🚟 Wuppertal, Germany: Schwebebahn Suspension Railway

Description

In the late 1800s, the neighboring cities of Barmen and Elberfeld, and the town of Vohwinkel, on the river Wupper east of Düsseldorf, faced a transportation problem because the narrow river valley concentrated development and made it difficult to build new roads. Their solution was to build an elevated railway above the river itself. They chose a system designed by Eugen Langen of Cologne, in which the trains are suspended from wheels that run on a single rail: a suspension monorail, or Schwebebahn in German. Construction began in 1898, and the line opened in stages from 1901 to 1903.

In 1929, Barmen, Elberfeld, Vohwinkel and some other neighboring towns merged. After a referendum in 1930, the resulting city received the name Wuppertal.

The Schwebebahn is 8.3 miles (13.3 km) long, with 20 stations, and takes about 30 minutes to traverse. About 3/4 of the line runs above the river; the western 1/4 runs above Kaiserstraße in the district of Vohwinkel. Trains run very frequently, every 3–5 minutes during the day on weekdays. The current fleet of 27 two-car trains was built in the 1970s; it is now being replaced with a new fleet, with new trains due to arrive beginning in 2015. One of the original 1901 trains, called the Kaiserwagen because Kaiser Wilhelm II rode it on a test run in 1900, survives and is used for excursion and charter services.

The eastern end of the Schwebebahn at Vohwinkel connects with the northern end of one of Solingen’s electric trolleybus routes.

Pictures

These pictures are from June 2009, unless noted otherwise.

[picture #1] | [picture #2] The western terminal at Vohwinkel was rebuilt in 2007. These pictures show the south and north sides of the new building.

[picture] This picture from 2004 shows part of the south side of the Vohwinkel terminal before it was rebuilt. The trolleybus is at the terminal of route 683 from Solingen.

[picture] A corner of the Vohwinkel terminal extends out above Kaiserstraße. The tracks separate as they enter, to make room for a turning loop inside the building. [picture] The same location in 2004, before the terminal was rebuilt.