Building Site Braunschweig.

 Sewer or drain work in  Friedrich Wilhelm Platz.  Buses used to stop here, and the sign says, "Feuerwehrzufahrt,"   "Fire brigade access!"  Hahaha!

These photos could have been taken anywhere in Braunschweig, as there is so much reconstruction work going on, it is difficult to take a straight forward journey anywhere!  I have found the closure of the tramlines from Weststadt into town particularly tiresome, as less frequent and smaller buses have replaced the once excellent tram service.  Everyone is patient, especially in cool weather, but on a hot day, the overcrowded travelling verges on the impossible!  A journey that took 12 minutes on the tram, has become, depending on the rush hour, 20 to 25 minutes long!  I have found an alternative route, which takes longer, but at least the bus is not so crowded.

 

The former taxi rank, now host to piles of wood.  This has been like this since May.

The No 5 tram (replaced by a bus at the moment) cannot take its usual route to the railway station, because the entire length of Leonhardstraße has been dug up!   Quite how the little shops and cafes here are coping I don`t know.  There was an article in the paper recently stating, "School Holidays, Dig up the City!" or words to that effect.  

I should add in all fairness, that the speed of the work has impressed me.  The old tram track disappeared almost overnight, and the old ballast and stonework went in a flash, with the help of a very noisy digger that burrowed its way underneath the stone!

 New track at Donaustraße Tram Stop.

This is my interchange, where I disembark  from the Timmerlah bus, and usually climb onto the M3 or the M5 tram for the 12 minute trip into the city.    Travel here is usually so easy, but I must admit to being a little put out at the moment!  The children are back at school in three weeks time, and the major upheaval is scheduled to finish on August 7th, when my beloved trams will be running again.  

Rheinring Tram Stop

The tram stops in Weststadt are named after rivers that run through Germany, Donaustraße, Rheinring, Alsterplatz, Saalestraße and Weserstraße,  which is the terminus, and where the tram turns around.   I alight here and walk the last mile home across the fields of corn, (when it´s not too hot or raining, and just about right!)

Hopefully next year this section of tramway will be working normally, although I expect another chunk of the network will be ripped up somewhere else!  There is a major tram junction in the city at Hagenmarkt, a point at which four trams change direction!  Heaven help us when this junction needs repairs.  Hi di ho!