Overview
- Berlin’s transit operator, which staged the public debut Monday, began running the new J trains on the U5 in what officials called the first large-profile upgrade in three decades.
- Thirty-six cars are ready for service now, BVG plans to grow the J fleet to about 170 cars by year’s end, and Stadler is set to deliver roughly 170 more next year.
- BVG disclosed Monday it had quietly started passenger runs with three J trains in late April on the stretch between Hönow and Hauptbahnhof.
- The cars feel brighter and roomier with wider door areas and better passenger info, and on the U5 they replace retrofitted small-profile units that will shift back to lines U1–U4 after a short refit.
- The broader renewal shrank after a court fight, supply shocks, and early technical faults, leaving only 484 cars formally ordered so far versus about 1,500 once planned and putting future purchases on uncertain funding.