117-558: The Berlin–Hamburg Railway ( German : Berlin-Hamburger Bahn ) is a roughly 286 km (178 mi) long railway line for passenger, long-distance and goods trains. It was the first high-speed line upgraded in Germany to be capable of handling train speeds of over 200 km/h (120 mph) (up to 230 km/h). The line was built by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company , work starting on 6 May 1844, and
234-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
351-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
468-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
585-461: A further upgrade to 200 km/h. Considerations for the further upgrade was shelved in favour of the planned Transrapid magnetic levitation project. During the planning carried out between 1996 and 2000, it was envisaged that a line could be built with an investment of from 3.9 to 4.5 billion euros that would allow a journey time of less than 60 minutes (non-stop) at a maximum speed of 400 km/h. The opening would take place from 2006. This project
702-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
819-815: A long detour of West Berlin around the Berlin outer ring , the so-called Sputnik trains. Today (2014), there are two local trains from Nauen via Spandau to Berlin, the RB 10 on the original course of the Nauen suburban trains, i.e. via Berlin Jungfernheide station to the current Berlin Hauptbahnhof , and the RB 14 crossing Berlin West to East via the Berlin Stadtbahn cross-city railway, and terminating at
936-775: A more direct line to Hamburg. In the 1970s the line between Nauen and Ludwigslust (and continuing to Schwerin on the Ludwigslust–Wismar line ) was rebuilt as two tracks. The suburban line of the Berlin-Hamburg railway, serving Nauen , had been part of the Berlin suburban network, called the Berliner Stadt-, Ring und Vorortbahnen (Berlin City-, Circular and Suburban lines, renamed to S-Bahn in December 1930), since
1053-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1170-545: A new Upper Harbour bridge to Ericus junction (originally built for the former Hamburg freight station). From 29 May 1997 the Fliegender Hamburger Intercity Express (ICE) train took two hours and 15 minutes between Hamburg and Berlin. Up until 1998, DM 4.5 billion (approximately €2.3 billion) had been invested in the upgrade of the line. The upgrade was initially designed only to raise the maximum speed to 160 km/h, with an option for
1287-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
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#17327944381221404-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1521-521: A total of 33 combined first- and second-class carriages and 43 third-class carriages, as well as a carriage for the "highest people". In the first year, about half a million people used the new line. The shorter sections were most frequented—for example, between Berlin Spandau and Nauen , between Wittenberge and Büchen and between Hamburg and Bergedorf. Within 20 years, annual revenue had doubled to 890,000 thalers. Freight revenue rose even faster over
1638-474: A travel time of three and a half to four hours. With the outbreak of World War II , military priorities meant that high-speed projects were abandoned. The speed of the Fliegender Hamburger was not achieved again until 1997. In the summer timetable 2001, the normal journey time of trains was two hours and eight minutes, with some Intercity Express trains running faster. Since the completion of
1755-486: A treaty that specified the route and transit tariffs. A company was established, which obtained the rights to construct and operate the railway in these countries in 1845. The willingness of Hamburg and Mecklenburg to subscribe part of the share capital was a prerequisite for the establishment of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway Company ( German : Berlin-Hamburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ) and the construction of
1872-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1989-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
2106-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
2223-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2340-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2457-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17327944381222574-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2691-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
2808-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2925-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3042-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
3159-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
3276-776: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
3393-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
3510-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
3627-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
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3744-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
