Locals have taken to Reddit to rate and slate the most horrific public transport train stations in Berlin. Mitte, Kreuzberg and Neukölln have some particularly bad offenders.

Berliners rate the most horrific U-Bahn station

“Welcher Bahnhof ist der schlimmste und warum?” (Which station is the worst and why?), one Reddit user innocently asked on the website’s r/berlin forum recently. And Berliners were ready to respond, slating every corner of the public transport system from Gesundbrunnen to Boddinstraße.

Most nominees were those within the circular Ringbahn of the German city, with users indiscriminately picking from a variety of districts. Yorckstraße made the list, but not due to failings of the station itself, but hatred for its namesake street, which users of the city’s sprawling network of transportation don’t find it particularly inviting under the cloak of darkness.

Perhaps Germany’s most famous station, Alexanderplatz, with its never ending mazes of green-tiled staircases, also made the forum ranking. Despite the station being one of the lucky few to be given a nickname by locals, Alex leaves even lifelong Berliners bewildered. One user wrote, “I find Alexanderplatz terrible, because of the long corridors and confusion. I needed years before I figured out where the lift was so that I could get directly to the U5 [line].”

The city’s “Mäusetunnel” (mouse tunnel) at Stadtmitte station, which stretches between the U6 and the U2 line also leaves locals bamboozled, but for another reason - they are confused as to why the 160-metre long stretch exists, when it should surely just be two stations.

Berlin’s U8 line has the highest number of “disgusting” stations

Tourists and locals alike have likely been struck by the open drug usage which can often be seen along the city’s dark blue U8 line, which runs from north to south. And it's the line with the most stations of the forum’s list, most notably in the neighbourhoods of southern Kreuzberg and northern Neukölln. The stretch between Kottbusser Tor, Schönleinstraße, Hermannplatz and Boddinstraße was particularly slated.

The city’s Kottbusser Tor station has been a frequent presence in Berlin news recently, since police decided to open a surveillance centre near the station, despite widespread demonstrations from locals. 

The neighbourhood has been named by police as a “crime-ridden area” and the 3,75-million-euro surveillance centre touted as a solution. Organisers of the Kotti für Alle (Kotti for all) movement argue that the new centre will only superficially remedy deep-rooted social inequalities.