Berlin Südkreuz station (German: Bahnhof Berlin Südkreuz, lit. 'Berlin South Cross') is a railway station in the German capital Berlin. The station was originally opened in 1898 and is an interchange station. The Berlin Ringbahn line of the Berlin S-Bahn metro railway is situated on the upper level and connects to the east and west, whilst the Anhalter Bahn and Dresdner Bahn intercity railway routes reach the station on the lower, north-south level. The station was extensively rebuilt between the late 1990s and 2006, and was renamed Berlin Südkreuz on 28 May 2006.
Berlin Südkreuz
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Berlin Südkreuz looking north
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| General information | |||||
| Location | General-Pape-Straße, 10829, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin Germany | ||||
| Coordinates | 52°28′32″N 13°21′52″E / 52.47556°N 13.36444°E / 52.47556; 13.36444 | ||||
| Owned by | Deutsche Bahn | ||||
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| Other information | |||||
| Station code | 4859 | ||||
| DS100 code |
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| IBNR |
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| Category | 1[2] | ||||
| Fare zone |  : Berlin A/5555[3] | ||||
| Website | www.bahnhof.de | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1898; 126 years ago (1898) | ||||
| Previous names | Berlin Papestraße (1898-2006) | ||||
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| 1990s–2006 | Rebuilt as Südkreuz | ||||
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The station's original name (Berlin Papestraße) originates from the nearby General-Pape-Straße, which is named after the Prussian general Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape. The Ringbahn platform opened as an island platform on 1 December 1901.[4]
The original Papestrasse station building, constructed from 1898 to 1901 was demolished, although a corner of the building, incorporating a clock tower, has been preserved as part of the new station.[5]
The station played a vital part in Deutsche Bahn's new concept for long-distance services in Berlin; it was deemed necessary to have a long-distance station in southern Berlin for the new north-south axis, so it was decided to rebuild Papestraße and rename the station to Südkreuz, giving the station a more intuitive name like the Ostkreuz (East Cross) and Westkreuz (West Cross) stations on the Berlin Stadtbahn. Construction, however, was severely delayed due to unexpected difficulties and NIMBY complaints of residents living near the long-disused north-south lines. Instead of opening in 2000 as scheduled, the station only opened on 28 May 2006, together with the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Main Station) in the center of Berlin. It is now used as a terminal station for ICE trains to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, and sees a number of north-south services heading to and from Leipzig HauptbahnhoforHalle Hauptbahnhof plus EuroCity services to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia via Dresden Hauptbahnhof.
During 2017 Germany's Ministry of the Interior announced a pilot project to employ facial recognition technology at Berlin Südkreuz station. The six-month trial will overlay facial recognition software over the station's existing video surveillance system and will track a database of volunteers. The project is being jointly undertaken by the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and Deutsche Bahn. Announcing the pilot, the ministry said the technology would be able to detect people in need of help, as well as suspicious behaviour, and report it automatically.[6]
The station is served by the following service(s):[7]
| Line | Route | Interval |
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| ICE 8 | Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich | Every 2 hours |
| ICE 9 | Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin – Cologne – Bonn | |
| ICE 11 | Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin – Berlin Südkreuz – Leipzig – Erfurt – Frankfurt – Mannheim – Stuttgart – Munich – Innsbruck | Every 2 hours |
| ICE 15 | (Rostock1 –) Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Frankfurt (– Saarbrücken1, Stuttgart1orDarmstadt1) | Every 2 hours |
| ICE 18 | (Kiel2 –) Hamburg – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg3 – Munich | Every 2 hours |
| ICE 28 | Hamburg – or (Binz1 – Stralsund1 –) Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Leipzig – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Ingolstadt/Augsburg3 – Munich | Every 2 hours |
| ICE 29 | (Rostock –) Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nuremberg – Munich | 5 train pairs |
| ICE 91 | (Rostock –) Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Halle – Erfurt – Nürnberg – Regensburg – Passau – Linz – Vienna | One train pair |
| IC 17 | Warnemünde – Rostock – Waren – Neustrelitz – Oranienburg – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – BER Airport – Terminal 1-2 – Doberlug-Kirchhain – Elsterwerda – Dresden-Neustadt – Dresden | Every 2 hours |
| EC 27 | (Kiel 1orWesterland 1 –) Hamburg – Berlin Hbf – Berlin Südkreuz – Dresden – Prague (– Budapest) | Every 2 hours |
| FLX 30 | Leipzig – Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Hbf – Berlin-Spandau – Hannover – Bielefeld – Dortmund – Essen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf – Cologne – Aachen | 1 train pair |
| Notes. | 1 = one pair of trains each
2 = one train on line 11 to Kiel, one train on line 18 from Kiel | |
| Line | Route | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| RE 3 | Lutherstadt Wittenberg – Jüterbog – Berlin Südkreuz – Eberswalde – Angermünde – | Schwedt (Oder) | |
| Prenzlau – Greifswald – Stralsund | |||
| RE 4 | Falkenberg (Elster) – Jüterbog – Ludwigsfelde – Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin-Spandau – Dallgow-Döberitz – Wustermark – Rathenow | ||
| RE 5 | Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Gesundbrunnen – Oranienburg – Neustrelitz – | Güstrow – Rostock | |
| Neubrandenburg – Stralsund | |||
| RE 8 | Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Südkreuz – Wünsdorf-Waldstadt – Luckau-Uckro – | Doberlug-Kirchhain – Elsterwerda | |
| Finsterwalde (Niederlausitz) | |||
| RB 10 | Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Jungfernheide – Berlin-Spandau – Falkensee – Nauen | ||
| RB 14 | Berlin Südkreuz – Berlin Potsdamer Platz – Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Berlin Jungfernheide – Berlin-Spandau – Falkensee – Nauen | ||
| As of 11 December 2022 | |||
Bernau - Karow - Pankow - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Südkreuz - Blankenfelde
Hennigsdorf - Tegel - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Südkreuz - Lichterfelde - Teltow
Blankenburg - Pankow - Gesundbrunnen - Friedrichstraße - Potsdamer Platz - Südkreuz - Lichterfelde - Teltow
(Ring Clockwise) Südkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Westkreuz - Westend - Jungfernheide - Gesundbrunnen - Ostkreuz - Treptower Park - Hermannstraße - Südkreuz
(Ring Anti-clockwise) Südkreuz - Hermannstraße - Treptower Park - Ostkreuz - Gesundbrunnen - Jungfernheide - Westend - Westkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Südkreuz
Südkreuz - Neukölln - Schöneweide - Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (T1-T2)
Westend - Westkreuz - Innsbrucker Platz - Südkreuz - Neukölln - Schöneweide - Grünau - Königs Wusterhausen
