Finally, it’s official. After a decade and a half of construction and years of delays, Berlin is getting a new S-Bahn line: the S15 connecting Gesundbrunnen and Hauptbahnhof via Wedding. Deutsche Bahn CEO Alexander Kaczmarek announced this to the press today at the new station under Invalidenstraße.
The S15 will be Berlin’s shortest S-Bahn line for the time being, having only two stops on the route (though a third, at Perleberger Brücke, is planned for the future). The temporary terminus at Hauptbahnhof will lie north of the actual station building, close to the current tram stop.
But this solution will only be temporary, as a proper permanent platform is under construction further south, at the actual station, and will be opened together with the next phase of the S15 to Potsdamer Platz – planned for 2036. In the long run, the new line is expected to run all the way to Südkreuz and Schöneberg via Gleisdreieck.
Before that, at the end of 2029, the refurbished Siemensbahn is expected to open and connect Gartenfeld with Hauptbahnhof via Westhafen, utilizing the new tracks between Hbf and the northern part of the Ring. In the meantime, we’re at least going to have a connection between Gesundbrunnen/Wedding and Hauptbahnhof every 10 minutes. The first train on the new route is scheduled to depart Hbf at 11:57 on Monday, June 15.
