Between August 8 and 11 events will be held across Berlin to celebrate 100 years of the city’s electric S-Bahn service. Here’s what the programme has in store for rail fans:
On August 8, 2024, Berlin’s electrified S-Bahn network is turning 100. On the same day in 1924, the city’s first electrified S-Bahn trains set off from Bernau and Stettiner Bahnhof (today’s Nordbahnhof), after the line was converted from using steam engines to an electrified third rail.
While the 100th birthday of Berlin’s electrified third rail S-Bahn service will be celebrated this year, the city’s first electric S-Bahn line was actually already up and running in 1903, from Lichterfelde Ost to Potsdamer Platz.
Celebrating the centenary in 2024 is down to a decision by the East German government in the postwar years. In 1949, the SED heralded 25 years since the electrification of the S-Bahn route from Stettiner Bahnhof to Bernau - then East Berlin - as a cause for celebration. In the reunified capital of today, the 1924 date has prevailed as the birthday of Berlin’s S-Bahn network despite the date only applying to the former East.
To celebrate, the festival programme promises events “as diverse as the city’s community”, which will approach the anniversary from historical, cultural and technological angles.
The main festival attractions will take place at Zielbahnhof in Bernau, starting with a performance by the Eberswalde Concert Orchestra. East Berliner and rapper Romano will later perform his specially-written song S-Bahn fahr’n, before guests are invited to the dance floor for some 1920s and 1930s dancing.
At Tränenpalast in Berlin-Mitte, the documentary Berlin auf Schienen about mobility in the city between 1924 and 2024, will be screened every night for free and without prior registration, until August 11.
Passengers travelling through Berlin Ostbahnhof can also catch a slice of the celebrations while hopping the network. The Projektraum S-Bahn Museum is set to exhibit pictures, network maps and further graphics which explore the S-Bahn’s 100-year history. Entry costs just two euros.
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