Berlin has a vast transport network composed of S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines that cover almost 500 km of tracks across the city. The town used to have even more tracks, but due to political divisions, world wars, and economic problems, some of those tracks were abandoned. One of those is known as Friedhofsbahn, and it is used to connect Berlin-Wannsee to Stahnsdorf.
Here, we will discuss why Friedhofsbahn was built, how it shut down, and why some people want it back.
Also, since this is the same abandoned train track used as a location in Netflix’s series Dark, we will discuss the hike in the forest, following the train tracks that connect the bridge to the church in Dark.
First, a short story lesson about the Friedhofsbahn – the Berlin Wannsee – Stahnsdorf Railway Line
At the beginning of the 1900s, the cemeteries were moved outside of Berlin during an increasing growth. However, transporting the dead to these newly established cemeteries was expensive, and to try to fix this, a rail line was planned. The concept was to create a cheap connection between Berlin and the graves. The church and the Prussian Railway Administration struck a deal, and the work started.
In June 1913, train operations started in a single-track railway connecting Berlin-Wannsee to Stahnsdorf, which received the German nickname of Friedhofsbahn – Cemetery Train. The train started at the Wannsee station and followed southeast until it reached the Dreilinden station, where it headed to cross the Teltow Canal. It arrived at the Dreilinden station, where you can find one of the largest cemeteries in Europe.
As you can imagine, these trains would carry coffins, mourners, and those who lived close to the train tracks. This sounds unusual for a train track, but it happened so long ago that it feels hard to judge how weird it would be to take a train carrying the dead.
Either way, the destruction of a bridge over the Teltow Canal during the Second World War reduced service and moved it from Wannsee to Dreilinden. At the end of the war, the bridge was restored, and service was back to normal after 1948.
By 1952, the transport of coffins and the dead stopped, and the Friedhofsbahn became a typical line for a couple of years.
Everything changed again with the construction of the Berlin Wall in the summer of 1961. Since the Friedhofsbahn connected Berlin with Stahnsdorf, a Brandenburg town in East Germany, all service stopped and ended when the railway facilities were dismantled in the 1970s.
In 1970, the Dreilinden station was demolished, and in 1976, the Stahnsdorf station was blown up.
Around the area, there used to be a highway that was moved due to the Berlin Wall. There, you could find an East German control point called Grenzübergangsstelle Drewitz-Dreilinden and the West Berlin Checkpoint Bravo. Both were moved southeast when Federal Highway 115 was rerouted to where it is today.
The Friedhofsbahn is in ruins today, but you can still see some pieces of the track if you follow where it used to be. There are bridges where the tracks used to be, and walking around something like this that used to exist in the middle of the forest feels eerie.
With the German Unification Agreement, it was stipulated that railway likes that were interrupted by the building of the Berlin Wall would be restored. Still, no concrete plans exist to reopen the Berlin Wannsee – Stahnsdorf Railway Line. In 2016, a feasibility study was commissioned by the municipalities of Teltow, Kleinmachnow, and Stahnsdorf to see how much it would cost to develop the train tracks again. The price would be around 60 to 80 million euros, and it would take close to 10 years of construction for the 11km route.
We couldn’t find any information about whether this would happen or not.
Back in February 2018, we decided to explore this route between Berlin Wannsee – Stahnsdorf. It was a cold weekend in Berlin, but we had a goal to reach the church in the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf, where some of the scenes from the series Dark were filmed. Our idea was to take a scenery route following the Friedhofsbahn, and this is what we did.
Our weekend hike started with a train ride from Neukölln to Wannsee, where we went in the direction of the forest and the old Königstrasse. There, we started seeing the first signs of the old Friedhofsbahn, such as track ballasts and some leftover tracks. Walking in the ballast wasn’t as fun as we thought, so we followed it on a woodland path next to the train tracks.
After a few minutes of walking, you will reach a bridge over the abandoned train tracks. This is where some of the shots in the first episodes of the series Dark were shot. We took too many pictures there; you can see those in the article about the bridge in the Dark.
A few meters after the bridge, the train tracks come to an end, and you see an empty field. If you walk straight, following where the tracks used to be, you will reach Dreilinden, but we took a right turn because we wanted to see where Checkpoint Bravo used to be.
So, we walked a little more and reached where the Berlin Wall used to be and Checkpoint Bravo on an abandoned autobahn bridge. There, you can still see flag poles and words written on the road that tell drivers where to stop their cars. There is also the abandoned Raststätte Dreilinden, which used to be a service station and restaurant.
From the abandoned Auto Bahn bridge, we checked our map and realized that there was another bridge close by, so we decided to turn back and head there. A few kilometers later, we found the Königswegbrücke, which used to be on the border between East and West Germany. Next to it, you can see the Mauer Weg trail that follows where the Berlin Wall used to be.
Back in the forest, leading toward the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf, you might see some remains of concrete blocks and anti-tank obstacles. Since this area used to be a Military Training Ground for East German Border Troops, those things make a lot of sense. We didn’t know this, but it made the hike even better.
Soon after, we found ourselves in the small town of Stahnsdorf, where the train tracks from the Friedhofsbahn used to end. You can see the entrance to the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf, where the church in Dark is located, and F. W. Murnau is buried – among other famous Germans.
If you follow the Berlin Wannsee – Stahnsdorf Railway Line, you will have a pretty pleasant hike since there is much to see and photograph in the area. From abandoned train tracks to Dark locations and a former Cold War Checkpoint, this historical hike allows you to discover over 150 years of Prussian and German history in a single day of walking in the forest surrounding Berlin.
The hike isn’t that demanding, but it might take a good afternoon if you do like us and stop a lot to take pictures and shoot videos. If you want to walk, we are sure it will be done in less time.
Exploring the Friedhofsbahn: The Old Wannsee – Stahnsdorf Railway Line
Stahnsdorfer Damm
14109 Berlin – Wannsee