3861-541: The Altona-Kiel Railway Company opened a line to Kiel . There was originally no link between Altona and Hamburg, so freight moving from one line to the other had to be reloaded several times, which was time-consuming and expensive. A two-track link line was therefore built between the stations. The route of the line is affected strongly in the Hamburg area by the city's former walls. A pile bridge
3978-575: The Berlin Schönefeld Airport . On the Hamburg end, an S-Bahn service was established alongside the Berlin–Hamburg line, since long distance traffic was now insignificant. The third rail supplying DC power was extended first to Bergedorf in 1959 and then to Aumühle in 1969. With the establishment of Hamburger Verkehrsverbund in 1967 this route was branded as line S2 (now S21; S2 runs between Altona and Bergedorf). After
4095-502: The Berlin Stadtbahn had already opened in 1882. On 21 June 1931, the Schienenzeppelin ( Rail Zeppelin ) experimental rail car ran over the 257-kilometre (160 mi) route between Hamburg-Bergedorf and Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin in 98 minutes. Between Karstädt and Wittenberge the train reached a top speed of 230 km/h (140 mph), which was a world record for rail vehicles that was not broken until 1955. In July 1934,
4212-506: The Berlin station ( Berliner Bahnhof ) was opened on the site of the present Deichtorhallen . It consisted of a reception building and an open timber hall with four tracks. The first managing director from 1850 was Ernst Georg Friedrich Neuhaus, who filled this office with great dedication until his death on 4 December 1876. The first trip from Berlin to Hamburg took over nine hours. The locomotives Hansa, Concordia, Vorwärts, Germania and Amazone hauled carriages and freight wagons, including
4329-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
4446-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
4563-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
4680-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4797-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
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4914-786: The Lauenburg–Hohnstorf train ferry to cross the Elbe for 14 years from 15 March 1864. The very profitable line was acquired by the Prussian State Railways on 1 January 1884. This allowed the tracks and railway facilities between Spandau and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin to be merged bit by bit with the Berlin–Lehrte railway to the Lehrter Bahnhof . A connection from the Hamburg line at Spandau to
5031-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
5148-504: The Schienenzeppelin ran for the last time on the line. It had more speed than was required at the time and its propeller propulsion created operational problems. On 11 May 1936, high-speed steam locomotive 05 002 , hauling three express carriages and a test van, reached 200.4 km/h at the 52 km mark between Vietznitz and Paulinenaue , a world record for steam locomotives. On 15 May 1933, Germany’s first high-speed diesel train, DRG 877 Fliegender Hamburger ("Flying Hamburger"),
5265-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
5382-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
5499-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
5616-580: The fall of the Wall on 1 August 1990 an Intercity service was established on the Berlin–Hamburg line under the name of Max Liebermann , initially with former TEE carriages hauled by DB Class 601 locomotives that were hired by DR from Italy. These operated, however, only up to 28 September. Afterwards this service was operated with DR class 132 locomotives and DB TEE/IC carriages. In 1991, four pairs of trains operated daily. From 1992, trains operated every two hours. The travel time between Berlin and Hamburg
5733-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
5850-629: The Berlin–Hamburg line were also considered: The line was included as part of the German Unity Transport Projects ( Verkehrsprojekte Deutsche Einheit ) as VDE Rail No. 2 in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1992. It was planned to remodel the line with continuous double track, electrification and the installation of modern automatic train protection to allow continuous operation at 160 km/h. The upgrade started in 1991 and
5967-575: The Berlin–Wittenberge– Schwerin and Rostock –Schwerin–Büchen–Hamburg routes. In the vicinity of Berlin and Hamburg there are additional Regionalbahn services. Freight trains also run on the line. With the timetable change in December 2006, the hourly Hamburg–Berlin ICE service was extended to the south ( Leipzig , Nuremberg and Munich ). Since December 2007, every two hours an ICE 1, instead of an ICE T, runs between Berlin and Hamburg. At
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#17327944381226084-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
6201-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
6318-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
