‘Gleisdreieck’ means ‘track triangle’ – the junction that once stood here.
Until 1912 the trains branching off here really ran over a triangular junction. On 26 September 1908 two trains collided there; a carriage fell eight metres onto the square below and 16 people died that day. After another accident in 1911, the triangle was replaced by a station where the lines cross on two levels, built in 1912–1913. The name stayed.