In the coming nights it will be really cold in Berlin, but in the subway stations of the capital homeless people are not allowed to stay overnight. The joint search by the Senate and Berliner Verkehrsbetrieben BVG for spare rooms for the existing cold-storage stations has so far been unsuccessful. "No solution has yet been found," said BVG spokeswoman Petra Reetz.
In recent years, public transport operators have opened certain stations in the winter at night to the homeless. This year, this offer should no longer exist because of security concerns.
After a conversation with Social Senator Elke Breitenbach (left), the company said but to release previously unused areas in several stations. So the homeless are to be kept away from the power lines on the tracks.
Which surfaces are exactly in question is yet to be tested. They had looked at rooms together, the test was not yet completed, so Reetz on Saturday. As a reason, she mentioned, among other safety concerns of the fire department. First, the "rbb 24" had reported about it.
According to Reetz, the BVG wants to do everything possible to provide the needy. She hung posters in the stations with addresses and telephone numbers of accommodations and provided her staff with leaflets. "Nobody is sent into the night," said Reetz. However, she pointed out that the BVG was not an institution of cold relief.