The start to my 2017's trip to Poland was by way of Berlin by air then rail via the German island of Usedom through to Świnoujście for the first night.

Back in January 1995 I paid a visit to the DB rail system on Usedom which at the time was isolated from the 'mainland'. At the time the route from here, Züssow on the main Berlin to Stralsund line was to Wolgast Hafen which at the time was an electrified branch. From there. it was a short walk via the road bridge to Wolgast Fähre to pick up island services. At the time in 1995 worked by class 771 DMUs having replaced class 202 locomotive worked trains.

In June 1995 operation of lines on the island were taken over by a subsidiary company of DB - Usedomer Bäderbahn (UBB). In 2000 the island was connected by rail at Wolgast sharing the same bridge as the main road and known as the Peenbrücke Wolgast. UBB took over the entire route from Züssow with some trains running through to Stralsund. At some point after joining up the lines, the section from Züssow to Wolgast Hafen was de-electrified.

Much of the line on the island was rebuilt and upgraded including additional passing loops to permit services running at 30 minute intervals. The purpose built depot is located at Seebad Heringsdorf The line was extended at the south end firstly from Seebad Ahlbeck to Ahlbeck Grenze in 2007 and a year later extended further to Świnoujście Centrum in Poland.

UBB are contracted to run services until December 2017 and the operation is due to be handed back to DB Regio using the fleet of 2-car class 646s DMUs build between 2000 and 2002.