How Wuppertal's Suspended Monorail Proved Its Doubters Wrong

[@MindTheMap]

🚟 Would a Schwebebahn work in your hometown? 🎄 Win a copy of “Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution” by joining my Patreon this holiday season: www.patreon.com/c/mindthemap

[@abwasserpumpe]

No, because it is too small 🥲 It could need some unique things like this though I guess

[@MindTheMap]

@@abwasserpumpe I was surprised to learn that Wuppertal has 360,000 inhabitants, way more than I had expected. The closest we will get to a flagship project like the Schwebebahn in Germany will probably be the cable car Leipzig has been debating forever.

[@forthbrdge6162]

Madison, Wisconsin, USA is constrained geographically, but by lakes, not a steep valley. Besides that general US antagonism towards mass transit, I could see an elevated structure through town meeting stiff resistance. An elevated structure is bound to block views of the lakes and change the landscape. We have several lightly used freight railroad corridors that could be converted to passenger rail if desired, and the limestone bedrock in the area is easier to tunnel if we wanted to go that far.

[@EifelBlaulichtTV]

No. How would that work, if our busses (or trains) don't to begin with? XD Okay, seriously though, my little home village is too small to be able to fund this. And our Municipality (Verbandsgemeinde) would also probably never be able to fund it!

[@herrtichy]

Honestly,. it wouldn't even work in Wuppertal today. A project like that would die in between Nimbys and planning requirements during the paper stage. We Germans as a whole have lost the ability to build great engineering projects because the main motivations for most people are "not getting blamed for anything that might go wrong" and "don't get used to anything new, that's too hard of a requirement".

[@XEinstein]

I lived in Wuppertal for 5 month to do an internship at a company and used the Schwebebahn every now and again. I lived at walking distance from the office so i did not need any form of public transport, so i just rode the schwebebahn for fun. Just imagine that: that your city's public transit system is so cool that people actually take it for fun! In many cities public transit is so bad people won't use it even if they get paid. In Wuppertal that public transit is so great that it even attracts turist to ride it just for fun.

[@RoseRodent]

@@XEinstein I travelled to Wuppertal for the day specifically to ride the Schwebebahn with my friends. They both travelled from Berlin and I travelled from Scotland! We took trains there, rode the train, bought a model train and took the train home.

[@thinking-laaf]

I lived in Düsseldorf and took a Swiss friend for a day trip to Wuppertal. We loved it.

[@marcosreynoso3901]

Used to do this with the tram in my city 😅

[@cliffthelightning]

Im a dutch trucker who carries a folding bicylce, and i went out of my way to cycle into the center to take the train for a short ride lol

[@bojcio]

I ride normal trains for fun.

[@RoseRodent]

I love the schwebebahn and especially as it's wheelchair accessible. Over 100 years old and up above a river yet I had no trouble at all using the system. Other transit systems take note!

[@MindTheMap]

That's great to hear! Kudos to them!

[@shiniri3064]

"Die Aufzuganlage an [Station XY] ist derzeit außer Betrieb. Bitte nutzen Sie die Linien [Bus lines to reach same destination]." is something I hear almost always at some station. Doesn't that heavily impact accessibility?

[@LemonsRage]

"It's older then any human being alive today" is such an interesting thing to say

[@acmenipponair]

It's by the way true for anything that is build before 1908, as the oldest living person was born in March 1908 ;)

[@EElgar1857]

I'm from the U.S., and really love European rail systems, so I had to go to Wuppertal! I rode it for an hour, and absolutely loved it. Thanks for the great video!

[@FrankHuber]

in 2014 the Deutsche Bahn gave away free rides for rebate card holders on days when German athletes won a gold medal in the winter olympics. When the day came I went on a full day trip from Berlin to Wuppertal mainly to ride the Schwebebahn =)

[@XmarkedSpot]

I rode it a few times when visiting and it likely is the ideal mass transit solution for a city of such an unusual elongated shape, flanking a river in its valley and whatnot. The novelty might wear off but the efficiency and beauty - beholden to anyone who isn't blind - is timeless.

[@MindTheMap]

Timeless is a great way to describe the Schwebebahn!

[@acmenipponair]

Well, NOWADAYS we would have some systems you could use instead of the Schwebebahn, especially when it comes to the shape of the track and boogie. But for 1903 it was a genius invention.

