Tour D – Along the Tracks of the D-Line Ghost stations and forgotten tunnels of the U8 line of today

The U-Bahn line D (today the U8) is not the oldest underground line in Berlin, but it’s surely the most interesting one – and besides that, it’s our local line. After all, the bunker in which our “Berlin Underworlds Museum” is located was built into the Gesundbrunnen underground station. On this tour, we lead you through various places along the U-Bahn line D that lie hidden from general public and are otherwise inaccessible. There, you’ll hear about the changes in the D line during its 16 year planning phase; the building phase; the impact of the Second World War; its time as a ‘ghost line’ during the division of Berlin; and the U8 of today.

Under the Moritzplatz station we visit the partially constructed provisions from the 20’s for a transfer station, intended for the never-realized U-Bahn line between Treptow and Moabit. Later, the Nazis had plans for an S-Bahn line to cross here, but in 1940 it was instead converted into an air raid shelter. These traces of the past are still easily recognizable today.

From there we continue on by foot to the Oranienplatz ‘Ghost Station’, which, although built before the First World War, was not made use of because of planning alterations. The Berlin electric company (BEWAG) later moved in and used the unfinished structure as a transformer substation until the 80’s. Afterwards we visit an adjacent “mother and child” bunker, which was built into the tunnel in 1940/41 by the ‘Wilhelm’ construction division of the ‘General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital’. Be warned though – 40cm of water cover the floor of this structure, so we will hand out rubber boots. On the positive side, this allows us to visit a virtually untouched structure with a singular atmosphere; and finally, the last remaining underground piece of the Berlin Wall.