6435-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
6552-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
6669-441: The Hamburg end a pair of parallel tracks were laid to separate long-distance and S-Bahn traffic, although east of Berliner Tor station for 2.4 km (from the 282.2 to 284.6 km marks) the second long-distance line was omitted. In order to allow traffic to and from Berlin to use platform tracks 11-14 of Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, an additional single-track line was built from Tiefstack junction via Hamburg-Rothenburgsort station over
6786-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
6903-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
7020-426: The Northern Ring line was electrified with Third Rail in 1951, being operational from August 14, 1951 to the end of the 1950s, thus enabling direct S-Bahn trains from East Berlin to the places being located in the GDR west of Spandau. After the construction of Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, this link was also severed. Falkensee and the Havelland (Berlin’s northwestern outskirts) were only connected to East Berlin by
7137-401: The beginning of ICE operations in 1997 daily traffic was about 6,000 passengers. According to the DB in May 2007, about 10,000 travelers a day moved between the two cities. This is an increase of 47 percent, according to DB. In the late 1990s, material defects were discovered in a number of concrete sleepers on the line. Certain elements in the sleepers decomposed faster than planned, leading to
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#17327944381227254-439: The cancelling of the Transrapid project in February 2000, the federal government made a grant of DM one billion (about €511 million) for a second stage of the upgrade that would raise speeds on 263 km of the existing line from 160 to up to 230 km/h. The additional 30 km/h in comparison to the normal limit on upgraded conventional lines was necessary in order to achieve a total journey time of 90 minutes. The line became
7371-421: The city centre at its northern edge. Thus, a new central underground line (subsequently known as the City S-Bahn ) was planned through the central area, which had more than 300,000 jobs. This required some alterations for the old main line, to allow the connection of the new underground line to the main line at the Hauptbahnhof and its reconnection to Altona station from the south. The entire Altona station building
7488-402: The city of Hamburg and the Lübeck-Büchen Railway Company agreed to the following elements of the link line: The widening of the Lombardsbrücke was completed in 1901 and 1902, including the addition of the suburban line. Even as this construction work was underway a new agreement was signed on 12 December 1904 known as the Ohlsdorfer Vertrag (Ohlsdorf contract) providing for: Electrification
7605-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
7722-436: The development of the route via Uelzen ( Hanover–Hamburg line ) and Stendal ( Hanover–Berlin high-speed line ) available for ICE trains running between Berlin and Hamburg, while freight traffic would remain on the Berlin–Hamburg line. A 1994 report on this option put its cost at less than DM one billion (about € half a billion). In 2000 the shortest travel time between Hamburg and Berlin was two hours and eight minutes. After
7839-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
7956-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
8073-434: The elimination of nearly 70 level crossings at an estimated cost of 700 million DM (about €350 million). In May 2000 the upgrade of the line to allow 230 km/h operations for a travel time of 90 minutes was announced. At the end of 2000, the ICE service on the line was increased to three pairs of trains per day. The upgrade of the existing line to a high-speed railway was not without controversy. A report of 1992 proposed
8190-448: The evening of 5 December 1961, a train driver Harry Deterling ran at full speed through barriers erected in Staaken on 13 August 1961 as part of the Berlin Wall to escape from East Germany. The same night the rails were disconnected there by border guards. As a result, transit trains between Berlin and Hamburg were rerouted via the Berlin outer ring and entered and exited West Berlin at Griebnitzsee . The border crossing at Albrechtshof
8307-462: The first existing railway line in Germany to be operated at more than 200 km/h. Platform barriers were used for the first time in Germany. Large-scale construction began in 2002. Thus a large number of level crossings were eliminated and replaced by 56 grade separated crossings. A new overhead line was also installed as well as the German Linienzugbeeinflussung train protection system and 162 sets of points were converted or replaced. This work
8424-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
8541-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
