Subsequently, the electric services ran to the south parallel with the long-distance tracks of the Anhalt Railway.

A convenient system of suburban fares was applied from 1891 on many lines into Berlin, among them on the Anhalt Railway to Groß Lichterfelde B. H. station (the acronym stood for Berlin and Halle; the station was called Groß Lichterfelde Ost from 1899).

[2] Because of the increasing volume of trains, it was decided to build a separate suburban railways and to raise the line to Lankwitz above street level.

[4] In 1903 electric operations was trialed for suburban trains between the Potsdamer Ring station and Lichterfelde Ost using a 550 volts DC system.

[6] After the power supply of the line was greatly improved between 1936 and 1938, electrical operations commenced on the Dresden railway to Mahlow on 15 May 1939.

This ended the previous mixed operation of steam and electric trains between Potsdamer Ring station and Priesterweg.

Plans of the 1930s envisaged a series of major rail projects especially in southern Berlin, but these could only be partially realised due to the war.

These were initially intended for traffic to the Daimler aircraft engine factory, but were opened to the public a short time later.

Towards the end of the Second World War, there was severe damage to the Anhalt Railway and the bridges over the Teltow Canal were blown up by German troops.

Services were restored between Yorckstraße and Südende on 8 June 1945 and to Lichterfelde Süd on August 17, originally as a single track.

The southern part of the Nord-Süd tunnel was reopened in the summer of 1946, but traffic on the ramp between Anhalter Bahnhof and Yorckstraße only resumed on 15 August 1946.

Train services from the south ended in Teltow, where passengers had to switch to the S-Bahn to reach Berlin.

After the Berlin Wall was built on 13 August 1961, the S-Bahn ceased operations south of Lichterfelde Süd.

As a result, plans were discussed for S-Bahn operations on the Anhalt line to be partly replaced by a guided bus system developed by Daimler-Benz.

The idea of connecting the Stahnsdorf Cemetery Railway with the Anhalt S-Bahn line at Teltow dates back to the 1930s.