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Berlin’s public transport most-vandalized in Germany

Vandalism on public transportation is the worst in Germany's capital Berlin, according to estimates by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV).

Published: 24 July 2008 14:16 CEST

Berlin's public transport most-vandalized in Germany

Photo: DPA

Scratched glass and tagging in the city’s streetcars and subway trains are the “biggest problems,” according to VDV expert Hartmut Reinberg-Schüller on Thursday.

Berlin’s two main public transport companies, BVG and S-Bahn, spent some €14.5 million on graffiti clean up and damages from vandalism – and increase of 13 percent. BVG spent €9.9 million alone on cleaning up buses, streetcars and subways last year.

Reinberg-Schüller said that there is north-south pattern when it comes to vandalism in Germany. Northern Germany and the Ruhr Valley, after Berlin, are “relatively often vandalized by mostly young people,” he said. Meanwhile vandalism to trains in southern Germany is seldom in comparison, he said.

His comments will come as no surprise to Berliners, who are accustomed to a colorful urban art landscape. The city was cited in the New York Times this March as “arguably” Europe’s most graffiti-covered city.

Tesla's factory near Berlin gets approval for extension despite protests

The US electric car manufacturer said on Thursday it was “extremely pleased” that local officials in the town of Grünheide, where the factory is located, had voted to approve the extension.

Tesla opened the plant – its only production location in Europe – in 2022 at the end of a tumultuous two-year approval and construction process.

The carmaker had to clear a series of administrative and legal hurdles before production could begin at the site, including complaints from locals about the site’s environmental impact.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

Plans to double capacity to produce a million cars a year at the site, which employs some 12,000 people, were announced in 2023.

The plant, which already occupies around 300 hectares (740 acres), was set to be expanded by a further 170 hectares.

But Tesla had to scale back its ambitions to grow the already massive site after locals opposed the plan in a non-binding poll.

The entrance to the Tesla factory in Brandenburg.

The entrance to the Tesla factory in Brandenburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Lutz Deckwerth

Their concerns included deforestation required for the expansion, the plant’s high water consumption, and an increase in road traffic in the area.

In the new proposal, Tesla has scrapped plans for logistics and storage centres and on-site employee facilities, while leaving more of the surrounding forest standing.

Thursday’s council vote in Grünheide drew strong interest from residents and was picketed by protestors opposing the extension, according to German media.

Protests against the plant have increased since February, and in March the plant was forced to halt production following a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines claimed by a far-left group.

Activists have also built makeshift treehouses in the woodland around the factory to block the expansion, and environmentalists gathered earlier this month in their hundreds at the factory to protest the enlargement plans.

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