Berlin: Staff Shortage Shuts Tiergarten Tunnel

Berlin, October 11th, 2026 – Chancellor Friedrich Merz faced a delayed arrival for an appointment due to the recurring closures of the Tiergarten Tunnel. This issue, plagued by a staff shortage, has become a persistent problem, according to the Tagesspiegel. With approximately 50,000 vehicles traversing the tunnel daily, closures disrupt traffic flow, forcing motorists to navigate surface streets through the city center.

The tunnel, costing 390 million Euros, is not shut permanently but frequently, lasting for several hours at a time, with no comprehensive record of its downtime available. Closures have been documented in January, February, April, and now October. These closures often occur at night, with the Senate Administration of Transportation deliberately closing the tunnel between 8:50 p.m. and 6 a.m., due to lighter traffic during these hours.

However, the BVG had to modify two bus routes during nighttime closures. The tunnel's monitoring requires constant oversight from a manned control center, but currently, only five out of eight required positions are filled. Two employees are on long-term sick leave, one is still undergoing training, and another has called in sick.

Without adequate staffing, closing the tunnel for safety reasons is the sole option. Although technology can support the work, it cannot replace the personnel responsible for the control room. In emergencies, decisions on alerting, blocking access roads, and sealing off the tunnel must be made by someone. Petra Nelken, an administration spokeswoman, emphasized that operators also monitor lighting and ventilation, which became critical last year when a fan failure led to weeks of closure for heavy trucks.

Shifts in the control room are kept short to maintain alertness, and Nelken stressed the demanding nature of the job, urging people not to underestimate its significance. The problem partly stems from a change in responsibility, with tunnel monitoring transitioning from Autobahn GmbH to the state of Berlin by the end of 2025. The city set up its control center in Tempelhof, and the technical equipment was completed last year.

However, by September 2025, only five out of six planned operator positions had been filled, raising doubts about the initial staffing assessment. The Autobahn GmbH currently handles tunnel monitoring from Friday at 7 p.m. until Monday at 5:30 a.m. Additional help is not planned, as Berlin has not requested any. Twenty-five of Autobahn GmbH's staff are undergoing training for tunnel monitoring, but weekend duty poses a considerable personnel and organizational challenge.

The agency's staff and facilities are designed for its own tunnels and traffic management systems across Berlin and Brandenburg. Officials are in discussions with the BVG about temporarily reallocating employees from their control center to tunnel duty in shifts, albeit requiring initial training. Suitable additional staff is not available on the job market, officials stated.

The administration anticipates staffing the monitoring in two shifts again starting mid-October, but whether this will resolve the nighttime closures remains uncertain.