[@Underestimated37]

I’ve always said we need this here as an option in Bendigo in Australia, our land is riddled with mineshafts that make construction of an underground rail pretty much impossible, our roads are overcrowded and we can’t really fit trams in like we used to have, and our city is growing exponentially and needs new transit options, yet raised metro rail trains would be overkill. Something like this would be able to adapt to our unique issues and work around our poor road and traffic conditions. Our history matches very closely to the situations that this rail solved, and it would actually fit quite well with our city architecture, especially if we mirrored the Wuppertal systems style.

[@DelftTrains]

Very cool! In Dresden there is also a small Suspended Monorail line which was also designed by Eugen Langen :)

[@MindTheMap]

I've seen pictures of it! It seems like it just hangs a couple centimeters above the ground, is that the case for the whole track?

[@diedampfbrasse98]

@@MindTheMap no, distance to ground varies on its rather short climb up a steep hill, crossing two small roads at a safe height. Its actual a funicular just using the Langen rail suspension design because the roads couldnt be crossed with a funiclar on common rails at such a steep angle.

[@mojabaka]

I'm from Wuppertal and this was a great video. I'm confused about how becoming a driver only takes 20 hours? My neighbour in Wuppertal was a driver and I remember that he had to study for several months in order to be certified. He also had to work as a bus driver for several years in order to qualify. I'm not sure if nowadays you can go directly to the Schwebebahn or if you still have to start as a bus driver, but the 20 hours claim seems pretty sus to me, even if we assume that the technology is more sophisticated nowadays than it was back in the early 2000s.

[@obelic71]

Becomming a certified public transport bus/tram/metro driver is not an easy study. Its not just the driverslicense but also aditional studies like first aid, special training (f.e. standing passengers) psychologic and background checks etc.etc After all that 20 hours of aditional training to allow the driver to drive a hanging bus/tram/metro on the Schwebebahn makes perfect sense.

[@mojabaka]

@ Yes, I‘m aware. He had to study about the history of the Schwebebahn and all its technical system and a lot of other stuff. There‘s just no way in hell the schooling took 20 hours. Maybe the required driving hours before you can take the driving exam are 20 hours, just like 12 hours is the minimum for a regular driver’s license.

[@johnm2012]

Most likely, after the training they have to accumulate 20 hours of supervised driving before fully qualifying. You can spend years in a classroom but there's no substitute for actual experience. Like any other railway, the drivers need to "know the road."

[@obelic71]

@@johnm2012 routelearning lessons are normal in the public transport sector. Lots of routes have odd things , like very narrow drivetruhs, partly wrong side on the road driving (busses). Weird Signaling, illogical at first sight on the railroad due to geographic features etc. etc. The more odd things a route has the more training is necessary. There are also routes were an aditional pilot like a ship pilot is always requiered. f.e. International trains going over a countries border, freight trains on a factory yard. Thats why all those drivers are called professional drivers

[@TheVergile]

id assume its referring to simplt the time it takes to learn to drive. as in move the vehicle on non-public parts of the system without passengers. this could be relevant for repair- and service people moving the vehicles around the depot. at least thats how it works for other types of public transit. driving passengers through the public part of the requires A LOT of certifications and falls under stricter laws than moving the vehicles empty on the private property of the public transit provider.

[@mx338]

We don't really need new ideas for transit, we just need to actually build more trains.

[@mactep1]

He literally has a timestamped part in the video explaining why a conventional train wouldn't have worked.

[@acmenipponair]

Well, Germany would need in some areas also rails on viaducts over other tracks, like they have it in Japan, if you want to have a rail system where different services are not in each others way.

[@siro2899]

@@mactep1this is a kind of train though. Railway

[@luzifershadres]

Of course we need more ideas. Just look at the results of the DBs great plan to build more tracks instead of fixing old one. Now they are just constantly reparing bit by bit, beccause they build more before having a plan to repair the old ones.

[@john1703]

@@luzifershadres This is probably less disruptive of existing services, just think of road repairs.

[@matome3050]

Nice video! Just one thing though: The Kaiserwagen was retired recently. It now sits in the Schwebodrom, a modern Schwebebahn museum.

[@DJKLProductions]

That's not quite true: it is simply undergoing a lengthy restoration phase. At least that's what it says on the official website, where you can normally book it.

[@stevengunter4990]

​@@DJKLProductions you are absolutly correct, funnily enough, i am a crane driver in the valley and we were the ones that took it off the rails, transported it around 2,5km, and then unloaded inside the restoration hall, i am called every once in a while to lift stuff and unload trucks, and it is making progress.......but the original commenter isnt wrong either, there are 3 kaiserwagens, 2 of wich are being restored.

