Berlin Zoologischer Garten station (, colloquially Bahnhof Zoo, ) is a
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It is located on the
Berlin Stadtbahn
The Berlin Stadtbahn is the historic east-west elevated railway of Berlin. It runs from Berlin Ostbahnhof station, Ostbahnhof in the east to Charlottenburg in the City West, west, connecting several of the most major sights of the German capi ...
railway line in the
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
district, adjacent to the
Berlin Zoo
The Berlin Zoological Garden (, ) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,200 animals, the zoo presents one of the ...
.
During the division of the city, the station was the central transport facility of
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
, and thereafter for the western central area of reunified Berlin until the opening of
Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...
in 2006. It is also an interchange with the
U-Bahn
Rapid transit in Germany consists of four systems and 14 systems. The , commonly understood to stand for ('underground railway'), are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while the or ('city rapid railway') are c ...
and the
S-Bahn
The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...
, which uses the Stadtbahn viaduct along with ''
RegionalExpress'' and ''
RegionalBahn
The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...
'' trains.
Overview
The station building overlooks the Hardenbergplatz square, Berlin's largest
city bus
A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-fl ...
terminal and
night bus service
Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, is a mode of public transport service operated during the night hours. As an intermediate approach – between providing full service around the clock and stopping services altogether – it p ...
centre, named after Prussian prime minister
Karl August von Hardenberg (1750–1822). It is also used by long-distance buses/coaches; however, Berlin's central intercity bus terminal, the
Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Berlin
The Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Berlin (short: ''ZOB Berlin'') is a central bus station located at the Funkturm Berlin in the Berlin district Westend (Berlin), Westend of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. It was initiated by Gustav Severin (fo ...
(ZOB), is located on Messedamm in
Westend, not far from the
Funkturm.
Zoologischer Garten is also a
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the Berlin S-Bahn, S-Bahn, a network of ...
station and
S-Bahn
The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...
station, serving U-Bahn lines
U2 and
U9, and S-Bahn lines
S3,
S5,
S7, and
S9.
History

The original station, served by Berlin Stadtbahn commuter trains, opened on 7 February 1882. On 11 March 1902, the first
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the Berlin S-Bahn, S-Bahn, a network of ...
line, today the
U2, was opened underground. With a view to the
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...
, the station was rebuilt and expanded between 1934 and 1940.
On the night of 23 and 24 November 1943, the track area was directly hit by bombs, and further damage accumulated during the
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula–Od ...
.
After the final closure of the
Anhalter Bahnhof
The Anhalter Bahnhof is a former train station, railway terminus in Berlin, Germany, approximately southeast of Potsdamer Platz. Once one of Berlin's most important railway stations, it was severely damaged in World War II, and finally closed fo ...
in 1952, Bahnhof Zoo remained the only long-distance railway station operated by the
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...
of
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
within
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
. On 28 August 1961, two weeks after the erection of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
, the new
U-Bahn line U9 was opened below the U2, connecting the station with the transport network in the north-south direction.

The fact that, with only two platforms and four tracks for long-distance trains, the station was still the most important in West Berlin, was another unnatural phenomenon of the divided city. After
reunification, despite the outcry from nearby
Kurfürstendamm retailers and local politicians, the station lost its importance following the launching of the new
Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...
on 28 May 2006, because long-distance services began passing through the station without stopping. An exception was the famous
Sibirjak, which departed from Bahnhof Zoo for the
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
Trans-Siberian railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...
station until 2013.
Train services
The station is served by the following services:
Timetables for Berlin Zoologischer Garten station
In popular culture
*The station is well known as the setting of the 1978 book ''Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo'' ("We children from Zoo Station"), written by the ''Stern
The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...
'' journalists Kai Hermann and Horst Rieck according to interviews with Christiane Felscherinow. It became a bestseller in Germany, dramatising the period in the late 1970s when the rear of the station facing Jebensstraße was a meeting point for rent-boys, teen runaways, and drug addicts. The film '' Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo'' directed by Uli Edel
Ulrich "Uli" Edel (; born 11 April 1947) is a German film and television director, best known for his work on films such as ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'', '' Body of Evidence'' and '' The Baader Meinhof Complex.''
His '' Rasputin: Dark Servant of ...
was released in 1981. An eight-episode series inspired by the same story was later released in 2021, also titled ''Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo'' ("We children from Zoo Station").
*The 1929 children's novel '' Emil und die Detektive'' ("Emil and the Detectives"), written by Erich Kästner, prominently features the station as an important location. The subsequent film adaptations in 1931
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...
, 1954
Events
January
* January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
* January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
, 1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
, and 2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
all include the station as a location which the protagonist, Emil Tischbein, visits.
*The 1991 U2 song " Zoo Station" was inspired by the station, written while the band was recording ''Achtung Baby
''Achtung Baby'' ( ) is the seventh studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 by Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 documentary film and ...
'' at the Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, which in turn inspired their Zoo TV Tour
The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. Staged primarily to support their 1991 album ''Achtung Baby'' and later their 1993 album ''Zooropa'', the tour visited ...
and the album ''Zooropa
''Zooropa'' is the eighth studio album by Irish rock music, rock band U2. Produced by Flood (producer), Flood, Brian Eno, and the Edge, it was released on 5 July 1993 on Island Records. Inspired by the band's experiences on the Zoo TV Tour, ''Z ...
''. Although the U-Bahn line U2 passes through the station today, it was numbered U1 at the time; a rearrangement and renumbering of the line took place in November 1993, when the section linking it to the remainder of the line in former East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
was reopened.
* The song "''Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo''" by Nina Hagen
Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is ...
released on the 1978 album '' Nina Hagen Band'' refers to the station.
* The song "''Zootime''" by Mystery Jets ends with the line ''Wir sind die Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo''.
* "''Bahnhof Zoo"'' is also a track on the 2005 album '' Randy the Band'' by the Swedish band Randy
Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolph, and Miranda, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them.
'' Randi'' is approximat ...
.
* The song " Big in Japan" by Alphaville refers to the Zoo station in the line "Should I stay here at the Zoo?".
* The song "Bahnhof Zoo" by port-royal takes its name from the station.
* The song "Slept" by The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980. After achieving early underground fame, the band experienced a commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s, sustaining their success until the early 1990s, when they halted th ...
was inspired by this station.
* The book ''Zoo Station: Adventures in East and West Berlin'' by Ian Walker was published in 1987 by Atlantic Monthly Press
Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself " ...
. It recounts the author's experiences in 1980s Berlin, his encounters with the young people on both sides of the wall, and their separation and occasional commingling.
* The book ''Zoo Station'' by David Downing, published by Soho Press
Soho Press is a New York City-based publisher founded by Juris Jurjevics and Laura Hruska in 1986 and currently headed by Bronwen Hruska. It specializes in literary fiction and international crime series. Other works include published by it inclu ...
in 2007, is the first in a series of World War II spy thrillers set in Berlin.
* Zoo Bahnhof was one of the murder scenes in '' The Pale Criminal'' (1990), a historical detective novel by Philip Kerr
Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers.
Early life
Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an enginee ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
U2 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations
U9 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations
Zoologischer Garten
Zoologischer Garten
Zoologischer Garten
Heritage sites in Berlin
Railway stations in Germany opened in 1882