Berlin has committed itself to building 100 kilometers of express bike lanes (Radschnellverbindungen) in the next 5 years or so. I made a deep-dive into one section of that network: the route from the Tiergarten to Alexanderplatz and beyond. What I found is very exciting, but construction is still a long way off.
Berlin's City Cycling Challenge
Berliner Verbindungsbahn
The Berliner Verbindungsbahn (the Berlin Connector Train) was built to connect 5 large train stations around the city. These train stations were built as so-called Kopfbahnhöfe, or Terminus Stations, meaning that trains rode in and out on the same track, and didn’t come in one end and out the other. This meant that it was super difficult to get from one train station to the other. The Berliner Verbindungsbahn was a street-level rail system that connected each of the 5 main stations. It was taken out of service with the completion of the Berliner Ringbahn, which is still in service today.