situated within the Charlottenburg district on Hardenbergplatz, adjacent to the Berlin Zoo, it is also an interchange with the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn, which uses the Stadtbahn viaduct, along with RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn trains.

Overview

Hardenbergplatz, named after Karl August von Hardenberg, is Berlin's largest city bus terminal and night bus service centre. It is also used by long-distance buses/coaches, however the "ZOB", Berlin's central intercity bus terminal, is located on Messedamm in Westend, not far from the Funkturm.

Zoologischer Garten is also a Berlin U-Bahn station and S-Bahn station located at the Berlin Zoologischer Garten terminal, serving the U2 U9, S5, S7, S75. This station was visited by U2 in 1990. The band wrote the song "Zoo Station" while they were recording Achtung Baby in Berlin.

History

Bahnhof Zoo about 1900

The Bahnhof Zoo was originally a Stadtbahn station, opened on 7 February 1882. On 11 March 1902 the first Berlin U-Bahn line, today the U2, was opened under ground. Between 1934 and 1940 the station was rebuilt, and the track installations were expanded. After the final closure of the Anhalter Bahnhof in 1952, Bahnhof Zoo remained the only long-distance train station within West Berlin, operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany. On 28 August 1961, two weeks after the erection of the Berlin Wall, the new U-Bahn Line 9 was opened below the U2, connecting the station with the transportation network in the north-south direction.

The fact that with only two platforms and four tracks for long-distance trains the station was still the most important in West Berlin was another unnatural phenomenon of the divided city. After reunification, despite the outcry from nearby Kurfürstendamm retailers and local politicians, the station dramatically lost its importance following the launching of the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof on 28 May 2006, with long-distance services now passing through the station without stopping. An exception is the famous Sibirjak departing from Bahnhof Zoo for the Novosibirsk Trans-Siberian railway station. Periodically the EuroNight Paris-Berlin stops here.

Zoo Station in popular culture

U-Bahn Station (U2 platform)

U-Bahn station (U9 platform)

A class 001.5 leaves with a train for the West, 1973

• The station is well known as the setting of the 1978 book "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" (We children from Zoo Station), by Christiane Felscherinow, a bestseller in Germany which dramatises the period in the 1970s when the rear of the station facing Jebensstraße was a meeting point for prostitutes, teen runaways, and drug addicts. A film based on the book was released in 1981.

• The 1991 U2 song "Zoo Station" was inspired by the station, which in turn inspired their Zoo TV tour and the album Zooropa. Although the Berlin U-Bahn line U2 passes through the station, it was numbered U1 at the time; a rearrangement and renumbering of the line took place in November 1993, when the section linking it to the remainder of the line in former East Berlin was reopened.
• The song "The Zoo" by German rock band Scorpions was inspired by the station.
• The song "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo" by Nina Hagen was written about this station.
• The song "Zootime" by Mystery Jets ends with the line Wir sind die Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo.
• "Bahnhof Zoo" is also a track on the 2005 album Randy the Band by the Swedish band Randy
• The song "Big in Japan" by Alphaville refers to the Zoo station in the line "Should I stay here at the Zoo".
• The song "Bahnhof Zoo" by port-royal takes its name from the station.
• The song "Slept" by The Sisters Of Mercy was inspired by this station.^{[citation needed]}

External links

Media related to Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station at Wikimedia Commons

Preceding station		Deutsche Bahn		Following station
Berlin-Spandau toward Wismar		RE 2		Berlin Hbf toward Cottbus
Preceding station		Vogtlandbahn		Following station
Terminus		VX Vogtland-Express		Berlin Hbf toward Adorf
Preceding station		Berlin S-Bahn		Following station
Savignyplatz toward Spandau		S5		Tiergarten toward Strausberg Nord
Savignyplatz toward Potsdam Hbf		S7		Tiergarten toward Ahrensfelde
Savignyplatz toward Spandau		S75		Tiergarten toward Wartenberg
Preceding station		Berlin U-Bahn		Following station
Ernst-Reuter-Platz towards Ruhleben		U2		Wittenbergplatz towards Pankow
Kurfürstendamm towards Rathaus Steglitz		U9		Hansaplatz towards Osloer Straße