Berlin, October 31st, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – Just a few weeks ago, Berliners cooled down by jumping into Wannsee and other lakes. They complained about public transport vehicles without A/C and consumed ice cream. Look at this city now: We are three weeks away from the beginning of the official Christmas market season and the public transport provider BVG is preparing for ice and snow.
As many as 941 railway switches are part of Berlin’s tram and aboveground subway track network. Most of them are heated because nobody wants the system to freeze and fail. The heater rods built into those switches are being checked and set to standby right now because they are supposed to heat up automatically when they detect freezing conditions.
Berlin’s public transport is a big mess. In order to prevent even more chaos, these preparations are necessary. Sometimes ice blocks end up in railway switches. In these situations, emergency crews will resolve the issue by hand. The same crews are checking whether their snowplows are functional, according to the BVG. This state-owned company runs almost all bus lines in Berlin, the entire U-Bahn network (subway, tube, metro, underground) and all tram lines, while Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the S-Bahn (city train).
Grinding Bars
The BVG is also preparing its “power rail greaser train”. On the U-Bahn lines 1, 2 and 3, it actually greases contact surfaces on the power rails. This special train also applies anti-icing fluid. Without this “greaser train”, all U-Bahn trains would fail in cold winters. Because of technical differences on the U-Bahn lines U5 to U9, their wider aboveground tracks do not need to be greased.
In addition, the BVG is preparing its 381 trams. When it gets cold in Berlin, some vehicles are fitted with grinding bars on their pantographs. That way, they scrape ice off the overhead wires while moving back and forth in the city.
What’s missing? The BVG’s 1,631 buses. The company says they are being worked on too. Since all of them have all-weather tires, they don’t have to change them. But they do need truckloads of winter windshield washer fluid. Also, the heating on all buses needs to be in good shape. This is what they are working on as well. Berlin’s public transport may not always work too well, but passengers should not freeze.
