THIS MAY is due to see the opening of a second tram route serving West Berlin, following the delivery of the first bi-directional low-floor cars to Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe last year (RG 2.00 p70). BVG currently has 12 tram extensions in development, all due for opening by 2006.

First will be a link in the southeast, from Revaler Strasse to the U-Bahn station at Warschauer Strasse, due to be ready in May. This will be further extended to Hermannplatz in 2005. This autumn should see completion a new route in the northern suburb of Pankow, linking Buchholz West and Buchholz Kirche.

In mid-2001 BVG expects to open a link across the city centre between Prenzlauer Tor and Alexanderplatz, which will be followed later in the year by a spur from Adlershof S-Bahn station to the new Wissenschaftsstadt technology zone in the southeast. This will be extended to Sterndamm in 2004-05 to create a through loop.

North of the city centre, a link from Eberswalder Strasse to the U-Bahn station at Bernauer Strasse is to open in mid-2002. This line is due to be extended to Nordbahnhof in 2005.

By 2004, the Wedding line through northern West Berlin will be extended from Virchow-Klinikum to Beusselstrasse. This will be continued to the new central station at Lehrter by 2005. Another link to Lehrter from Turmstrasse and Wiebestrasse will be ready in 2006.

Probably the most controversial extension is the route from Alexanderplatz through the city centre to Potsdamer Platz and Kulturforum, which is now not expected to open until 2005.

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