Berlin winters can be harsh. And now the capital’s tram lines also brought to mind a story by Heinrich Böll.
Local public transport – always original in Berlin, the capital that is currently freezing and plagued by black ice. The tram lines are currently an issue, that’s what the trams are called here. A little reminder: The very first electrified tram in the world ran in Berlin, put into operation by Siemens in 1895 – a tradition that not everyone upheld: In the western part of the city, trams were abolished in the 1960s by the car-loving SPD Senate. In the eastern part, however, the tram continued to run, and it still does so today when it runs.
When there was freezing rain a few days ago, it didn’t run at first because the overhead lines iced up. Okay, Berlin winters are harsh. Then she drove again, and how! She even drove when Verdi paralyzed public transport nationwide (except for the S-Bahn) with a strike. Bus, subway, everything stood still – the tram was running, but – and that’s the original thing about it – empty.
Which is a nice example of one on the one hand completely rational solution, but on the other hand we forgot that it could have been reasonable. It had to be driven in order to keep the overhead lines, which had just been freed from ice, free of ice. But it wasn’t possible to take passengers because of strike, which is why cultural memory can now be used. There is a story by Heinrich Böll called “The End of a Business Trip,” in which a Bundeswehr vehicle is driven back and forth aimlessly because it can only be inspected once it has reached a certain mileage – a parable about a system-generated compulsion that leads to unreasonable solutions.
Same with the tram. Tram technicians and Verdi people sat down and held meetings until both sides were satisfied. Only the passengers stayed outside. Did the tram drivers wave as they floated past the warm Berliners on foot over ice like the Flying Dutchman?
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