[@ColumbusDixon]

Your video reminded me of town exchanges with Wuppertal. Exciting stuff as a teenager who had never left the North of England. Delightful, welcoming people and some beautiful girls. It really helped to open my eyes to the bigger world. An experience I appreciated.

[@olasola1013]

For travelling within the city, Wuppertal has: - The schwebebahn - A pretty good S-bahn line/network that even provides direct connections to other nearby cities including Düsseldorf and Essen - An extensive bus network (?), not ridden it The real freedom in transport is to have several options to choose from.

[@76_199]

The bus network has 49 lines, which is a lot for a city of that size. Until around 1990s, there was also a tram network, which didn't survive due to severe misplanning.

[@jimihendrix991]

Solingen Trolleybus also runs to Wuppertal (Vohwinkel)...

[@matthewm3]

Took the train from Karlsruhe to Wuppertal on a day I had off and it was worth the journey. Cool town and cool Schwebebahn

[@matthiasendler7268]

I remember when my dad and I took it together for the first time in October of 1976. I was only four years old, but I have vivid memories of the ride. Since then I've never taken it again, because I live too far away and when I was in Wuppertal later, I always was there by car. Thanks for sharing and commenting on the history of the Schwebebahn!

[@mabix69]

As someone from the region, just living next door to Wuppertal and basically growing up there as my grandparents lived close to the Schwebebahn station "Zoo/Stadion", the Schwebebahn is nothing special for me, but just another form of transportation (My first ride on it was with my grandpa when I was just 3 years old 😄). But sometimes I still catch myself smiling when a Schwebebahn passes by above myself when I'm in Wuppertal. Your video was very comprehensive and I don't think you missed out a single thing. Great work!

[@kumardickshit1530]

Is your grandpa dead?

[@Xerlash]

Growing up in Wuppertal (in the 90s) i remember older folks calling it the "city of many transportations", cause besides the schwebebahn and the also present bus and train lines it had the so called Bergbahn (a cogwheel train) and a tram aswell. Both of the latter were replaced by busses in the later part of the 20th century, but it still was very present in peoples heads. Also Wuppertal apparently had a ski lift back in the days. Tho tellings of that were scarce, i wouldnt know why it shouldnt, given the hilly landscape and harsher winters back then (especcialy in a closed off valley). Ps: Congrats to 25k Subs 🎉

[@76_199]

That could be the ski lift in Solingen Burg, which is still in operation. (which isn't in Wuppertal, technically). The tram is still present somehow, even nowadays. I guess it's because it's a tragic story of misplanning and what-could-have-beens. The trams ran mostly on the median of the B7 (so they were pretty fast), and had branch lines to the interesting places (like hospitals, the University, etc.). The city closed the branch lines on by one, with only the B7 line (611) remaining, which ran... parallel to the Schwebebahn. That obviously didn't work out in the long run. Here's a video of the last tram line in 1987: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2aVp35-qrqcmcUfeature=shared&t=170

[@PhoenixHen]

Nice video! I never thought the Wuppertal Schwebebahn was this old

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you! And thank you for your Animation as well!

[@WujiErTaiji]

I was in Wuppertal this year just to experience the Schwebebahn. Pretty cool experience although Wuppertal itself isn't that spectacular this makes the visit worthwhile.

[@johnmccreary6341]

Just discovered and subscribed to your channel. Fascinating videos that keep my attention. Vielen Dank!

[@MindTheMap]

Danke :) Welcome to our little Urbanism & Transit community!

[@LunarPriestessYT]

This looks cyberpunk

[@EonityLuna]

It’s more steampunk than cyberpunk to me tho

[@DJKLProductions]

More like Teslapunk…

[@spxdesu]

Except it actually worked on release

[@roymackenzie-jy4lr]

​@EonityLuna what makes it steampunk?

[@cooltwittertag]

​@@roymackenzie-jy4lrits an industrial era transportation system and the infrastructure clearly shows that, which is also the exact type of design language to exist in steampunk fiction

[@BlackSlimShady]

I was ready to be sad with the Tuffi story but its heartwarming in the end! So good

[@DrLamalama]

"We tortured an animal so it jumped out of a driving train into a river, and instead of reflecting and reconsidering our actions with animals and cruelty in circuses, we make it our mascot and still laugh about it years later." Whats so heartwarming about that? That the elephant did not die out of pure luck?

[@benibf]

I got to ride the Schwebebahn for the first time earlier this month, and it was an absolute blast. That said, there is pretty much no scenario today in which such a system would make sense over a regular elevated train. Let's keep it this way: let other cities build more suitable transit systems, thereby also leaving the Schwebebahn unique and a big tourist draw for Wuppertal.

