Berlin Stadtbahn

The Berlin Stadtbahn is the historic east-west elevated railway of Berlin. It runs from Friedrichshain in the east to Charlottenburg in the west, connecting several of the most major sights of the German capital. The line is protected cultural heritage since 1995. It is often defined more simply as the slightly longer route between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz, although this is not technically correct.

The line connects the city's Zoo, Bellevue Palace, snakes around the governmental district to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Friedrichstraße, crosses Museum Island, and moves on to Alexanderplatz (Fernsehturm) and beyond.

First completed in 1882, it spans 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) and 11 stations. 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) of its length are elevated on 731 masonry viaduct arches. A further 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) of the line is situated on 64 bridges, that cross adjoining streets and (three times) the river Spree. The remaining length of the line is on an embankment.

Today it is one of the busiest tracks of railway in Germany, The line carries four tracks, in two pairs. On the northern track run 4 lines of the S-Bahn, which service all 11 stations, and the southern pair of tracks are used by Regionalbahn, Regional-Express, Intercity, EuroCity and Intercity-Express. Six of the Stadtbahn stations have platforms on these tracks, although not all trains stop at all stations, depending on the class and route of the train.