
Berlin Is Bringing Back Subway Trains from the 1950s - doener
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/11/the-berlin-subway-is-bringing-back-1950s-trains/506450/?utm_source=SFFB
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MulliMulli
Berlin Transport is doing many things differently, check out their TV ads
(turn on subtitles):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pic3FnvUrY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pic3FnvUrY)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvcpy4WjZMs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvcpy4WjZMs)

~~~
tomjen3
Honestly those ads just make me think they don't get it at all. I don't want
them to make fun of themselves, I want trains on time, when I need them, clean
and neat, with a seat not next to a fat or smelly person.

Of course you can't get that with public transportation, so I just drive my
car.

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paublyrne
I guess you don't live in Berlin. The public transport system is part of the
soul of the city. I can't imagine buying a car here. Why would I need to?

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Animats
That's so German. Maintenance is taken seriously.

The Berlin Wall had cut several railroad lines. When the wall came down, the
tracks were quickly reconnected. Both sides had been maintaining them right up
to the wall for three decades.

East and West Germany both had area codes, but although they had different
country codes, there was no duplication of area codes, allowing an easy
conversion to country code 49 after reunification.

~~~
jordanb
The underground lines through east Berlin were not cut, but the stations on
the east side were barricaded and the trains didn't stop.

There was an elevated line that was cut, and it took several years after the
fall of the wall to restore service.

[http://www.appropriatesoftware.com/BerlinWall/Essay4.html](http://www.appropriatesoftware.com/BerlinWall/Essay4.html)

~~~
Animats
Not transit lines, heavy rail.

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FlyingSnake
The 'Dora' UBahns can be seen here in the Pyongyang Metro [1]

[http://www.earthnutshell.com/stopping-all-stations-the-
pyong...](http://www.earthnutshell.com/stopping-all-stations-the-pyongyang-
metro/)

~~~
adw
Also in the ABC News/Jaunt VR 360 piece, "Inside North Korea":
[https://www.jauntvr.com/title/f81fc63d1d](https://www.jauntvr.com/title/f81fc63d1d)
(disclaimer: I'm Jaunt's data scientist.)

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kalleboo
The town I live in still runs 14 trams built in the 50's-early 60's in
continual regular service. They were upgraded with AC in the 80's...

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagoshima_City_Transportation_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagoshima_City_Transportation_Bureau)

[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹿児島市交通局500形電車](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹿児島市交通局500形電車)

[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹿児島市交通局600形電車](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹿児島市交通局600形電車)

One has been outfitted for sightseeing traffic [http://www.kotsu-city-
kagoshima.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/kag...](http://www.kotsu-city-
kagoshima.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/kagoden.jpg)

One has been outfitted with bar seating for private events ($200/2 hr)
[http://www.kotsu-city-kagoshima.jp/wp/wp-
content/uploads/201...](http://www.kotsu-city-kagoshima.jp/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2012/10/6f0cee1bf0b9f790369b5d17fe97785b.pdf)

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nikita2206
Huh, funny thing, we have had train cars from 50s in Moscow subway since 50s

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tominous
The communist murals are also timeless (but seriously, well worth a visit: the
subway stations in Moscow are beautiful).

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curried_haskell
I was just there a month ago and yeah, the "normal" stations looked the same
or better than the ones back home, and the nicer stations were really
beautiful.

There's also the Sparrow Hills station which is a metro station built into a
bridge and a fabulous view over the river. The entrance at one end of the
bridge leads into the central park.

Other then the noise and really pushy people, I was very impressed by Moscow's
metro.

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wuschel
Berlin's trains in North Korea..

On a side Note:

The Stuttgart S-Bahn's can be found it Tunis.

Has anyone encountered other _trains in exile_?

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riffraff
There are trams from Milan in San Francisco, I think from other "friend
cities" too.

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robotmlg
SF Muni has streetcars from all over the world running on the F line:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Municipal_Railwa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Municipal_Railway_fleet#Historic_streetcars)

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fragmede
It's a lovey, romantic notion, but I want to note that SF Muni has put buses
into service running the F line due to difficulty with keeping running stock,
erm, running.