[@patta8388]

Yes there is. But it makes only sense in a city with the topography like Wuppertal.

[@diedampfbrasse98]

not entirely true, the footprint and visual obstruction of a modern suspended monorail is even smaller then that of a common elevated railway and a suspended monrail allows for considerable tighter corners/turns then normal monorails and common railway. And there are a couple of places with narrow passages were that matters enough to make it a reasonable choice. 5 modern variants of suspended monorails exist these days, all a version of the H-Bahn system ... yes, a tiny number, but this niche solution has its place whenever you need a transit system navigating a narrow and curvy part in your city without obstructing traffic on roads at the same time.

[@TrimeshSZ]

There are a couple of suspended monorails in Japan - one in Kanagawa and the other in Chiba, although these are based on the French SAFEGE design. There is also the Siemens SIPEM system (aka H-Bahn) with two installations - both in North Rhine-Westphalia - one at Dortmund university and the other at Düsseldorf Airport.

[@MaxSnowDude]

maglev is being built in japan

[@Yay295]

A new suspended monorail was also completed in Wuhan, China in 2023.

[@hajotge12]

That accident with the Elephant ... I was always astonished by how lucky that Elephant was, as he fell into the river ... until I was in Wuppertal. :) The elephant had hardly a chance to NOT fall into the river since the Schwebebahn runs above the river for 99% of the ride. Puzzle solved :D

[@forthbrdge6162]

I am hoping to ride this some day. I rode the Chiba suspended monorail last summer, and plan to ride the Shonan-Enoshima monorail in early 2025. Perhaps a 2026 trip…

[@MindTheMap]

You could hit Germany's suspended railway triangle: There is this one Wuppertal, one in Düsseldorf not far away from Wuppertal and one in Dortmund as well.

[@forthbrdge6162]

Was the river level up during filming? It looked like the bottom of several supports were partially submerged.

[@MindTheMap]

From my understanding those are pretty high levels of water. The original construction happened in the summer months as the water level is much lower then.

[@matome3050]

Yes. The elephant statue usually sits dry on a rock in the river.

[@boatman909]

I remember travelling around Wuppertal on the Schwebebahn during the mid 1960’s. It’s quite an experience.

[@MindTheMap]

Happy Winter Time & Holiday Season everyone, I hope you guys are doing well :) -Lukas

[@benedictdesilva6677]

Excellently informative narrative. Suggestion: If in future you're tempted to translate the German conceptual term _Agglomeration_ into English, then use _conurbation_ instead of _agglomeration_ - which more aptly reflects the customary (gebräuchlichere) technical usage in an urban geographic context. Conurbation better describes the merging of multiple urban entities into one continuous urban area, viz. Wuppertal , whereas agglomeration better reflects the expansive development of a unitary municipality into a "Ballungsraum." ...

[@SabotsLibres]

When I was about 7, I was given a book about trains and it featured the Schwebebahn which absolutely fascinated me; about fifteen years later, I actually got to ride on it (and got into trouble because being used to British trains and buses, had never before seen the idea of stamping the ticket when getting onto the train or bus...). Ironically, when I lived in Germany in the late 2000s, I never visited Wuppertal, despite only being about an hour's drive away. Now, forty years after my first ride, this video has given me a desire to return to Germany and ride it again.

[@newsxn]

The coolest thing. Great video

[@fafileblond9202]

The best video I've ever seen on the subject. ❤

[@tech-wombat]

Great video essay. Liked it very much!

[@MervynPartin]

Regrettably, I shall probably not be able to ride on this fascinating Schwebebahn. I have learnt more in this video than ever before and was never aware of the incidents like the elephant or so much of the line's history.. This was a very enjoyable video. 👍

[@dergruneesel930]

Mir egal ob hier alle Englische Kommentare schreiben. Das ist das beste Video, jetzt kann ich in japan die zwei schwebebahnen fahren (und irgendwann mal die in Dortmund) dann kann ich sagen ich hab alle auf der welt gefahren. Geiles video

[@plattenschieber]

Wo in Japan sind die Bahnen denn?

[@dergruneesel930]

@plattenschieber Tokyo

[@ericleroyfr]

Lol Elon Gated... Who says Germans aren't funny

[@martinprince8253]

We say that. We have an image to protect

[@neromastic4512]

Now this method of transportation I would take over my car. Looks awesome,has History and you have nice buildings and nature to look around.

