U55 from Hauptbahnhof to Brandenburg Gate - Berlin

The new line U55 Metro shuttle line is planned for completion in 2007. You have probably seen the construction going on at Unter den Linden before the gate.

It is to be a very short line linking the Hauptbahnhof to Brandenburger Tor vie the Bundestag. Planed opening in 2007 after delays due to groundwater problems. Further extenstion is planned to link to the U-5 at ALexeranderplatz in starting in 2010.

Hopefully then they will shorten the routh of the M41 bus (i.e. remove the touristy stops) and take the tunnel from Potsdamer Platz to Hbf as they did during the world cup. The tunnel cost enough - they should bloody well use it! Who needs 4 bus stops within 500 meters of each other anyway apart from the f*%&ing tourists. Take the (soon to be complete) train...grrrrrrr

This is cool, although to get from Alex to Unter den Linden, I have about a skrillion buses to chose from. (Some of which stop at both ends of my block of Karl-Liebknecht-Straße--silly, but convenient for me, since the second stop is within spitting distance of my front door.)

According to this info the U55 is going to be delayed until the end of 2008, and construction on the section linking it with the U5 along Unter den Linden isn't even going to begin before 2010. (It's probably going to end up as a white elephant).

The U55 is supposed to relieve the morning congestion of workers from Hauptbahnhof to the Brandenburger gate, but the funny thing is its only 4 stops so its kinda pointless.

the only time it will really get used in force will be 7-9 Am for the workers, and 3-5 PM when they all go back to the RE's taking them home to potsdam so i think the whole white elephant theory might be correct!

Does anyone else think it's a complete waste of money? The tourists can take the bus and see more anyway - and I personally don't think the politicians are big fans of public transport. Financial people can just stop being lazy and get out at Friedrichstr and walk 500 metres to work. Waste irritates me!

It's a result of post-unification euphoria planning, and once this kind of thing gets into the system, no-one can back out easily. The line will make a little more sense when it's extended to Alexanderplatz, which was the original plan, and is scheduled to open in 2017 (read: 2022). It would make even more sense if it was to be extended westwards, as the Big Fantasy U-Bahn Master Plan envisages, passing through Moabit and running to Tegel Airport (ever wondered what the additional platforms at Jungfernheide are for?), but that's not going to happen anyway.

TBH, the line in from Tierpark / Hönow (sp) is bollocks ending at Alex innit.