Six cable car lines for Berlin: This insane mega

Regional trains, S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams, buses, ferries. One cannot say that passengers in Berlin have too little choice. Nevertheless, there are always plans to build cable cars. Now, a mega-project came to light in the Senate through an act review: Six lines, 40 kilometers long, are to be built in the north and east. Another project planned to cross the Havel river. Buch, Blankenburg, Hohenschönhausen. Jungfernheide, Spandau, the Falkenhagener Feld. These and other parts of Berlin are to be connected to the cable car network. In 2024, the state-owned housing association Howoge presented its concept to the Senate. This is reported by the Alliance Pro Tram Berlin, which reviewed the documents. "Actively endangered": Internal documents show why Senate experts warned against the Maglev. "Berlin suffers from anti-transport policy": The reckoning before the election. Researchers demand a cable car master plan for Berlin. "Freedom must be boundless above the clouds," sang Reinhard Mey. "All fears, all worries, it is said, remained hidden beneath." The cable car ideas that repeatedly arise in Berlin are likely the public transport version of this dream. New tracks planned and built: This is a difficult, often lengthy task. Especially when the new construction sections make space contentious or attract residents. However, cable cars could simply float over critical points without disturbing others, silently and efficiently: this is what the cable car advocates promise. They refer to successful projects elsewhere, for example in Paris or South America. Currently there is only one cable car in Berlin: the 1.5-kilometer route runs from the Kienbergpark subway station to the Gardens of the World in Marzahn since 2017. However, the operator Grün Berlin demands a special fare; BVG tickets are not valid. But there is regular discussion about whether further routes should be created and then integrated into the joint tariff. In 2020, the mobility researcher Heiner Monheim demanded a cable car master plan. In operation since January 21, 2026 in France: The 4.5-kilometer line C1 between Créteil and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges near Paris is the longest urban cable car in Europe. © Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/imago If a major player in urban development like Howoge also thinks about better transport access, this is quite understandable. With more than 83,000 apartments, the company is among the largest landlords in Berlin. The Howoge project presented in 2024, which came to light through the act review of the Alliance Pro Tram Berlin as plans for a maglev in Spandau, is ambitious. One of the goals is to offer an additional alternative to the car in new development areas where many thousands of people will settle in the coming decades. Berlin gets the transport policy it deserves: Stagnation As long as no other cable car route in the world Line 1 would be 18 kilometers long, even with modern cable car technology, this would be a record-breaking challenge. It would run from Jungfernheide to the planned Urban Tech Republic on the former Tegel Airport and from there further into the Märkische Viertel, to Blankenburg, to the new residential area Blankenburger Süden, to Wartenberg, and Hohenschönhausen. Line 2 should provide connections according to the BUND at the Botanical Park Blankenfelde. From the interchange station in north Pankow, this cable car route would lead to the planned residential areas Elisabethaue and Alte Schäferei, then to Buch. Cable car line 3 would start at the Spandau city hall, run through the large housing estate Falkenhagener Feld, and further into the western part of Spandau. The BUND explains that line 4 of the Howoge concept should also start at the Spandau city hall. It would lead to the water city Oberhavel and the new residential area Gartenfeld. Expensive Exotics: Why Berlin does not need more cable car routes Senate: Why the Howoge network is "not goal-oriented" Lines 5 (Haselhorst–Waterkant–Johannesstift) and 6 (Jungfernheide–Gartenfeld) should open up further residential areas in the west of Berlin, close gaps, and provide connections. "Howoge was so impressed by its proposal that it also suggested holding a cable car fair in May 2024 in Berlin so that corresponding providers could present their technology," reported the BUND. For a fair, the specialist department in the administration stated that the transport secretary Manja Schreiner (CDU) was not responsible. However, the experts could comment on the cable car plan. They were "not impressed by the idea," the report states. The proposed network is "not goal-oriented," it is said in the statement. A cable car could also improve transport access here: A research and industrial park for urban technologies is being built on the former Tegel Airport, as is the Schumacher Quarter, a new, ecological residential area for over 10,000 people. The development of areas with established and demand-appropriate transport carriers such as S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams, and buses should remain the norm, the argument. The cable car can only "in a few cases form a valuable supplement to the network," the