[cityskyscrapers]

Photos suspended railway Wuppertal

The 1901 schwebebahn is an electric monorail in the German city Wuppertal that 'rides' a 13 kilometer suspended track in 30 minutes. Part of the tracks are above the small river Wupper, another part is above streets. The suspended railway also 'crosses' a large Bayer chemicals industrial site. Sometimes the 'Kaiserwagen' carriage from 1900 has special tours (see photo #10).

All photos taken 11 October 2008.

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[city_thing]

Great photos.

Is the suspended railway more of a tourist thing, as opposed to public transport?

 

[Kuvvaci]

it is okay over the river, but in the city, over the streets, it looks horrible, I am sorry.

But great photos. Thank you for sharing.

 

[jarbury]

It was built in 1901 so I doubt it was constructed as largely a tourist attraction.

I have one question..... why?

 

[xanterra]

This is the Backbone of Public Transportation in the innercity of Wuppertal. Not a tourist atraction. Just take a look 82.000 Passengers daily...http://www.schwebebahn.de/

 

[Bitxofo]

I love this system, and it is so old...

Is there an international airport in Wuppertal or near? I would like to go there and check this suspended railway.
:yes:
Thanks!
:wink2:

 

[jarbury]

An interesting read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwebebahn_Wuppertal

More about Wuppertal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal

 

[DJZG]

wow... i always wanted to see some photos of this but never had the time... thx for sharing them on one place

it looks pretty old... is it safe?

 

[Svartmetall]

^^ Very safe, only had a few incidents in its history - see the Wikipedia article posted above.

Thanks for the excellent shots. The Schwebebahn is quite something indeed!

 

[Linnea2]

I guess they choosed a suspended monorail due to the lack of space.
Nice pics, thanks for posting.

 

[micro]

Nice photos!

Is there an international airport in Wuppertal or near? I would like to go there and check this suspended railway.
:yes:
Thanks!
:wink2:

You can fly to Duesseldorf airport (which also has a suspended monorail), Wuppertal is only a few S-Bahn stations from there. It's also easy to make a round-trip through the Rhine-Ruhr area public transport from there.

 

[Bitxofo]

^^Danke schön!
:wink2:

 

[spongeg]

i saw it in some movie before thought it was weird but neat

I wonder if they were to build a new/modren version if they could make the structure less obtrusive - it looks kinda bad with som much structure everywhere for it to function

 

[Basincreek]

From an engineering standpoint it is really neat. But it is oppressive, aesthetically, over the city streets. Do the locals like it or just tolerate it?

 

[earthJoker]

Am I the only one who likes that old industrial style? Much better than modern monorails with concrete.

Edit: Wooohoo 1000th post.

 

[Northsider]

lol. This system is so goofy I love it! It's definitely recognizable, great pictures.

Am I the only one who likes that old industrial style?

YANA: you are not alone (ok, lame Doctow Who reference). No, I love the steel, one of the great things I love about the Chicago "L". Concrete seems colder and uglier to me.

 

[trainrover]

How loud are these trains travelling down streets like this, e.g., are the older fleets louder?

Fascinating.

 

[hkskyline]

Nice!

 

[ImBoredNow]

The pictures with the train above the river are spectacular.
This is probably the 1st suspended train in history.

 

[micro]

How loud are these trains travelling down streets like this, e.g., are the older fleets louder?

From what I remember, the trains are rather quiet. Here's a video I took that might illustrate the noise. Apart from the clunky noise of the closing doors it's not loud.