[@markluker3878]

Fantastic video. Hoping to visit the Wuppertal one day.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you Mark!

[@robinhillyard6187]

Back in 1979, I visited Wuppertal (my birthplace) just to ride the Schwebebahn. I was at a conference in Bochum. I took the train. When I asked for the Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof, the ticket guy yelled at me ("Kein Hauptbahnhof bis Wuppertal") and I had to go to the back of the queue. Meanwhile, I guessed to go to Elberfeld (a good guess). I'm happy to see from your map that there is a Hauptbahnhof now.

[@brianmacadam4793]

I took a trip on the Schwebebahn when I visited Wuppertal for work, interesting and worthwhile

[@Orodreth888]

We honestly need more of these, even if it is just between a few towns. It's just great stuff, especially for the view you get if you go to or from work.

[@tiagoinka]

An high quality deep dive into this unexpected german wonder!

[@huw3851]

I've seen this monorail mentioned elsewhere but I never realised how long it was. I'm not nerdy about these things but I'd quite like to ride it one day.

[@Pahricida]

This thing is the O.G. last time I rode it I was still a kid. Funnily enough we also have a smaller suspended monorail in Düsseldorf, which is basically next door that runs around the airport train stations.

[@EwenorKvM]

6:22 lmao „which made bohring tunnels almost impossible” 😂😂😂 You mean “drilling” Great video though 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 A pity though you didn’t mention Friedrich Engels in the industrialization section.

[@lawrence18uk]

I can't imagine such a scheme being adopted today, people would object to the intrusion into the ambience of the river - but by the looks of things it had already been overrun by then. So many systems we rely on these days would never get built nowadays. I wonder how we live with that?

[@richiehoyt8487]

Such a railway wouldn't be allowed in a million years in Ireland - it's all you can do just to put a dog~house in your back garden, here!

[@fgaviator]

The ruined river environment is clearly one of the drawbacks - and such an invasive construction along many kilometers of the river wouldn't be allowed today. Probably didn't matter much 100 years ago, when it was an industrial town, and rivers in major cities were dirty and ugly. But since then, many similar cities have cleaned up their rivers and created nice, sometimes idyllic river walks. That's not quite possible in Wuppertal. But the Schebebahn has become an icon. Asking to remove or move the construction is like suggesting Paris could remove its Eiffel tower. It's not gonna happen. It is what it is now.

[@speckkatze]

@@fgaviator The Wupper especially was extremely dirty due to the textile industry along the river dumping all sorts of chemicals into it, actually resulting in it being the most polluted river in Germany.

[@MichaelfromtheGraves]

Simply building elevated rail over the river still would have blocked the view of the water. Raising the track even higher let's more light in and preserves the views. Combined with the graceful supports, I think this was the perfect solution and it's why it still runs today.

[@SimsandThings]

I've been on the Schwebebahn twice, and it was so cool

[@neilmadden625]

I got to ride it earlier this year with my kids fulfilling a long-held ambition. Great experience but I would ask the transit authorities to make the ticketing simpler. I was there with a German friend from Essen and even he found buying the right ticket from the machine really confusing. For other visitors thinking of making the trip Wuppertal zoo is terrific.

[@DJKLProductions]

The suspension railway can be used with normal local transport tickets, either with those from the local transport association or with the DeutschlandTicket. Didn't you have one?

[@76_199]

@@DJKLProductions I guess we're talking "visiting from abroad". Deutschlandticket is sold for a year, so that wouldn't check out. The best option could have been the SchönerTagTicket NRW, but you need some experience to know that (a) it exists and (b) how to actually buy one from a ticket machine. Even locals have trouble with that.

[@DJKLProductions]

@@76_199 It's a monthly subscription that can be cancelled until the 10th of each month.

[@tincheck3758]

This is one of the few times i watched 1 video and subbed. Suprised u only have 25k subs judging by the quality. great vid👍

[@germanjetlag]

I would like to note: On the Memorial of the 1999 incident at the (I think) Robert-Daum-Platz states that *5 People died, not 4. Minor nitpick, but the video is still a great video-essay on the Schwebebahn!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you! Bad and unnecessary mistake, I even saw a photo of the memorial plaque you are talking about.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Love the portentous Slow~Mo at the start. Bravo ragazzo!

