Berlin Ostkreuz railway station

Berlin Ostkreuz
Interchange station
Berlin Ostkreuz in March 2012
Location	Friedrichshain, Rummelsburg, Berlin Germany
Coordinates	52°30′11″N 13°28′8″E / 52.50306°N 13.46889°E / 52.50306; 13.46889Coordinates: 52°30′11″N 13°28′8″E / 52.50306°N 13.46889°E / 52.50306; 13.46889
Line(s)	Stadtbahn (KBS 200.5, 200.7, 200.75, 200.9) Ringbahn (KBS 200.41, 200.42, 200.8, 200.85, 200.9) Silesian Railway (KBS 200.3) Eastern Railway (KBS 200.5, 200.7, 200.75)
Platforms	6 S-Bahn 6 Regionalbahn planned
Other information
Station code	4809
DS100 code	BOK
IBNR	8089028
Category	3
History
Opened	7 February 1882
Previous names	Stralau-Rummelsburg (1882–1933)
Key dates
2006–2018	Reconstruction

Berlin Ostkreuz (literally "Berlin East Cross") is a station on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway and the busiest interchange station in Berlin. It is in the former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain, now part of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. A smaller part of the station is in Rummelsburg, part of the borough of Lichtenberg. The station is a Turmbahnhof (“tower station”, that is a two-level interchange) with the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) railway (“Lower Silesian–Markish Railway”) and the Prussian Eastern Railway on the lower level and the Berlin Ringbahn on the upper level. It is used by a total of around 100,000 passengers every day on nine lines, entering or leaving.

The station has been undergoing complete reconstruction since 2006 while train operations at the station have continued. Work under the current plans was original projected to be completed by 2016, but it has been delayed and it is now expected to be completed in 2018. While in the past it was exclusively used as a Berlin S-Bahn station, with the completion of the current work, it will also be a stopping point for regional services.

A railway crossing point in the area later called Ostkreuz was created in 1871 with the commissioning of the Ringbahn which crossed the tracks here of the Lower Silesian–Markish Railway, which was opened 1842, and the Eastern Railway, which was extended to Berlin in 1867. In 1872 this crossing was supplemented by two connecting curves from the Ringbahn to the tracks towards the city. At this time, however, there was no station and the trains ran on all lines without stopping.

With the commissioning of the Berlin Stadtbahn in 1882, platform A was built between the connecting curves, this went into operation on 7 February. The station was called Stralau-Rummelsburg. Two other platforms, B and C, were opened in 1896 on the outer sides of the two connecting curves. In 1900 and 1901, the station complex was rebuilt and then extended. The trains of the Ringbahn have stopped at Stralau-Rummelsburg since 1 May 1903, when platform F was added. In the same year platforms were developed on the suburban lines to and from Lichtenberg (Eastern Railway, platform D, opened on 1 October), and to and from Erkner (Silesian Railway, platform E, opened on 18 April).