Senate Documents Reveal Plan for Six Cable Car Lines Spanning 40 km Across Berlin

Documents obtained through a formal records inspection (Akteneinsicht) by the alliance Bündnis Pro Straßenbahn Berlin reveal that Howoge, Berlin's state-owned housing company, presented a cable car network concept to the Berlin Senate in 2024. The proposed system would comprise six lines covering roughly 40 kilometres, primarily serving districts in northern and eastern Berlin — including Buch, Blankenburg, Hohenschönhausen, Jungfernheide, Spandau, and the Falkenhagener Feld. A separate proposal envisaged a line crossing the Havel river. In a message dated 2 February 2024, the network was described as a "powerful, inexpensive, efficient, promising in implementation, and quick" solution — a quote reported by BUND, one of 17 organisations that make up the alliance. Other members include Die Linke, the Greens, and the Berlin passenger association IGEB. Senate infrastructure experts, however, identified significant obstacles: conflicts with high-voltage power lines along parts of the proposed routes and concerns about so-called "fear spaces" — sections where passengers might feel stranded or exposed. Berlin currently operates just one cable car, in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, linking U-Bahnhof Kienberg to the Gardens of the World; BVG tickets are not valid on that line.