A good thing is that even in west Berlin a lot of the center running space is still there, often just converted into parking. Berlin really loves keeping its option open. The same is true for the U-Bahn which has a lot of empty stuff, because if you want to build on a plot where they plan to build a line you have to also build the infrastructure below it, because cut and cover is so much cheaper. Even if the the line isn't planned to begin building in the next decade.
A friendly hello and warm greetings from Berlin! The video is great. It explains the (for many people) somewhat complicated Berlin tram network. In fact, the tram network is very popular with the locals. I can only recommend that guests in Berlin take a few trips on the tram. However, it can get very busy in the morning, at lunchtime and in the evening (i.e. during rush hour)... 😅 The Berlin tram basically fills the gaps in the S- and U-Network. So if you travel short distances between the larger S- and U-Stations and want to get somewhere quickly, the tram is perfect for that. Its particular strength lies in the outdoor areas that are not accessible by Suburban or Underground. Trips by tram to outside of Berlin are always very popular because it gives you easy and quick access to nature in the area of Berlin. Oh yes, a big compliment to the speaker. I was really fascinated by how accurately the end stops (i.e. the street names) were pronounced. There are names that can be real tongue twisters for many people (even natives). 😂 Respect! A big compliment! 👍
after living a few months in berlin i can say this system works really good overall being so well connected with the s and u bahn if you know how the lines go, the main problem that i see is that in google maps for example all lines appear red, being super inconvenient for anybody that doesnt know well the city. also they don't appear in the usual transport map even tho the M lines work with the same frequency and are super useful and used, there is a different map inside of the trams but if they posted that map in more places people would know how to use the trams better. very good system but mostly used by locals for that reason
Very good video👍 There are 4 other tram systems around Berlin, these are Strausberg, Woltersdorf (use of very old trams type Gotha), Schöneiche-Rüdersdorf and Potsdam
Thanks for this fantastic as usual video! This is fantastic that you want to show people trams and their history, this is superb! I really loved this viedo as each other ones you made. You show so many interesting things! ❤
The first overhead system were two parallel slotted tubes with a chariot gliding in it . 1:15 if you look closely to the image you’ll see it ! F.J.Sprague invented the overhead wire around the same year as Siemens opened his line but it needed some years to come over the pond… 2:13 Don’t forget the arrival of the U- & S-Bahn turning some tram lines obsolete…
The invention of electric locomotive had two good effects. 1st it fixed all the problems, London had with underground trains and encouraged other cities to build underground train networks. 2nd it made trams faster and allowed them to have longer tram lines, because they weren't limited by the horse's endurance.
If you miss them a lot, I can tell you that they only moved about 100km to the Polish city of Szczecin, where they make up most of the tram fleet, some even in the original Berlin livery. Although most of the Kt4s were modernised and the T6s are mostly covered in ads. Many of the T6s aren't well maintained and for that reason I hate to have to use them, but the modernised KT4s are nice. The tram system in Szczecin probably has the worst rolling stock in the whole of Poland, with the lowest percentage of low floor trams (in the whole fleet of 205 trams there are only 28 fully low floor PESA Swing trams and 10 Moderus Alfa trams, which only have a single door without steps and a very short low floor section, also despite being the newest they are the loudest inside).
Hello, very nice and informative video. Thank you. My question is: if I want to visit Berlin and I can take only public transport, is it better to use trams for visiting east Berlin and metro for visiting West Berlin? And can I buy some kind of ticket that works for both networks at once?
Thank you for your comment! Berlin has integrated ticketing, meaning your ticket can be used in buses, trams, metro, S-Bahn and some trains. Which mode to take is really depending on your destination, but trams have a good coverage of former East Berlin, while the U-Bahn has a higher line density in the west. The S-Bahn could be a good option for all the city too.
Well, the only thing i would say is maybe not wrong, but controversial, is that the flexity Berlin was also delivered to the nearby Strausberg tram system, so it is not a only berlin designed tram, but i get what you meant by that. Will the new 9-car alstom tram be longer than the 9-car CAF Urbos 3's in Budapest, or will this record will still be held by the Hungarian capital?
Strausberg simply signed up for the same tram that Berlin ordered and designed in cooperation with Bombardier, a rather smart move given that this is likely cheaper for them in many ways. They make use of an already established assembly process, the factory in use was near Berlin, and for potential difficulties there are a lot of trained engineers in the vicinity. I think that if Strausberg could not do this follow-up order, they would likely have gone for a standard model. The new Flexities will only be 50 meters, so Budapest’s CAF Urbos 3s and Combino Supras will still be the nr. 1 & 2 longest passenger trams😁
Can you make a video on trams of Lviv (city in western Ukraine) We have the longest narrow gauge tram network in western Ukraine (there are only 2 other cities like this so not a massive achievement), but we still like our trams. One of trams like the one in this video (smaller 2 sectioned tatra) was recently bought from Berlin for our network Edit: wait, if you didn't mention it, then do they just keep tatra KT4DM somewhere in storage and don't use them?
@@realdronthego So I didn't expect that you will answer this soon, but after I watched the part of what trams they use, you didn't mention the ones that my city was buying, TatraKT4D, so does that mean that they don't use them anymore at all? For some reason I expected it would still work on some lines with 2 connected in pairs
It used to be 180 km until the recent opening of a 1.5 km extension to Turmstraße. I mostly use annual reports or a website called „urbanrail.net”, which are updated more regularly/reliably. Wikipedia is rather unreliable for this system, as each language has a different figure.
