On February 15, 1912, the first subway line opened in Hamburg - a technical masterpiece after only six years of construction. A success story literally takes its course.
by Irene Altenmüller, NDR.de
"We Hamburgers are not always quick to make decisions, but whatever we tackle tends to turn out well. The elevated railway was created for all Hamburgers - and it should benefit everyone." Hamburg's first mayor, Johann Heinrich Burchard, was proud and satisfied when the Hanseatic city's first subway line opened on February 15, 1912. The latest technical achievement should not only solve many traffic problems in the growing city, it also has an important ideal value for the citizens:Hamburg is the second city in Germany after Berlin to have an elevated railway and an underground railway - and now sees itself in a row with metropolises like London, Paris and New York, which also already have a subway.
58 viaducts, bridges and tunnels, six years to build
The first section connects Barmbek with the Rathausmarkt and is initially running in a two-week free trial. On March 1st, the new elevated railway officially begins operations. The other sections of the route, which was laid out as a ring line, open at short intervals:on May 10, 1912, the section Barmbek - Kellinghusenstraße goes into operation, on May 25 the section between Kellinghusenstraße and Millerntor (today:St. Pauli) and on June 29 the last section between Millerntor and Rathausmarkt - the ring line is now closed. It has 23 stops and passes 58 bridges, tunnels and viaducts on its circular route from Barmbek via the city centre, the harbour, Eimsbüttel and Eppendorf. A power station in Barmbek, specially built for the elevated railway, supplies the necessary electrical energy.
Five stations for ten pfennigs, children pay full price
A trip in the third-class compartment, the so-called wooden class, costs ten pfennigs for up to five stations. Passengers in second class, which has linoleum floors and imitation leather upholstery, pay 15 pfennigs. Longer journeys are correspondingly more expensive, children pay the full fare. Tickets are available at special booths at the station entrances. Although there are also cheaper frequent traveler cards, not everyone can easily afford the new means of transport at these prices:At the beginning of the 20th century, a simple worker earned around 27 marks a week, a bricklayer around 40 marks.
Incidentally, there is only theoretically a first class on the new elevated railway. In the logic of the time, it would have been reserved for the emperor.
Up to 150,000 passengers a day
Despite the relatively expensive tariffs, the rush for the new means of transport is huge:after just a few weeks, more than 100,000 passengers are using the subway every day, and up to 150,000 on Sundays. In order to cope with the large number of passengers, the Hochbahn will soon have to order more railcars. With their two 100 hp motors for 800 volts direct current, the so-called T1 models can easily overcome the relatively steep incline at the Mönkedammfleet up to the Rödingsmarkt. The train is already running at a similar speed as it does today:it only takes 21 minutes from Barmbek to the Landungsbrücken, today it's 19.
Hamburg around 1900:growing city, scarce living space
Around the turn of the century, many Hamburg residents had to move out of the city center because the Speicherstadt was being built.Many Hamburgers had longed for the new subway to solve the traffic problems of the growing city:Hamburg is booming, old residential areas in the city center have had to make way for new buildings or warehouse complexes. 24,000 apartments were lost through the construction of the Speicherstadt alone, and the city had other old residential areas bulldozed after the cholera epidemic in 1892. Tens of thousands of workers have to relocate to the outskirts, and new residential areas are being built in former villages such as Barmbek, Eilbek, Hamm and Eimsbüttel. Workers and employees who work in the port and in the city center have to cope with long distances to their workplaces. As early as 1890, around 50,000 people commuted to and from the companies in the free port alone every day. And Hamburg's population continues to grow:between 1890 and 1900 alone by an average of twelve percent a year.
Suspension railway, tram or elevated railway?
At the end of the 19th century, the city began collecting ideas for building a modern local transport network. These also include proposals for a suspension railway based on the Wuppertal model and for an "under-paved tram" that supplements the existing tram network. In the end, the choice fell on an electrically operated elevated and underground railway, most of which ran above ground on ramparts and viaducts. The plans came from two then leading companies in the young electrical engineering sector, Siemens &Halske AG and Allgemeine Elektrizitaets Gesellschaft (AEG). In June 1906, the Senate approved the construction contract and approved a total of around 55 million marks for construction. Construction work begins on October 7, 1906.
Tunneling - a technical challenge
Shovels, hoes, a lorry train to remove the rubble and a lot of muscle power:the workers used simple tools to dig the tunnels for the ring line, as shown here between Moorkamp and Christuskirche in August 1910.The plans envisage a ring line with several extension lines. Only in the inner-city, densely built-up area should the route run underground. Tunnels are very expensive and structurally difficult, especially in a water-rich city like Hamburg. The seven kilometers of tunnel are being built using the cut-and-cover method:the roads under which the route is to run are torn up and the workers dig large pits with shovels, wheelbarrows and small steam excavators. The tunnel walls are formed with steel girders and wooden planks and filled with concrete.
Víaduct construction:backbreaking work for those with a head for heights
The work on the steel viaducts is also complicated:To do this, the steelworkers first erect wooden scaffolding. They use winches and steam cranes to heave the individual steel parts into the air. Riveters stand on the beams or on the scaffolding and join the steel parts together in several work steps with sledgehammers or jackhammers. Reinforced concrete piles, which are also manufactured on site, bear the main load of the viaducts. However, for the longest part of the route, around twelve kilometers, the route runs over earthen ramparts. Millions of cubic meters of earth, sand and rubble have to be moved for this. Most of the work is still done by hand, apart from small lorries and excavators there are hardly any technical aids. The workers toil ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week.
Branch lines, night buses and a second subway line
An employee at the signal box in Ohlsdorf. During the First World War, many women work for the Hochbahn - the men are at the front.After the ring line is completed, work on the planned supplementary lines will continue. The first branch line to Eimsbüttel was completed in 1913, and the branch line to Ohlsdorf opened in 1914, connecting the main cemetery. From 1918 the branch lines were extended several times. From 1921 buses supplement the offer, in 1925 the first night bus line is added. In 1931, the KellJung Line, which is now part of the U 1, opened a second fast connection to the city center.
Heavy damage in World War II
During the Second World War, large parts of the route network are badly damaged and many subway cars burn. Only from 1950 is the ring line fully usable again, the destroyed branch line to Rothenburgsort is completely shut down after the war. From the 1960s, Hochbahn continued to expand its network. The new housing estates in the east are gradually being connected, as is Garstedt north of Hamburg, which today belongs to Norderstedt. At the same time, the S-Bahn network is also growing. In 1965 Hamburger Hochbahn AG, S-Bahn, HADAG and Verkehrsbetriebe Schleswig-Holstein merged to form Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV). Passengers can now buy tickets that are valid for all means of transport.
The network expansion continues
The expansion of the route network continues to this day. In the autumn of 2012, for example, line U4 went into operation. Since then, it has connected Hafencity with Hamburg city center and is to be further extended. Another major project is the construction of underground line 5. When complete, it will run around 24 kilometers from Bramfeld via City Nord to the main train station and from there through the city center via the university and the Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital to the arenas and to the Volkspark in Stellingen.