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ffjffsfr
Sorry but what's the big deal about this? They renovate 3 old trains to serve
some tiny tourist line. It will be mostly tourist attraction - train from
50-ties with all the old signs. It is cheaper to renovate than buy new. Is it
really that unusual?

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Shivetya
well deeper into the article it mentions the line they are on seems to only
serve connecting parliament with the main subway lines. to be honest its
pretty typical arrangement for such work. promise a big route to serve needed
areas but make damn sure it starts where those who wanted it.

but if it saves the authority money then it still is a good move, removes some
of the gimmick feeling

~~~
iSnow
Unfortunately, that's a bit of spin in the article. I have clipped the
relevant part of the route network
([http://imgur.com/a/OR4Ee](http://imgur.com/a/OR4Ee)) and the U55 (brown)
connects Main Station (Hauptbahnhof) to Brandenburg Gate where it meets the
main north - south light railway (dark green, pink). For reasons, this line
doesn't have the best connectivity to Main Station, switching lines at
Friedrichstraße is a chore, and U55 will be welcome for passengers of the
north - south line.

In a couple of years, U55 will also connect to U2 and make it easier from
passengers from some eastern districts to reach Main Station. It also will be
_the_ tourist line, connecting a lot of tourist sights in central Berlin.

There's a bit of background about the future gap closure here:
[http://www.projekt-u5.de/en/](http://www.projekt-u5.de/en/)

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neokya
On the side note: We built and maintain that posted website. I hope HN traffic
doesn't kill it ;)

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iSnow
Oh cool, nice site :)

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logingone
I've only been to Berlin once, but the current carriages don't look
particularly modern. I thought they were probably from the 50s. Evidently not.
When were they made?

~~~
majewsky
Berlin has some modern-looking train models, for example:
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/BVG-
Baureihe_H](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/BVG-Baureihe_H)

But yes, there is a lot of different models from different ages, and a lot of
them have been refurbished at least once. I'm actually not surprised by this,
considering how Berlin is spending billions on a hypothetical airport rather
than on its actual trains.

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lb1lf
Oh, they spend money on trains, too. Or, at least, train-associated stuff.

Last time I went to Berlin (Three weeks ago), the papers were baffled to note
that among the concerns addressed by the latest series of S-bahn trains, to be
phased in shortly, was the doors closing-sound - which has been left unchanged
for as long as I can remember (20 years or so.)

:)

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majewsky
It should be noted that the S-Bahn is operated by Deutsche Bahn (the national
railway), while the U-Bahn is owned by the munipical transit service BVG. So
funding for S-Bahn vs. U-Bahn will, at least up to a certain degree, come from
different pockets.

~~~
lb1lf
Thanks for setting me straight - I was certain they were both operated by the
BVG. You live and you learn...

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jg23
I wonder why don't more places do this. I mean surely the actual carriage of
the train can be reused, but with just the engine refitted.

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Symbiote
Rust and metal fatigue will wear out the chassis eventually.

If repairs become too frequent, fewer trains are available for use on any
given day, which means not all services can be run.

Old carriages might not meet modern expectations of crashworthiness or fire
resistance.

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emp_zealoth
Also noise and ride comfort. In Warsaw we have some really old Soviet subway
cars and a mix of western/homegrown ones

While the bumpy ride is just a nuissance, the noise of those old junkers
probably should require everyone to wear heavy hearing protection, if one had
to adhere to workplace regulation.

When their crooked boogies start to screech and grind in turns, the noise is
physically painful

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akgerber
New York City has continually been running its R32 trains since the 1960s,
outlasting several newer trains:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R32_(New_York_City_Subway_car)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R32_\(New_York_City_Subway_car\))

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anton966
This shows that no design are olds , just a question of trend. Always good too
keep things from the past =D

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colinprince
FTA: "about as useful as a chocolate teapot"

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tehabe
I think it is fitting to uses trains from the 1950s in the U55.

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clishem
Unskippable 10 second ad, I think I'll skip this story.

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wtbob
Works fine with NoScript & uBlock!