8658-522: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Hamburg-Altona link line The Hamburg-Altona link line ( German : Hamburg-Altonaer Verbindungsbahn ) is a railway line in Hamburg , Germany. Nowadays, it connects the lines from the north and northwest of Hamburg and Altona station with Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and
8775-475: The line between Büchen and Schwarzenbek the second track was also dismantled. Deutsche Reichsbahn (East German railways, DR) Class 03 steam locomotives hauled interzone services to Hamburg-Altona in the 1950s and 1960s. From the summer timetable of 1973, DB and DR locomotive were exchanged in Büchen. DR operated diesel locomotives of class V 180, later 118 and 132, while DB operated Class 218 locomotives. On
8892-600: The line from the 16.5 to 271.0 km marks is equipped with the Linienzugbeeinflussung (LZB) train protection system. Drivers receive "electronic vision" of the line up to 10,000 metres ahead. In 1993, a test section of slab track of the Züblin type was installed Between Wittenberg and Dergenthin (129.3 to 135.4 km). In 1994, a modified Rheda type slab track was installed. Also in the section between Breddin and Glöwen (93 to about 101 km) slab track
9009-426: The line was restored to operation. A new pair of tracks was built south of the old single-track line between Falkensee and Nauen. The tracks have been removed from the old northern route and its path has been preserved for the construction of a Berlin–Falkensee–Nauen S-Bahn line. In May 1995, the section between Falkensee and Spandau West was reopened as a single-track line with diesel operation. The Berlin–Hamburg line
9126-429: The line. The first ten percent of the share capital, amounting to a total of eight million thalers , was subscribed in 1844, so that construction could start near Ludwigslust immediately. Up to 10,000 people were employed on the construction at its peak. The first section to be opened was the 222-kilometre (138 mi) route from Berlin to Boizenburg , which was put into operation on 15 October 1846. The completion of
9243-626: The lines to the southwest, south and east. Initially designed as a freight line only, it is now one of the busiest lines in Germany. It includes the suburban tracks of the Hamburg Stadtbahn , originally the core of the Hamburg S-Bahn . In 1842 the Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway Company opened a 16.5 km line from Hamburg to Bergedorf . In 1846 this line was extended to Berlin . Two years later,
9360-553: The link line to connect with the line to Berlin at the approach to the Berliner Bahnhof. The Berlin–Hamburg Railway Company obtained a concession to build a twelve-kilometre-long (7.5 mi) branch line from Büchen to Lauenburg on the Elbe . This branch line was opened on 15 October 1851. It was extended to Lüneburg by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways in 1863 and 1864, which used
9477-507: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
9594-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
9711-599: The original establishment of a special suburban tariff in 1891. The Nauen suburban line, together with the Wustermark suburban line, terminated at the Berlin Lehrter Bahnhof , just like the long distance trains of the same lines. The Nauen and Wustermark lines were the only suburban lines of the Berlin S-Bahn which had not been electrified before the 2nd World War. The part from Falkensee to
9828-575: The platform. Bilingual (German and English) signs tell passengers to leave the platform edge. On the opposite side of the fence passengers are warned not to enter the platform before a train has passed by or comes to a halt. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It
9945-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
10062-479: The remaining 45-kilometre (28 mi) section to Bergedorf, on 15 December 1846, completed the line’s construction. Together with the Hamburg–Bergedorf railway, which had opened for passenger on 16 May 1842 and for freight on 28 December 1842, the total Berlin–Hamburg line was put into operation on 15 December 1846. The Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway Company merged with the Berlin–Hamburg Railway Company. In Hamburg,
10179-451: The replacement of 260,000 damaged sleepers, forcing the closure on the line between 1 March and 13 June 2009. Long-distance trains were diverted via Stendal and Uelzen and regional services were largely replaced by buses. It is currently planned for S-Bahn services to be extended from Berlin-Spandau at least as far as Falkensee, including the restoration of S-Bahn services to Albrechtshof; Regionalbahn services would be closed. The section of
10296-614: The second track was dismantled for reparations to the Soviet Union . Despite this, the line continued to an important route for internal East German trains between Berlin, Schwerin and Wismar and interzone trains (sealed trains that ran non-stop between West Germany and West Berlin), in both cases for passenger and freight trains. In the Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways, DB) network in West Germany
