Station milestone on Berlin U5 gap closure project

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Photo: A. Reetz-Graudenz
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The team delivering Berlin’s U5 gap closure project has completed the Unter den Linden station box – one of three new U-Bahn stations being built in the German capital.

The shell of Unter den Linden station has now been completed by Projekt U5 – a subsidiary of Berlin transport authority BVG.

Three new stations (Rotes Rathaus, Museumsinsel and Under den Linden) are being built as part of the U5 gap closure project, which will link the U5 and U55 lines together for the first time.

Under den Linden station is split over three levels and includes an interchange with line U6.

The gap closure project involves constructing a two-kilometre, twin-bore tunnel between the U55 line at Brandenburger Tor in Mitte to the U5 at Alexanderplatz.

Although U55 opened in 2009, the line was originally planned as an extension of the U5. Work began in the late 1990s but the project was paused part way through and the completed section opened as a standalone line.

BVG always planned to eventually merge the two together and began construction work on the gap closure project in 2012.

The newly unified line U5 will open at the end of 2020.