Spittelmarkt (Berlin U-Bahn)

Spittelmarkt Berlin U-Bahn
File:U Spittelmarkt Berlin Eingang.jpg Spittelmarkt in 2011
General information
Location	Spittelmarkt Mitte, Berlin Germany
Coordinates
Owned by	Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
Operated by	Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	File:BUS-Logo-BVG.svg: 200, 248, 265, N2, N42
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Bicycle facilities	Yes (Call a Bike, bicycle parking)
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB): Berlin A/5555
History
Opened	1 October 1908 (1908-10-01)
Services
Preceding station Berlin U-Bahn Following station Hausvogteiplatz towards Ruhleben U2 Märkisches Museum towards Pankow
Route map File:BSicon numN265.svg File:BSicon MFADEg.svg File:BSicon utvSTRfg.svg Up arrow Märkisches Museum File:BSicon utSHI1c2.svg File:BSicon utvSHI1r-SHI1l.svg File:BSicon utSHI1c3.svg File:BSicon utdSTR.svg File:BSicon utdENDEa.svg File:BSicon utdSTR.svg File:BSicon utSHI2g+l.svg File:BSicon utSHI2g+r.svg File:BSicon utPSTR(L).svg File:BSicon utPSTR(R).svg File:BSicon utPSTR(L).svg File:BSicon utPSTR(R).svg File:BSicon utSHI1c1.svg File:BSicon utvSHI1+r-SHI1+l.svg File:BSicon utSHI1c4.svg File:BSicon MFADEf.svg File:BSicon utvSTRfg.svg Down arrow Hausvogteiplatz
Location

File:U-Bahn Berlin Spittelmarkt 1908.jpg

The station in 1908, with a Nichtraucher (non-smoker) train departing to Wilhelmplatz

Spittelmarkt is a Berlin U-Bahn station on line U2, located in Mitte at the eastern end of Leipziger Straße. Opened on 1 October 1908 as the end of a new section extending from Potsdamer Platz, the underground station has a single island platform.

File:U-Bahnhof Spittelmarkt.jpg

Interior view, 2011

History

The station was opened on 1 October 1908, and was then the terminus of Berlin's second U-Bahn line, connecting it with Potsdamer Platz on the initial Stammstrecke route. It is named after the Spittelmarkt square, former site of the Saint Gertrude hospital established about 1400. The name Spittelmarkt is formed from a contraction of "hospital" (as also in Spitalfields, London) and the German word for "market". The station, designed by Alfred Grenander, was lavishly erected right beneath the banks of the Spree river, with daylight windows above the water's surface.

Spittelmarkt became a through station with the extension of the line to Alexanderplatz on 1 July 1913. In 1940 the windows were walled up as an air raid precaution. There was a direct bomb hit on the platform area on 3 February 1945. It was only by chance that the northern station wall was not destroyed. Since this wall is also the sea wall of the Spree, the inner-city tunnel system would have been flooded and would have disrupted the underground traffic in the long term.

In 1990, a major accident occurred when a train crashed into another stopped train. Fourteen people were injured. Spilled oil had covered the tracks, preventing the train from braking.

The station did not reopen until extensive reconstruction works started in 2003.

External links

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