Potsdam Pirschheide station is a station on the Berlin outer ring. It was opened in 1958 as Potsdam Süd (south) station and was called Potsdam Hauptbahnhof (main station) from 1961 to 1993. In this period it was the most important station on the outer ring after Berlin Schönefeld Flughafen station.
Although the station is far from the centre of Potsdam on the Pirschheide (Pirsch heath) to the southwest of the town, in its heyday as the main station it had substantial passenger traffic and often reached its capacity limit. With the reunification, however, the station rapidly lost importance and was almost completely closed except for a single platform in the lower part of the station. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 6 station.
History
As a result of the four-power status of the former capital of Germany and the deepening division of Berlin and Germany, the operation of railway traffic in and around West Berlin became complicated for Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR), which now operated railways in East Germany (GDR). To solve this problem, it was planned to build a bypass that would connect the northwest, west and southwest of the Berlin region to the reorganised capital of the GDR, East Berlin, bypassing West Berlin. By 1954, large parts of the new outer ring were completed and on 30 September 1956, the last section of the ring between Golm and Saarmund, including the crossing of the Templiner See (lake), on the outskirts of Potsdam was taken into operation.
Construction and commissioning
The station at the intersection of the Berlin outer ring with the Jüterbog–Nauen railway (which connected Potsdam Stadt—now Potsdam Hauptbahnhof—via Seddin freight yard and Seddin to Michendorf) was built in 1956/57 and officially inaugurated on 18 January 1958 as Potsdam Süd (south). It is in a wooded area called Pirschheide ("Deerstalking heath"), about 0.8 km from the southern end of the Potsdam built-up area and about 3 km from the city centre.
The station was designed in the design office of Deutsche Reichsbahn. The architects were Wolfgang Dressler and Walter Mempel. The building was designed as a two-level interchange station (known in German as a Turmbahnhof, literally a "tower station") at the junction of the two railway lines and set out as a lower level with an island platform with two platform faces and an upper level with two island platforms, four platform faces and two through tracks for the (very heavy) freight traffic. All platforms were interconnected with stairs and tunnels. A large station building was built in the typical architectural style of the late 1950s. A tunnel ran from the station hall to the lower platform and another tunnel ran to the stairs leading to the upper platforms. The building housed, along with the ticket office, typical station facilities for retail and hospitality as well as facilities for railway employees.
Importance in the GDR
The station was renamed Potsdam Hauptbahnhof on 2 October 1960. All long-distance trains and Interzonal trains (on the Aachen/Cologne–Görlitz and Rostock–Munich routes) passing through Potsdam stopped here. The local express trains between East Berlin and Potsdam, operated with double-deck carriages (initially painted dark green, later red-beige) were known unofficially as Sputnik trains. The upper level tracks were often congested, so that trains often had to wait outside the station. The old Potsdam station, which was closer to the city centre, was named Potsdam Stadt (city) and, from the establishment of the Berlin Wall until 1990, it was served by local diesel trains only. Commuter trains ran from the lower platforms of Hauptbahnhof to Babelsberg via Potsdam Stadt and towards Wildpark or Beelitz and Jüterbog.
A new route of the Potsdam tramway was opened on 11 January 1958 to a terminus at the station. In addition, a bus station, a taxi rank, a petrol station and parking for bicycles were provided.