Navigating the Nurenberg Underground “U”

On a recent business trip to Nurenberg I found that taking the underground was the easiest to get from my hotel to the convention center. For this, I took the U1 line from Hauptbahnhof heading to Langwasser Süd. I got off at the Messe stop as this is the one located directly at the Messe convention center. One thing about this line is that there are no barriers or gates.

Buying a ticket was easy as the machine has a prompt for English. Once in English mode i was able to see that they offered tickets for single ride, multi ride, or day pass. I needed to ride the U for a total of 6 times over 3 days. For the first two days , I purchased a 4 ride pass. This pass needed to be validated before you walk on to the platform. In order to validate your pass for that journey, you need to fold it over as there are a total of 4 spots on it for 4 stamps. Once you have it folded over to a empty spot, you simply stick the ticket into the machine below and it prints a time stamp on it. For the day passes, you don’t need to validate it.

The Day pass ticket cost me 8,30 Euros and it allows unlimited rides in the Preisstufe A Area. When you purchase a day pass from the machine, it will ask you for your name so you can not share the ticket. Your name is printed on the ticket.

Out of the times that I rode the train, I had a new wagon only once. The rest of the time it was older stock. The trains were very clean and free of debris. The temperature and air quality also felt very nice. All of the trains require you to open the door manually. The newer trains have a button like the London Underground, but the older trains have a handel that you have to turn.

There are only 3 “U” lines in the system so its not very hard to get on the wrong train. The signage is all in German and so are the announcements. The only exception to that is for Messe, when they do announce in English over the PA for the visitors. The trains can get full during the morning rush, however i never felt like i was stuck or surrounded by people like on the Tokyo Subway.

Here are some more photos of the Trains and stations. All of the stations have the same feel to them so it can be easy to get confused on what station your at. Also, there is not a lot of signage at the stations telling you what station you are at. So pay attention to those announcements to make sure you get to your destination.

What is your favorite underground system in the world? Let me know!