U2 (Nuremberg U-Bahn)

The route begins in the southwest of Nuremberg at Röthenbach station, at the western end of a three-track parking and turning system, and continues east along the Schweinauer main street under the Main-Danube Canal and the Südwesttangente highway (southwest tangent) to the station Hohe Marter. This station is the longest in the Nuremberg subway network with 268 m and replaces the two abandoned tram stops Friesenstraße and Schweinau, which were formerly located at the two present-day subway exits.

The route continues under Schweinauer Hauptstraße to Schweinau train station and St. Leonhard train station, which, due to its location in the middle of Schweinauer Straße, is completely elastic so as not to give off the vibrations caused by driving to the surrounding houses. Next is the Rothenburger Straße station under the Frankenschnellweg (A73). The last part of the route runs in a curve under the Obere Kanalstraße and then leads in a right arc to the station Plärrer, where the U2 meets the U1.

After the station Plärrer the route runs under the Frauentorgraben to the station Opernhaus. This station is open to the moat, which was uncovered in the course of subway construction and designed as a pedestrian area. The route continues to the main train station, where the U2 meets the U1 for the second time, and then heads north to the Wöhrder Wiese station. Due to its location in the Pegnitzgrund, the station had to be lowered and the northern branch of the Pegnitz had to be incorporated into the station building, which can be seen in the lower ceiling, which extends across the entire station. The following route runs under the Laufertorgraben and steeply climbs towards the station Rathenauplatz, which can be observed in the station itself, as the ceiling from the southern to the northern platform has a significant difference in height.

After the Rathenauplatz station, the route initially runs under the Bayreuther Straße, turns right to the Rennweg station under the same-named street and continues under Schoppershofstraße to the Schoppershof train station. Between this and the following station Nordostbahnhof under the Leipziger Platz the two tracks run together in the same single bore tunnel. This is opposed to most of the rest of the line where the two tracks run in separate tunnels.

In the further course under the Bessemerstraße is located in a tube together with the city-side track a parking and turning system and at the junction with the Äußere Bayreuther Straße the station Herrnhütte. Then the route leads in a narrow counter arc under housing development to the station Ziegelstein under the Fritz Munkert Platz, at whose northern end is another parking and turning system. The two railway tracks are then merged and run as a single-track tunnel in a westerly direction to the terminus airport. Due to the long single track section between Ziegelstein and Airport, only one train every ten minutes continues to the airport with most trains during the day terminating at Ziegelstein. This was formerly indicated by short terminating trains being indicated as "U21".

Logo U2

• 28 January 1984: Plärrer ↔ Schweinau
• 27 September 1986: Schweinau ↔ Röthenbach
• 23 September 1988: Plärrer ↔ Hauptbahnhof
• 24 September 1990: Hauptbahnhof ↔ Rathenauplatz
• 29 September 1993: Rathenauplatz ↔ Schoppershof
• 27 January 1996: Schoppershof ↔ Herrnhütte
• 27 November 1999: Herrnhütte ↔ Flughafen

During the rush hour peak trains leave every 3 1/3 minutes (200 seconds) overlapping with U3 to a 100 second headway between Rothenburger Straße and Rathenauplatz. As the section of track between Airport and Ziegelstein is single track, only one train every ten minutes serves the airport with most other trains terminating early at Ziegelstein.

Prior to the introduction of automatic operation in the course of the opening of U3 (2008) and the conversion of U2 to all automatic operation (2010), the line was served by the same VAG Class DT1, VAG Class DT2 and even MVG Class A vehicles as U1. However, with the conversion of U2 to automatic operation, those vehicles were withdrawn from service or switched to exclusively operating on U1, the last remaining all manual line. Some older units of Class DT1 still contain displays in their interior that can be switched between "U1", "U2" and the obsolete "U11" and "U21" (since abandoned designations for truncated runs on the U1 or U2 corridor), but they haven't served any purpose since the permanent switch of those vehicles to U1 service and the subsequent abandonment of the "U11" designation.

As of 2022 only VAG Class DT3 (both with and without a driver's cabin) serve on U2, just as they do on U3. The VAG Class G1 is capable of both automatic and manual operation and could in the future be used on U2 as well.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to U2 (Nürnberg).

• Nuremberg U-Bahn
  • U1 (Nuremberg U-Bahn)
  • U3 (Nuremberg U-Bahn)
• Nuremberg S-Bahn
  • S1 (Nuremberg)
  • S2 (Nuremberg)
  • S3 (Nuremberg)
  • S4 (Nuremberg)