Potsdam Hauptbahnhof
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Potsdam Hauptbahnhof
 
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Station forecourt south of the tracks with bus and tram stop and water tower
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| Location | Friedrich Engels Straße, 14401, Potsdam, Brandenburg Germany |
| Coordinates | 52°23′30″N 13°04′00″E / 52.391667°N 13.066667°ECoordinates: 52°23′30″N 13°04′00″E / 52.391667°N 13.066667°E |
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| Construction | |
| Architect | Gerkan, Marg and Partners |
| Other information | |
| Station code | 5012 |
| DS100 code | BPD |
| IBNR | 8012666 |
| Category | 2 |
| Website | www.bahnhof.de |
| History | |
| Opened | 22 November 1838 |
Potsdam Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the German city of Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg. It lies on the Berlin–Magdeburg railway and was founded in 1838. However, it has had this name only since 1999. It was originally called Bahnhof Potsdam (Potsdam station) and it was called Potsdam Stadt (city) station from 1960. The station is the terminus of line S7 of the Berlin S-Bahn, which comes from Ahrensfelde. It is also connected with the central bus station central, which is a transfer point between Potsdam and the southwestern region of Berlin, and has a stop on the Potsdam tram network. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station.
The first railway from Berlin to Potsdam was opened on 22 September 1838. It was the first railway in Prussia and is now one of the oldest railways in Germany still in operation. Its final stop was at the site of the current Potsdam station. From the station, a port track ran to a steam boat landing west of the Long Bridge (Lange Brücke). With the commissioning of the Potsdam Railway bridge over the Havel by the Potsdam-Magdeburg Railway Company (Potsdam-Magdeburger Eisenbahngesellschaft) on 7 August 1846, the former terminus became a through station. The station building was built in the neoclassical style. This and the station forecourt (Bahnhofsvorplatz) now lay north of the tracks. In 1928, it was connected to the Berlin S-Bahn network. The complete electrication of the suburban line lasted nearly a year. In World War II, the station was destroyed and a new station building was built after the war.
From 1953 to 1958, it was connected to East Berlin by S-Bahn Durchläuferzüge ("through running trains"), which did not stop in West Berlin. From 1958, East Germany relocated internal traffic to the developing Berlin outer ring. After the commissioning of the outer ring so-called Sputnik trains ran from the new Potsdam Süd (south) station on the south-western outskirts (now called Potsdam Pirschheide station) via Schönefeld Airport to East Berlin. Long-distance trains on internal routes and later Interzone trains (Aachen–Görlitz and Munich–) also ran over the outer ring. The station was renamed Potsdam Stadt in 1960 and Potsdam Süd station was renamed Potsdam Hauptbahnhof in 1961. The electric S-Bahn service to Potsdam was disrupted by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and abandoned a few months later. The Potsdam Stadt and Babelsberg stations could only be reached by local trains from inter alia the old Potsdam Hauptbahnhof. The transit trains (Transitzügen) between West Berlin and West Germany passed through Potsdam Stadt and there were personnel to monitor boarding and disembarking passengers at Potsdam Griebnitzsee. Passengers could not board there until 1963.
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