[@merobo5066]

Wuppertal's Schwebebahn has a small relative in Dresden, too. That one is a funicular, also based on Langen's system

[@michasosnowski5918]

Cool idea. The ony thing I would complain is about how it looks. Some makeover could help here :)

[@kennethvenezia4400]

Elberfeld! I believe that's where Bayer pharmaceutical company invented or manufactured heroin. Are they still making it? I adopted a retired drug dog, but he still has a habit. I need to help him out. Almost forgot. We really enjoyed your video. 😊 Thanks for the upload.

[@76_199]

The factory is still there, and you're right, but rather obviously they're not making it anymore (and haven't been for a rather long time). What race is your dog?

[@Razzkolnikow]

We Wuppertaler love to ride the Schwebebahn, partly bc Wuppertal also is the city of stairs with more than 500 of it, which can be quite exhausting.

[@dr.acosta1312]

die bahn überwindet auf der gesasmten strecke keine steigung, wie auch? wie soll das bitte mit treppen helfen? Von den 500 Treppen sind bestimmt schon 20 für die stationen eingerechnet ^^

[@royharkins7066]

I wish I’d known about this when I was based in Germany…totally fascinating ❤

[@Pietie-q4b]

Ich liebe Wuppertal!

[@MrSaemichlaus]

I'm happy to see it's alive and well. Very interesting how it had unique reasons to be built, which still persist to this day. I would've thought maintenance is a nightmare, because there's so much steel to be inspected and repainted. Would be even nicer if you could walk or bike on a path on top of it, but probably not structurally safe enough without some sort of people control.

[@alanperry8676]

Are you sure the Schwebebahn was only open on weekends in 2020? I was there at the end of Jan '20 on a Friday and it was running. Or was it after CoVID when it went to weekend-only operations?

[@johnoneill5661]

I have had the pleasure to travel on this amazing system👍👍👍

[@goatfiddler8384]

I've been on the one in Japan, they are an interesting ride.

[@brucegoatly]

Fascinating video - thanks!

[@BWB_Cubing]

11:24 lemme tell you, those 70% are more like 40%, like idk how many minutes late still count as on time somehow

[@CubbyTech]

I was hoping you were going to share more facts of the Schwebebahn - like how many support towers (pairs) and how often they need to be painted or replaced. What's a train's maximum capacity? Why does it only take 20 hours to learn to drive them?

[@mirsadkeric5757]

For me it's perfect as a solution for many cities and would love to see it in Belgrade. Great video and all the best the future

[@NSBarnett]

What does he say at (2:35)? “...after klarliff by workers on the track to the front bogie off the roof of the car.” Anyone?

[@MindTheMap]

It's "Railcar 4 plunged into the Wupper after a claw left by workers on the track tore the front bogie off the roof of the car."

[@whitelionstudios1786]

There is a route in Trainz 2019 for the Schwebebahn, though the only rolling stock is the Kaiserwagen lol.

[@tamarren6575]

Ze Gerrrman English is strong here, Hans, get ze Flammenwerfer!

[@moritzheintze7615]

Hi, nice summary. What remains a mystery to me: Why was a Hochban (elevated railway) not considered like in other major cities at the time? At least in the long run it would have saved costs, relying on common rolling stock.

[@techmage89]

In general, it's significantly more expensive to build and maintain than a conventional railway, and less flexible (can't carry a lot of bulk freight, for example, and switching is very complex if you want to build branch lines). The particular geography and development patterns of Wuppital meant there wasn't space for a conventional railway, but this could be built instead and still serve the most developed areas immediately around the river. There may be other cities where similar technology could work, but it probably requires a highly developed linear city along a river to be the most effective solution.

[@edspace.]

I wonder if more places will start building schwebabahn lines. Perhaps even between cities.

[@DJKLProductions]

There are hardly any places where this makes sense, whether for geographical or financial reasons.

[@edspace.]

@@DJKLProductions A fair point, I guess more conventional railways would be a more cost-effective solution in most places.

[@RamanSg]

Wuppertal Schwebebahn was the inspiration behind the stunning visual of the city of the 'Metropolis' in the movie 'Metropolis', released in 1927 directed by Fritz Lang. This hanging transit system came into being in 1901 in Wuppertal.

[@April2058]

Its truly unique. Have wanted to ride it since the 1990s. I doubt if an environmental assessment would allow for such development these days. This said the Schwebebahn should be preserved and great to see that modern upgrades have been made.

