Schwebebahn Wuppertal
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Schwebebahn over the river Wupper |
The
Schwebebahn Wuppertal is a suspension railway in
Wuppertal,
Germany. Its full name is the "Eugen Langen Monorail Suspension Railway" (
Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen). The people of Wuppertal know it, however, as the "Old Lady" or the "Iron
Wyvern". Designed by Eugen Langen, who originally planned to build it in
Berlin, it was built in
1900, opened in
1901 and is still in use today as a local transport system in the city.
The suspension railway travels along a route 13.3 km long, about 12m above the bed of the river
Wupper and approximately 8m above the city streets, between the districts of Oberbarmen and Vohwinkel. At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip, including stops for people to get on and off, takes about 35 minutes.
The Schwebebahn operates within the
VRR transport association and accepts tickets issued by the VRR companies.
The Wuppertal Schwebebahn had one model: in
1824,
Henry Palmer of
England first presented the world with a
railway system which differed from all previous construction forms. It was basically a small suspension railway on which suspended carriages were drawn by horses.
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The Schwebebahn Wuppertal crossing an intersection |
Friedrich Harkort, a famous German industrialist and politician, loved the idea. He had a system of this type built as a trial in
1826 and ran it on the grounds of what is today the tax office at
Elberfeld. He tried to interest the public in his scheme.
On
September 9 1826 the town councillors of Elberfeld met to discuss the use of a "Palmer's Railway" from the
Ruhr to the Wupper river. Friedrich Harkort inspected the projected route with a surveyor and a member of the town council. The railway was to go from Elberfeld to
Hinsbeck or from Elberfeld to
Langenberg. The plan never went ahead, however, due to the owners of various pits who had not been included in it and felt disadvantaged at being left out.
The suspension railway which was finally built was planned and tested by the engineer Eugen Langen in
Cologne during the
1880s. In
2003 the
Rhenish Heritage Office (
Rheinische Amt für Denkmalpflege des Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland or LVR) published a press report announcing the discovery of an original section of the test route of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn.
In
1901, after a construction period of about three years overseen by the government's master builder, Wilhelm Feldmann, the railway came into operation in Wuppertal. Around 19,200 tonnes of steel were worked to produce the supporting frame and the train stops. Construction cost 16 million
gold marks. Since its first opening, the railway has remained in continuous use as an overground
metro system. Every year about 23 million passengers travel on it (
2003).
The Wuppertal Schwebebahn was considered one of the safest means of transport in the world, carrying up to 75,000 passengers a day through the town. Since
1995, the supporting frame has been largely modernised, and a large number of train stops have been reconstructed and brought up to date technically. The "Kluse" stop, at the theatre in Elberfeld had been destroyed during the
Second World War; this too was reconstructed during the modernisation. Work was planned to be completed in
2001; however a serious accident took place in
1999 which left 5 people dead and 47 injured. This, along with delivery problems, meant that the completion date was delayed. In recent years (2004) the cost of the reconstruction work has nearly doubled from 225 million to 394 million euro.
Since
2004 many of the train stops have been fitted with
CCTV cameras.
In
1950 Tuffi, the circus elephant, jumped from a train into the Wupper during a botched publicity stunt.
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Details of the suspension and motors |
The suspension railway is a
monorail suspended from a steel supporting frame with a rail built underneath it. It hangs on wheels which are driven by electric motor.
The supporting frame and tracks are made out of 486 pillars and bridgework sections. At the ends of the route there are turning points and parking spaces for the trains, which turn around so as to carry passengers there and back one after the other. This method of transport, without crossings, is similar to an overground metro system.
One carriage can carry about 200 passengers. The top speed is 60 km/h and the average speed is 26.6 km/h.
*
Monorail*
H-Bahn*
List of rapid transit systems*
Official Website (German and English)*
Photos and Info Schwebebahn Monorail in Wuppertal, Germany*
Monorail in Wuppertal, Germany*
Structurae: Wuppertaler Schwebebahn*
Wuppertal in UrbanRail [
1]
