On a recent photo ride, I e-scooted all the way over to the long abandoned train station in Siemensstadt.
The station, and indeed the entire Siemensbahn branch line, has been left to decay since relocations, a big ol’ war, politics, declining patronage and finally a rail worker strike led to its closure in 1980.
The line was originally built by Siemens in the 1920s to get many of its 55,000 workers to its headquarters and factories, but WW2 saw much of it destroyed, while the post-war occupations and divisions resulted in the dismantling of various sections.
Siemens also relocated its HQ to Munich in 1949, so even though the line was eventually restored, its usefulness never fully recovered.
On its own website, Siemens says:
“At the end of March 1949, in light of the uncertain political situation in postwar Berlin, the Siemens management decided to transfer the headquarters of Siemens & Halske AG to Munich and those of Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG to Erlangen as of April 1. Berlin remained the second headquarters location of both companies.”
In 2019, it was agreed that the line would be reopened, but I’m not sure how much progress has been made.
Hell, my kids’ school in East Berlin was supposed to be renovated between 2018-2021 and they’re still going today. Even accounting for covid, that’s some crazy Aufbau Ost in action!
If you’d like to see the station in a slightly less advanced state of decay, surrounded by beautiful spring green, there’s a great post linked below at Digital Cosmonaut.
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