[@RubenKelevra]

11:20 this number is wrong. This would suggest that trains which are in the 70% section are actually arriving, which is not the case. You know, if a train is not arriving at all, DB claims it's on time and it's not counted as delayed. So if a train gets canceled, it's counted as being on time. 🥲

[@KamelzeI]

Auch wenn ich jetzt Job Technisch nach Remscheid gezogen bin fühle ich ich immer noch als Wuppertaler! Ich vermisse die Schwebebahn 😕

[@snailie]

Another fun fact about the Schwebebahn: In terms of public transport, it is actually classified as a "Stadtbahn", similar to the rather common S-Bahn services of e.g. Berlin or Hamburg or even U-Bahn services!

[@MindTheMap]

Yes! I think officially it is the S60.

[@snailie]

@@MindTheMap Actually it's the U60, but in common use, the U is skipped... maybe to avoid confusion, maybe just to shorten things... although the Schwebebahn is commonly never referred to as "the 60" or "route 60", it's simply the Schwebebahn.

[@elin0s]

used to be my daily commute for years. Right now i live in the outerparts of Wuppertal so i dont need it anymore for daily stuff

[@DemocracyEnjoyerHoI4]

In Wuppertal you can play this funny game called "guess which house was bombed out?" you can spot them by distinguishing between the modern built houses and the old ones.

[@zegamerz1980]

When I visited Wuppertal with my wife, I was fascinated by this hanging train and how it was designed. To this day, I am still wondering why it has not been adopted in more cities: more economical to build than a metro, more effective than a tram or a bus (no traffic) you can have it hanging over any kind of street. Unless the system is extremely expensive to maintain, it beats any other mode of transportation in all aspects... and to be honest, it is quite good looking too...

[@barbarossarotbart]

In most cases a metro or a tram is less expansive and less difficult to build.

[@zsoltfarkasharaszti4261]

11:25 now compare it to MÁV(Hungarian Railway company) where times when a train is on time is very low.

[@maniak1768]

Nice video. I have but one question: why is there a suspended monorail Emoji ? You can count the amount of systems worldwide on a single hand. Not exactly an Emoji most people need in their daily lives. Unless they live in Wuppertal, of course.

[@MindTheMap]

There are about 12 suspended monorails world wide making it an incredible niche emoji indeed. It is regularly amongst the least used emoji. Every emoji has to be approved by the Unicode Consortium, I would guess someone made a pitch arguing that other obscure modes of transportation are represented as well (such as the aerial tramway) so why not also the suspended monorail.

[@johnrickard8512]

A most unique light rail system for a most unique problem. I do find it amusing whenever solutions get invented only to find their problem shortly thereafter.

[@acmenipponair]

The major reason the Eugen Lang version of the suspended Monorail isn't a worldwide success is simply, that there are other more simple variants working fine. Japan for example has several monorails that work like the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, for example in Chiba and in Enoshima. But they adopted the system to make it more flexible: When Langen was building his version, the electro motor had to be big and is used as a counter weight for the train. That's why unlike other systems the rail itself is OVER the monorail and only the car is hanging. The japanese versions have a system where the wheels are capted inside the track, which is unlike the tracks of the Wuppertal Bahn not just a steel beam, but a real steel frame beam, where also the electric part is inside. More complicated to produce, but much easier to maintain as you only have to replace the whole beam when it's broken, without any nuts. Also: the system of the Japanese allows something, the system in Wuppertal only has for the maintainance depot: switches and therefore a. the possibility to divert lines and b. as they have switches before and after several stations, they can when they need to do maintainance close a part of the system without having to suspend the whole system. That's why when they build Monorails these days, they don't build them in the Eugen Lang style anymore

[@da1l616]

As far as i know it is currently the only proper suspended monorail in the world. The others have sets of two parallel wheels on each bogie running on two tracks hidden within the weather protective casing.

[@georgobergfell]

The other systems also use rubber tires. Wuppertal Uses steel wheels just like other railways.

[@Doc_Rainbow]

Düsseldorf Airport and Dresden University got a Smaller but still Public Transporting Schwebebahn

[@SiqueScarface]

There are more: Schwebefähre Osten, Schwebefähre Rendsburg, Schwebebahn Dresden. All built around the same time by Eugen Langen. And none with more than two stations.

[@CocoChloéCocoChloé]

Wo sind meine Wuppertaler 🫣

[@schnickschnackschnuck615]

Hallo aus Unterbarmen ❤

[@audiencesmember]

It's gorgeous!

[@micha_el_]

Today I learned the milk I poured over my cereal throughout my childhood was named after an elephant who jumped off a suspension railway.

[@Jakob-l7p]

Love yor content. Id be happy to see content about the stadtbahn rheinruhr .As live there aswell i could even halp you with that.

