Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 35, 2008

The Berlin U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn, underground railway) is a major part of the public transport system of the German capital, Berlin. Opened in 1902, the U-Bahn serves 170 stations spread across nine lines, with a total track length of 151.7 km, about 80% of which is underground. Trains run every two to five minutes during peak hours, and every seven to twelve minutes for the rest of the day; they travel 132 million km (83 million mi), carrying 400 million passengers, over the year. The entire system is maintained and operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, commonly known as the BVG. Designed to alleviate traffic flowing into and out of central Berlin, the U-Bahn rapidly expanded until the city was divided into East and West Berlin at the end of World War II. Although the system initially remained open to residents of both sides, the construction of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent restrictions imposed by the East German government limited travel across the border: The East Berlin U-Bahn lines were severed from West Berlin; while two West Berlin lines that ran through East Berlin were allowed to pass through without stopping, although the stations were closed, with the exception of Friedrichstraße, used as a transfer point and a border crossing into East Berlin. The system was reopened completely following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and German reunification. As of 2007, the Berlin U-Bahn is the most extensive underground network in Germany. True to its original goal, it has been calculated that, in 2006, use of the U-Bahn amounted to the equivalent of 122.2 million km (76 million mi) of car journeys. Now thoroughly modernised after years of neglect during the Cold War, it serves as the main transportation method of the capital.