Tramscape Tramway Photographs

HISTORICAL SUMMARY

In the 45 years which followed a long and slow rebuilding process followed. Lying in the post-war Soviet administration zone and then in the newly founded German Democratic Republic, Potsdam was hampered by shortages of material and latterly labour which affected most undertakings in that country. Nevertheless, it was one of the GDR’s most progressive operators, committed to retaining trams as the backbone of local transport and building extensions whenever possible.

Today’s network closely follows that established in horse-tram days, beginning in 1880, when routes to Charlottenhof, Alleestrasse and Glienicker Brucke were opened. A short link to the main station, now Potsdam-Stadt on the southern side of the river Havel opened in 1888. Electrification followed at a relatively late date, 1907, three years after the trams came under municipal ownership, due to numerous problems, not least from the Meteorological Institute who were worried about the effects of stray electric currents on their delicate instrumentation ( a fear which had important consequences for an extension in Bielefeld over 90 years later!).

Within six years, lines had been extended to Nowawes (Babelsberg) in 1908 and to the Airship port, near to today’s Bahnhof Pirschheide by 1913. The 1930s saw two major extensions – to Schutzenhaus (1930) and Bahnhof Rehbrucke (1934), with a short extension in Nowawes to Fontanestrasse in 1935. This was the network heavily destroyed and, with the exception of the Schutzenhaus route, rebuilt in small steps in the post-war years.

That track and overhead from the Schutzenhaus route and second hand rail from nearby Berlin was used to make good other parts of the network illustrated the problems facing the Potsdam tramways due to shortages of materials in the German Democratic Republic. Complete through working of routes was not possible until as late as 1952. Although a short extension from Alleestrasse to Pushkinallee was opened in 1952, the Glienicke Brucke (now Brucke der Einheit) route along Stalinallee (formerly Berliner Strasse) closed in 1956 when renewal became necessary.

Limited resources were diverted, nationally, to strategically important projects and Potsdam was to benefit from one of the most pressing projects of the late 1950s. The mainline railway route running through central Potsdam via Potsdam-West (Charlottenhof), Potsdam-Stadt and Babelsberg, ran through to the capital city, Berlin, via the "Stadtbahn" which ran directly through West Berlin. In the days of an increasingly bitter "Cold War" it became, for security reasons, desirable to route services around West Berlin to the city’s main station in the eastern sector. A new line was built and the former Potsdam-South station, close to the former Airship Port was recast as the city’s "Hauptbahnhof". To link the new station with the city, a short tram extension was necessary and was duly opened in January 1958. The border with West Berlin was sealed off in 1961 and the Potsdam-Stadt station became a traffic backwater and the loop at the station was removed in December 1961. At the same time a new bridge over the Havel and a new alignment through the city centre to Platz der Einheit was brought into operation at the expense of the remains of the city’s historic castle which had lain in ruins since the end of the war.

Whilst the border with West Berlin was officially closed on security grounds (grounds which also meant that a proposed tram link to a developing housing area in Drewitz never materialised due to the proximity of a major railway goods-handling yard), it also helped to stem the flow of emigrants. The economic upturn in western Germany was causing demand for new workers, and whilst this was also true in the east, the material rewards in the west were higher. Workers in the east were also encouraged into "strategic" industries and it became hard to attract tram drivers and conductors. With services being cut due to staff shortages, Potsdam was in the forefront of experimenting with new fare collection systems which allowed the elimination of conductors whilst still attempting to preserve revenue as far as possible.

Despite being designated a VEB (K) organisation – i.e. communally owned, "peoples" undertaking – the operator still had to balance its books. State rules required ticket prices to remain low, exerting pressure on the undertaking to limit costs as much as possible, so Potsdam were keen proponents of the new articulated tram being developed by the Czech Tatra factory for eastern German undertakings. The prototype of the KT4D design, which was to become widely deployed in the GDR, was demonstrated in Potsdam from December 1974 after earlier trials on two Czechoslovak systems. By 1990 Potsdam was operating almost entirely with KT4Ds, including sets formerly used in Gotha, Leipzig and Berlin.

As well as getting the most modern trams available, Potsdam was also committed to renewing it’s existing network and building extensions where possible, regarding trams as the backbone of it’s system and preferable in cost terms to replacement buses. Whilst the track upgrades using prefabricated grooved concrete slabs proved not to be well-wearing, they were the only way of making the necessary improvements at the time and were important in ensuring the network did not fall into disrepair.

Services were able to be restored along Leninallee as far as Menzelstrasse in two steps between 1962 and 1965, stopping short of Brucke der Einheit, on the boundary with West Berlin, but displaying little "Unity" as the bridge’s name proclaimed. Security issues still dogged plans to bring trams to Drewitz, but the new housing area at "Stern" in Drewitz was finally linked to the network in 1982 with a branch from the Bahnhof Rehbrucke line. In 1985 another new line to Babelsberg was introduced running over the new Humboldbrucke, crossing the Havel on the Berlin side of the city centre, with the trams running into Potsdam via Leninallee. This line would eventually take most of the Babelsberg traffic, leading to the route via Potsdam-Stadt station closing in 1992.

The sudden reopening of the border with West Berlin in November 1989, followed quickly by the reunifaction of the German Democratic Republic with the Federal Republic, brought about the rapid flow of funds into the east for infrastructure projects aimed at trying to raise standards after many years of "make-do-and mend". Many of the KT4Ds were modernised to "western" standards, tracks were relayed to a much higher quality and passenger facilities were improved, such as the construction of modern tram shelters.

Despite the one major closure mentioned above, the new municipally-owned operators styled as "ViP" (Transport in Potsdam) remained committed to it’s trams, restoring the service to Brucke der Einheit, now restored to its original name, Glienicker Brucke and planning further extensions in Drewitz. These were effected in short tranches, opening as far as Robert-Baberske-Strasse in March 1993 and Marie-Juchacz-Strasse in May 1998.

In the north, a new line was opened to the Bornstedter Feld area as a western branch from close to the Pushkinallee terminus at Kapellenberg prompted initially by the holding of the Federal Garden Festival (BUGA) in the area. At the campus of the Technhical School the line branches to Kirschallee and Viereckremise, passing the Garden Festival site, with a further extension northwards planned. The Bornstedter Feld area is reserved for large housing developments using land evacuated by Soviet troops soon after German reunification.

Reunification also restored the Potsdam-Stadt station to it’s original importance and it has now become the "Hauptbahnhof". A new tram stop was opened above the rail tracks on the Rehbrucke route, albeit with a long walk needed to get to the platforms themselves, but direct tram access was temporarily removed when the loop on the north side was closed in March 1997 after 109 years operation. This was as a result of construction work for the new Potsdam-Center shopping complex being built adjacent to the station.

Continuing its tradition of being at the forefront of new rolling stock developments, Potsdam was the first tramway to take delivery of Siemens’ 100% low-floor modular "Combino" design. The first example entered service in October 1998 following much marketing hype. In 2004, Siemens requested all operators of Combinos to take all but their newest cars out of service because of structural defects found in the body near the articulation pending remedial work. All 16 of Potsdam's Combinos had over 120,000 km of service and were immediately withdrawn. In circumstances reminiscent of 20 years earlier, KT4Ds destined for sale to Szeged in Hungary were reactivated and three, already in Hungary, borrowed back. Potsdam's own museum cars, the first KT4D prototype and a three-car Gotha set were also seen in regular service once again. Slowly, Combinos were released back into service, but the contract with Siemens for a further 32 was cancelled, to be replaced by a new open tender

Further developments are being discussed, including a link eastwards to Tetlow, on the southern edge of Berlin.