The fall of the Berlin Wall on the 9th of November 1989 was a
surprise for all Berliners. Thousands swarmed from East Berlin
into the west. Only two days later, the Jannowitzbruecke U-Bahn
station was opened as a provisional border crossing point. A
short time later work began to reconnect all sorts of networks
that had been divided for decades. However the old water and
electrical lines in the border areas were completely unusable
and had to be redone. In contrast, all 52 barriers in sewage
system had been removed by the middle of 1991. Jackhammers were
used to tear out the iron railroad tracks and pipes that had
separated east and west. Similarly, the “ghost stations” were
brought back to life exceptionally quickly. As the border
controls done away with on the 1st of July 1990, almost all of U
and S-Bahn stations in the east were back in service. After the
underground infrastructure of both sides of the city had been
reconnected, and the holes in the transportation system had been
for the most part filled,