Berlin now presents a thoroughly modern image, with massive expenditure in the former "eastern" part of the city, which included the historical central area. Alexanderplatz, unrecognisable in its post-war rebuild and with its Fernsehturm visible from many miles around, is now under further reconstruction, and this has included running a new tram line into the square at the heart of the city.The tram above is calling at the stop alongside the Stadtbahn station.

With its fleet of Tatras modernised and also due to be replaced before too long, and plenty of reserved track laid on wide boulevards by forward thinking planners in the former German Democratic Republic, the city's tramway, one of the largest in Europe, is also one of the most efficient. The new shopping centre at Prerower Platz in Hohenschonhausen (above) is one of the numerous new developments benefiting the city's suburban areas.

An iconic image : A Berlin tram crosses the bridge at Bornholmer Strasse  - once the sinister boundary between East and West - reuniting the German capital city. The next extension into the "west" is planned to be a link from Eberswalder Strasse to the new Hauptbahnhof (Lehrter Bahnhof) along the "western" side of the course of the wall on Bernauer Strasse, running back "east" and then over the old boundary on Invalidenstrasse.