By Maria Martinez and Andreas Rinke BERLIN, Nov 17 (Reuters) – A German court ruling that wiped billions from the federal budget could drag down growth by as much as half a percentage point next year in Europe’s biggest economy, an economy ministry source told Reuters on Friday. The coalition is scrambling to fix a […]
It was one of the first icons one saw while visiting Berlin- its rectangular shape with the colors of mustard and red. It was spacious and despite its design made of wood and steel, its cushions were very comfortable. It had a silent motor and could reach speeds of up to 160 km/h, although the average speed was 90-100. Its lighting was typical of vehicles built in the 1980s, comparable to the Pontiac Firebird. Yet this was a product of East Germany even though it was a 1990s classic.
The S-Bahn Lightrail train class Nr. 270 was created by the East German Railways in the 1980s. The LEW Rail Works in Hennigsdorf was tasked to build these trains to replace the older models that were popular in the 1960s and 70s, only to have several techical issues. Its prototype was introduced at the 1980 Leipzig Trade Fair, yet its first line of trains came out, piece by piece in 1987. By 1992, after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, over 170 trains of this class were operating Berlin’s S-bahn lines. By that time, its name had been changed to the Model 485. Originally there was supposed to have been over 300 trains running, but the newly formed German Railways (Deutsche Bahn) had other ideas and created the newer version, the Model 481, whose prototype was introduced in 1993 and the first trains rolled out in 1996. It has since become the train one will see when traveling along Berlin’s S-bahn routes today.
Sadly, the days of the Cola Can, the Model 485, have been numbered. In 2021, Deutsche Bahn announced plans of decomissioning the remaining trains and with that, a piece of East German history is to disappear from Berlin’s cityscape. The last day of service for the Cola Cans was on November 12th, where hundreds of locals and train fans were on hand to bid a formal farewell. The trains will still remain in service as a substitute for any broken trains of the 481 until its final exit on December 10th.
The future of the remaining relicts is up in the air. Plans are in the making to convert at least two of the retired trains of the Model 485 into museum exhibits. Whether they will be realized in the end remains open. Already several trains have been scrapped, including the prototype from 1980 in 2021, and more will become recycled steel to be reused. However, there is hope that some interested parties will adopt the Cola Can for their own use as a museum piece, and thus keeping a part of Berlin’s history alive.
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THE FLENSBURG FILES 