GERMANY: The Berlin Senate has given the go-ahead for further work on the development of proposals to build a tram line from Jungfernheide to Reinickendorf via the Urban Tech Republic development zone on the site of the city’s former Tegel airport.
The Senate’s decision on January 9 follows initial studies of public transport options for the corridor, which found that a tramway would be the most appropriate mode, offering economic benefits that would outweigh the costs.
More detailed proposals will now be drawn up with a view to obtaining planning approval.
The line would start from Jungfernheide U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations, which would be developed into an integrated transport hub. It would then run along the A100/A111 road via Jakob-Kaiser-Platz U-Bahn station on Line U7 to the Urban Tech Republic development, terminating at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz station on Line U6.
In the longer term the route could connect with a tramway extension from Turmstraße in Moabit to Jungfernheide.
‘The new tramway will connect large urban development projects on the site of the former Tegel Airport’, explained Manja Schreiner, Senator for Urban Mobility, Transport, Climate Action & the Environment.
‘There is the Schumacher district with 5 000 residential units. The future users of the Urban Tech Republic will also benefit from the new, attractive public transport offer — these are 5 000 students at the Berlin University of Technology, 20 000 employees of the approximately 800 companies that will settle there, and also the many people who live in will live in the 5 000 new apartments.’
