For ten years now, the tunnel has had to be supported for safety reasons Photo: Berlin Transport Senate
From Hildburg Bruns
A piece of curious traffic history is disposed of. A long-disused tunnel under the magnificent boulevard Unter den Linden has to be filled in. Cost: 2.85 million euros!
Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted to keep the tram away from his most beautiful street. He demanded: “Under it, not over it.”
Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) did not want a tram on his magnificent boulevard Photo: picture alliance / Glasshouse Im
So the city fathers paid three million Reichsmarks and built a 193 meter long tram tunnel, which went into operation in 1916. The last tram rolled here in 1951.
The tram tunnel went into operation in 1916 Photo: ullstein bild via Getty Images
The tunnel is now in “unsatisfactory condition”, according to the transport senate in response to a parliamentary SPD request. He is checked for his condition every three months. The structure had to be stabilized from the inside with a plate and supports – this is the only way trucks with a weight of 18 tons can roll over it.
“It is uneconomical to repair the tunnel at great expense,” says Constanze Siedenburg from the traffic administration. In the road area, the tunnel is to be filled in sections in the second half of 2023, but traffic will be able to continue to pass during the construction period.
1991: It was assumed that Stasi listening devices were also installed here Photo: ullstein bild
The part of the tunnel that is not below the roadway can still be used as a backdrop store for the Maxim Gorki Theater. A branch of the tunnel was shut down in 1923. The Nazis tested lights for Hitler’s Germania there during World War II.
So that everything above can roll, everything below will soon be filled up Photo: Ralf Gunther