#u5

On their official social media accounts, they recently posted this rendering of how the new U5 platforms in the already existing station Hauptbahnhof Nord (Central Station North) will look:

The text roughly means: "The # U5Hamburg gets a new face: The plans for the U5 station Hauptbahnhof Nord have been determined! The architecture team paid special attention to: giving the old tunnels a modern atmosphere without losing their historical charm!"

Sure, this looks nice on the first glance. But: look at the wall to the right – instead of proper benches like the ones in the already used part of the same station, they are the kind of slanted surfaces to lean onto that are pretty much useless for anyone who wants or needs to actually sit down.

A friend of mine replied to the post and got this answer from Hochbahn:

Ercona (Lordplavis) said the following:

"@ hochbahn please please put benches in there that people can sit on.

As someone with a walking disability and chronic pain when standing, these lean-on surfaces almost worse than nothing.

If i don't want to be in pain, I then have to sit down on the floor. And it really is no good, having to sit on the dirty floors in a newly built station."

Hochbahn then replied:

"First of all: The U2/U4 lines will be on a 100 second interval and the U5 will even depart every 90 seconds – so there will be a train very quickly, making waiting times very short.

What the final details will look like will be looked at by the team during further planning. Accessibility will of course play a major role there."

Ercona answered to that, not getting another reply from the Hochbahn account:

It replied:

"So, I don't think that the train's departure intervals are a good argument to remove seating.

What happens in case of a delay?

Or police operations?

If the train is just too crowded during rush hour?

Or if someone simply wants to take a 5-minute break before taking the next train?

But well, I don't think accessibility really is the main goal here. Instead it's hostile architecture to prevent unwanted stays [by people resting].

I hope that at least there's a focus on cleanliness of the new stations, so i can sit on a clean floor."

Well said! It's absolutely ridiculous that trying to drive away "unwanted" people, e.g. homeless people, from seeking shelter in the station seems to be more important than offering a means of transportation to everyone, including people with disabilities. The situation already is quite desolate – for example, the seats at the Hauptbahnhof Nord platforms have already been removed entirely a while ago. There is basically no seating available at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof without either needing a train ticket or having to be a patron in a restaurant, and even people using the trains don't get to sit down.

ur new sona goes so hard

Nach der Eröffnung des U-Bahnhofs Museumsinsel hält eine U-Bahn der Linie 5 am Bahnhof. Foto: Christophe Gateau/dpa