320 million euros, 3 minutes: Berlin's new subway line opens (Roundup)

Aug 8, 2009, 16:17 GMT

Berlin - Just 1.8 kilometres long, but costing a whopping 320 million euros (459 million dollars), Berlin's newest underground railway line (U-Bahn) opened on Saturday, linking the city's central station with the famous Brandenburg Gate, just three minutes away.

The new line, dubbed the 'Chancellor's Railway,' because it passes under Berlin's government quarter - took 14 years to build, and has only three stations.

The U-55 line fills a important gap in the city's public transport network however, as the central station had no underground station previously.

As the line also passes under what was once the no-man's-land between the divided East and West Berlin, the U-55 is set to play a role in commemorating the city's separation by the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989.

On the first departure Saturday of the distinctive yellow trains, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit called it 'the U-Bahn of Unity,' and said 'If the wall had not fallen ... this U-Bahn line would never have been built.'

Exhibition spaces, audio-visual screens other media at the Brandenburg Gate station are to bear witness to the city's past.

'With the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we are giving passers-by the opportunity to inform themselves at one of the hot-spots of German history,' said Minister of State Bernd Neumann.

Some 70,000 commuters and rail enthusiasts took part in the opening day celebrations, according to BVG, the network's operator. A program of music and entertainment was laid on for the event.

BVG spokeswoman Petra Reetz said 'all the passengers were very pleasant, curious, and asked lots of questions.'

The three-station section which opened Saturday is the first segment of a longer line due to run to Alexanderplatz in the former east of the city, to be completed by 2017.

Critics have doubted the need for the extended line, which was first proposed in the 1990s, just after Germany's reunification, as suburban train services already pass through many of the planned areas.

The line has taken so long to build partly because of disagreement between the cash-strapped city of Berlin and the federal government over who should pay for the construction.

Construction costs soared to some 178,000 euros per metre also because of the technical challenges that had to be met.

Existing underground transport links at the construction site meant that the tunnels for the U-55 had to be constructed at a depth of some 25 metres, deeper than most of Berlin's underground lines.

Berlin's watery ground also meant that the earth had to be first frozen before the tunnels could be dug, a process that, according to BVG, took up to one and a half years.

On the first day of operation, passengers were allowed to travel free of charge.