10413-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
10530-833: The territories of five then independent countries within the German Confederation : the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, two duchies ruled over by the King of Denmark ( Holstein and Lauenburg ), the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Kingdom of Prussia . Since Bergedorf was a condominium, jointly owned by the Free Hanseatic City of Lübeck and Hamburg, Lübeck was also affected by its construction. On 8 November 1841, these countries jointly signed
10647-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
10764-569: The tunnel and lines S11, S21 and S31 run on the old main line. Klosterthor station is at the end the actual link line. From 1902 to 1906, the Stadtbahn was extended parallel with the Lübeck–Hamburg line to Hasselbrook where it turns toward Ohlsdorf. On 11 December 2008, the underground S-Bahn line opened from Ohlsdorf to Hamburg Airport . S-Bahn lines S11 (Blankenese–Ohlsdorf), S21 (Elbgaustraße–Aumühle) and S31 (Altona–Neugraben) run on
10881-422: The upgrade of the line on 12 December 2004, the travel time has been reduced to about one and a half hours. After the war the Berlin–Hamburg line was affected like many lines in by the division of Germany. A border was established between Büchen and Schwanheide, separating West Germany and East Germany , as well as between Albrechtshof and Spandau West separating West Berlin and East Berlin . In East Germany
10998-465: The west. The spare capacity of the line in the Hamburg area was used for the Hamburg S-Bahn. Before the division of Germany, there were five main rail axes running to Hamburg from all directions (from Berlin, Flensburg , Lübeck / Wismar / Rostock / Stralsund / Sassnitz , Hanover and Bremen ). With the division, the Berlin–Hamburg line lost its importance, and the traffic to and from Hamburg
11115-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
11232-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
11349-572: The years, due to increasing industrialisation and the growing population of Berlin and Hamburg. In Hamburg the Lübeck station of the Lübeck–Hamburg line was opened in 1865, 600 metres (2,000 ft) east of the Berliner station. In 1866 the Hamburg-Altona link line was opened to Klosterthor station, about 200 m (660 ft) north of the Berliner station. A line was later built from
11466-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
11583-536: Was about four hours. The first suburban trains from Nauen to Berlin originally terminated in Charlottenburg , then in Jungfernheide and later Westkreuz . In the early 1990s the German government was considering constructing a maglev (magnetic levitation) line between Berlin and Hamburg. During the development of Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 1992, two options were considered for upgrading
11700-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
11817-475: Was cancelled by Hartmut Mehdorn shortly after he took office as CEO of Deutsche Bahn in 2000. Already before the end of 1999 Deutsche Bahn had internally prepared an alternative scenario in case in the failure of the Transrapid project. With a top speed of 200 km/h, a travel time of less than two hours would be possible, with an increase to 230 km/h, 90 minutes would be possible. This would require
11934-600: Was carried out largely during an eleven-week closure of the line in the late summer of 2003. Even Wittenberge station was extensively rebuilt to allow trains to pass through it at 160 km/h. The upgrade of the line was completed for the December 2004 timetable change. The federal government ultimately invested around €650 million in this second stage. From 1 March 2005 an additional late evening service ran from Berlin to Hamburg. The ICE train left Berlin Zoo station at 11:00 PM and reached Hamburg at 00:32 AM. This additional train
12051-522: Was commissioned. About a year later operations with electric trains started on the Stadtbahn and all suburban railways, making the Hamburg network the first electrified suburban rail network in Germany. AC operations continued until the late 1930s with few service problems. However, in the meantime electric operations had been established on the Berlin S-Bahn using direct current . Since the technology in use in Hamburg had to be replaced anyway it
12168-489: Was decided on by the Prussian State Railways as track operator, after it had already carried out extensive tests on the Schöneweide–Spindlersfeld line in Berlin, using overhead lines with 6.3 kV 25 Hz AC , the system which it selected for Hamburg. In late 1906 work was completed. The urban and suburban line to Ohlsdorf was put into operation on 5 December 1906; one day later the new Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