specialist department assessed. An example is their statements on line 1. "In the Schumacher Quarter, it would pass by the residential development and have a worse access effect compared to the tram," the specialists point out. Between the Scharnweberstraße subway station and the Eichborndamm S-Bahn station in the Reinickendorf district, the gondolas would float over a densely built-up area. Because the stations are far apart, the cable car cannot replace the parallel bus line. This also applies to subsequent sections. The (still to be checked) feasibility would be negatively affected. Maglev for Berlin: What our city needs much more urgently Fewer stops than with trams possible The line 1 would be 18 kilometers long, even with modern cable car technology, this would be a record-breaking challenge. It would run from Jungfernheide to the planned Urban Tech Republic on the former Tegel Airport and from there further into the Märkische Viertel, to Blankenburg, to the new residential area Blankenburger Süden, to Wartenberg, and Hohenschönhausen. Line 2 should provide connections according to the BUND at the Botanical Park Blankenfelde. From the interchange station in north Pankow, this cable car route would lead to the planned residential areas Elisabethaue and Alte Schäferei, then to Buch. Cable car line 3 would start at the Spandau city hall, run through the large housing estate Falkenhagener Feld, and further into the western part of Spandau. Line 4 of the Howoge concept should also start at the Spandau city hall, explains the BUND. It would lead to the water city Oberhavel and the new residential area Gartenfeld. The BVG ferry F10 connects Wannsee with Kladow in the south of the Spandau district. There are repeatedly proposals to cross Wannsee and Havel by cable car as well. © Sabine Gudath/imago They express similar expert criticism of the five other proposed cable car lines. Sometimes there would be parallel traffic with other means of transport that better serve residential areas. Sometimes the routes would pass by areas of high demand. For all six lines, the assessment is that the construction of cable cars in densely populated areas can face structural and legal challenges. "The placement of stations with their space requirements is not easy and is likely to generate great resistance on site. As a result, significantly fewer stops are feasible than with a tram," the BUND summarizes. U-Bahn Revolution in Berlin: BVG plans a double the size network Alone in the cabin in the evening: Who gets in next? Accessibility would not be as easy as with trams. For wheelchair users and other people with limited mobility to reach the cabins, every station would need elevators. To ensure safe boarding and alighting, there would be partial intervention in the operation. The cable car stops would therefore necessarily need to be staffed, it is said. The Senate experts also address safety issues in their statement. In the motto: If someone is afraid in the subway in the evening, even if they can change carriages if necessary, they will probably not feel safer in a relatively cramped cable car cabin. "In the small cabins, social control is missing during off-peak times. In case of doubt, one is alone with a potentially overbearing or unpleasant other passenger. Large vandalism problems can also occur under these conditions," the BUND summarizes the Senate's arguments. Driverless Subways: Why there will probably never be any for the BVG in Berlin Conflict with a high-voltage power line threatens Between the Botanical Park Pankow and Buch, the crossing with high-voltage power lines seems to have been overlooked, according to the analysis from the Senate administration. Floating is probably ruled out, and crossing the lines is at least extremely questionable. Urban cable cars do have their justification, say the experts. For example, in topographic challenges such as mountains or valleys, when large bodies of water or railway stations or motorway junctions are in the way. They can also be useful for areas of high demand such as large hospitals or universities. This is not the case with the Howoge proposal, however. However, other documents that the Alliance Pro Tram Berlin could see showed a general skepticism towards cable cars. The BUND reports that the specialists in the transport administration also rejected the proposals of the Berlin Public Transport Authority (BVG) to cross Wannsee and the Havel with two cable car routes. "This is all nonsense": How a tram activist accounts for the transport policy in Berlin From Nikolassee and Grunewald across the Havel to the west The routes should improve the connections in southern Spandau, which is only reachable from most directions with long detours. Passengers have to accept long bus journeys or use the ferry from Wannsee, which only operates hourly and ends at 7 or 7:30 in the evening depending on the season. One line should start at the Nikolassee S-Bahn station and run through the Spandau district of Kladow in the city of Gatow, where more than 3000 people live. The other route should start at the Grunewald S-Bahn station, run across the Grunewald and the Havel to Gatow, and also end in the city of Gatow. Your opinion is important to us. 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