from berlin's iconic u—bahn to the incredible hanging overhead railway of the industrial west to thetrains of the northern coast... we've got the birds flying, the water, the light — this is stunning! ..i'm here to see how engineering and a bit of imagination have led to a network like no other. doors beep with almost 40,000km of track, germany's rail network is the longest in europe, which makes it the perfect place to explore by train. but from berlin's vast central station, i'm taking an even cheaper form of transport for a spot of sightseeing. all right, we're doing it — we're crossing the tramway. agh! fabulous! oh, it's beautiful. i can see the tv tower on my left and it's so cloudy, the tip of it is just unseen. alexanderplatz is, these days, the touristic heart of the capital. until 1989, it was the main public square in communist east berlin. so i was born in 1990, which is a year after the berlin wall came down, so for myself — and i'm sure for generations younger — there's no recollection of those news events, so being able to be here and just get a sense of what it might

from berlin's iconic u—bahn to the incredible hanging overhead railway of the industrial west, to theow engineering and a bit of imagination have led to a network like no other. with almost 40,000km of track, germany's rail network is the longest in europe, which makes it the perfect place to explore by train.

athena's taking me to one of the world war ii bomb shelters built into the u—bahn network. oh, wow!eople were down here days on end. it's quite interesting because you can hear rumbling going past. they get that big rumbling, passing noise all the time. would they have been aware that this bunker was here? you mean the passengers? the passengers, yeah. yeah, for sure, because this place was used primarily for people who were in the transit system and, during a bombing raid, had to come somewhere. the people in here were lucky. as we go a few stops up the u8 line, athena takes me forward in time to a later shelter — a symptom of berlin's position on the faultline of the historic tensions between east and west. welcome to pankstrasse. so, this is the bunker, or there's a bunker nearby? there's actually — we're in the bunker already, because this entire station is the bunker. it was originally opened in 1977 to be a multi—purpose facility. so, it's both a train station, as you just saw but also, in a 48—hour preparation period, it can be turned into an atomic fallout shelter. so, this

so this is a german train company, bahn i think. company, deutsche bahn i think. yeah. right.arriages which this idea of carriages which they carriages. and they call cuddle carriages. and they call cuddle carriages. and the frost over. you the windows frost over. if you press a button and you can cuddle. jazz is suggesting people might press that button for reasons. yeah you for other reasons. yeah you know, mainlining heroin, whatever , whatever it might be. whatever, whatever it might be. but illegal activity or sexual activity, perhaps chance would be a fine thing , but it also can be a fine thing, but it also can be a fine thing, but it also can be used for taking a call, a work meeting and all these sorts of things. yeah, but they're calling them cuddle compartments. that sounds like a euphemism, but there it does. compartments. that sounds like a eupand ism, but there it does. compartments. that sounds like a eupand ism, kind here it does. compartments. that sounds like a eupand ism, kind ofre it does. compartments. that sounds like a eupand ism, kind of german,. >> and

and they're testing it out on the deutsche bahn, which is a german railway which is very efficient, butficient as it used to be. at least the germans are complaining they're complaining about it. so they're putting little these putting in these little these little booths are six, little booths which are six, 6.5ft long and basically a metre wide, like 27in wide, where two people can go in there and have a little privacy and, and something bad's going to happen . something bad's going to happen. >> i think something good is going to happen. you get to travel. no, no . travel. no, no. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> i thought you'd be with me on this. introvert like this. an introvert like yourself, not having to yourself, steve. not having to look on train. look at people on the train. brilliant. look at people on the train. briioh,t. look at people on the train. brith,t. no. it's great. >> oh, yeah. no. it's great. i mean, it saves me sitting in the toilet pretending that it's engaged i engaged all the time there. i feel for ticket, feel sorry for the ticket, inspector, you're still inspector, bec