12285-512: Was decided to switch to using third rail DC current. Even before this decision was made the Stadtbahn and suburban railways were designated as the S-Bahn in 1934, four years after the Berlin network was so named. Unlike the 800 volt power used in Berlin, the voltage chosen in Hamburg was 1200 volts, which was technically, the maximum voltage that could be used in rail operations. Similarly, it
12402-480: Was decided to use bottom contact third rail, which had a clear advantage at points , as the third-rail power would not have to be interrupted. In 1940 transition to the new system began, but, due to the war, conversion could not be completed until 1955. From the 1960s, there was continuous expansion of the suburban rail network. Although the link line as the core of the S-Bahn had good passenger traffic, it only touches
12519-500: Was demolished and subsequently rebuilt in a plain 1970s style. The reason for the new station building was the danger that the old station building would collapse during the construction of the tunnel. The underground S-Bahn station was built with four tracks, which allows trains to be reversed. Since the construction of the City-S-Bahn, S-Bahn services between the Hauptbahnhof and Altona is split: lines S1, S2 and S3 now run through
12636-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
12753-413: Was established. Along the route 13 hot wheel and hot box detectors were also installed. Since trains can pass station platforms at speeds of more than 200 km/h, for the first time in Germany passenger safety fences were installed along 33 platform edges at 21 stations. Each is a 4.8-metre (16 ft) long and 1.2-metre (4 ft) high barrier with a 1.2 metre wide gate that opens to give access to
12870-488: Was introduced on the line. With a travel time of two hours and 18 minutes the Fliegender Hamburger had an average speed of 123 km/h (76 mph) for the 286.8-kilometre-long Lehrter route (178.2 mi), between Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and Berlin Lehrter station. The Fliegender Hamburger was the world's fastest scheduled rail service. The majority of travellers still travelled in ordinary steam-hauled express trains with
12987-517: Was now concentrated mainly in the north-south direction. While the Hamburg–Hanover line was electrified in 1965 and the Hamburg–Bremen line was electrified in 1968 and both lines were later upgraded for speeds up to 200 km/h, there were no similar projects on the Berlin–Hamburg line. In 1976 the line was re-opened from Nauen to the newly re-established border crossing at Staaken, providing
13104-608: Was originally constructed for crossing the Alster river, which was replaced in 1868 by a new bridge, the Lombardsbrücke . The railway was opened in two sections: South of Klosterthor Station, there were provisional communication rail tracks in the streets to Berlin Station and from 1872 to Venlo Station. 30 years later, the line had already reached its limit and extra capacity had to be added. On 30 December 1898, Prussia ,
13221-468: Was permanently closed. In the 1960s the journey time between the two cities had increased to more than six hours because of increased border controls, detours and single-track operations. An agreement between DB and DR limited the number of freight trains at the Inner German border at Büchen: 24 freight and five passenger trains running to the east at and 17 freight and five passenger trains running to
13338-413: Was planned to be completed by 1997. On 14 July 1992 the first pile was driven for the electrification of the section of line between Ludwigslust and Büchen. The route between Falkensee and Albrechtshof was closed in 1993 to allow the complete renovation between Falkensee and Spandau. The old, ground-level Albrechtshof station was demolished and rebuilt about 80 metres away on an embankment. On 28 May 1995,
13455-488: Was promised by Hartmut Mehdorn, the First Mayor of Hamburg, Ole von Beust , on the inaugural run, to enable citizens of Hamburg to attend an evening theatre performance in Berlin and return to Hamburg before the S-Bahn closed. The 2007 timetable includes hourly services with ICE (mostly ICE T ) trains on the line. Intercity and EuroCity services have also been increased. There are also Regional-Express services on
13572-416: Was restored to almost continuous two-track operation in 1995. At the height of the construction work travel times were extended by 40 minutes to three hours and 40 minutes for the whole route. In the autumn of 1996, electric train operations started between Hamburg and Nauen, reducing travel time between Berlin and Hamburg to about 160 minutes. The whole line was operated by electric trains from 22 May 1997. At
13689-499: Was taken into service on 15 December 1846. It was then the longest trunk route in the German states, and ran from Berlin's Hamburg station (from October 1884 from Lehrte station ), via Spandau , Neustadt (Dosse) , Wittenberge , Ludwigslust , Büchen and along the already existing 15.6 kilometres (9.7 mi) route of the Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway to the Berlin station in Hamburg . The line ran through
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