After the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the trains from both sides terminated at the last station before Potsdamer Platz (from the East: Mohrenstraße).

The original intention was for public service to start in May 1987, but a fire at Gleisdreieck Station in April of that year destroyed one of the two cars and badly damaged the other.

Several planned opening dates were not met, and in December 1988, a test train failed to stop at Kemperplatz and one of the cars crashed to the ground and was destroyed.

Official regular passenger service, as part of Berlin's integrated public transport system, started in July 1991.

It became desirable to re-establish the U-Bahn line that had previously been severed, requiring the removal of the M-Bahn from its right of way.

The principal need for the M-Bahn had also been removed, as the area served by it was again easily accessible from the Potsdamer Platz station.

The disused elevated track features at some length as a backdrop in Wim Wenders's 1987 film Wings of Desire.