[@lukas.brinias]

Well, I would argue Wuppertal's most famous invention being Heroin (diacetylmorphine). Felix Hoffman synthesized it just 11 days after synthesizing Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) for the first time in 1897 at Bayer in Elberfeld.

[@MindTheMap]

Also a good call and great story! I think I got the inventions from Wuppertal's official website, I guess they preferred mentioning Aspirin over Heroin...

[@jakubholic8769]

I have taken a ride once and realy enjoyed it. It was probably one of the cheapest ways to create a new and fast transport system in this city, without impact on buildings. It was a genius idea. The only place which wouldn't be done today, is the parti where the route climbs up away from the river Wupper. It goes in height of second floor and it's windows - I think, it wouldn't be accepted today. But it is beautiful technical monument/structure. And it pulls tourist there too. Luckily was it more succesful, than Transrapid Schwebebahn, which stopped on more political, than technical issues.

[@chriswatson2407]

It is very strange to not stop at road junctions and float above the traffic.

[@camnewtonvideography]

10:35 Great place for people on their on own to sit. Why are they single seat benches so far apart? xD

[@Sam_Green____4114]

Why has it not caught on elsewhere in other cities ? It's brilliant for beating traffic !

[@knilschbromen7147]

I'm from Wuppertal, and it's a burning shame that the city still prioritizes cars over all other modes of transportation. Especially in a valley like this, where space is a rare commodity, it makes no sense at all to invite more cars. They are the least space efficient way to get around. Trains are somewhat unreliable and only take you to a few places, the Schwebebahn is great but often overcrowded, buses inevitably get stuck in car traffic and run late _very_ often, and cycling infrastructure, aside from the Nordbahntrasse, is practically non-existent. They keep building parking garages in the city center, and a few years ago converted parts of the Hauptbahnhof into one disturbingly massive intersection. Stuck in the mindset of the 60s.

[@ЦзинКэ-ы5х]

This is one of the numerous examples of Germany's inability to realize its technological potential. Schwebebahn is an engineering miracle, yet both the german government and businesses failed to propagate it outside of Germany. Not so long ago, Chinese manufacturers developed and presented new monorail technology, extremely cheap and extremely fast to build - a pilot project in Optics Valley, with a glass bottom and without a machinist (fully automated).

[@cooltwittertag]

Monorails are largely useless in germany. There are no cities let alone towns that could benefit from a new schwebebahn being built. Its a very niche product. Chinese cities like chongqing can make use of monorails, in germany its not really a useful technology. If you want to talk about wasted potential, lets talk about the Maglev, fiber internet and many other technologies that the CDU systematically terminated before they could take off.

[@ЦзинКэ-ы5х]

@@cooltwittertag >Monorails are largely useless in germany. Yeah, I know, anything more complicated than a fax has no place in Germany. >There are no cities let alone towns that could benefit from a new schwebebahn being built. Its a very niche product. Absolutely. Cities on a river, cities with narrow streets, or any other kind of rough and uneven terrain are extremely rare (no). >Chinese cities like chongqing can make use of monorails, in germany its not really a useful technology. Except it was more recent and newer technology, than the one used in Chongqing. They've built a 10.5km line with 6 stations for only approximately US$341 million and 7 months, using pre-fabricated parts. What kind of transportation system can Germany offer for that money and time? Maybe instead of making idiotic excuses a-la "le gadgetbahn" germans should have sat down, think, and done something, so they would be able to produce more technological wonders domestically and for foreign buyers?

[@cooltwittertag]

@ЦзинКэ-ы5х maybe instead of throwing around personal insults you shouldve come up with an actual argument and proof instead of just saying "no akchyually" to everything. But thatd be too hard for a terminally online redditor right?

[@ЦзинКэ-ы5х]

@@cooltwittertag proof of what? Also, redditors hate monorails, so you clearly missed here.

[@cooltwittertag]

@ЦзинКэ-ы5х i wouldnt know im not a redditor but you sure talk like one If you know of cities that can use a suspended monorail setup, tell me. Because all I see is you screaming "nooooo monorails are useful!!!!" without giving me any situation where they would be more useful than an alternative here in germany. All you are doing is screaming into the void, arguing with literally nothing as evidence.

[@mm-yt8sf]

why did they not consider building an elevated track over the river....so, like the hanging train but the train would be on the winding track instead of under it. the stations would have to be higher since people would be getting off higher but technology was more used to weight pressing down on a surface than hanging from one...

[@jackiebarnes2317]

This made me emotional

[@sugroj]

Great video. I'm curious what you mean by "boring tunnels" on 6:21.

[@MindTheMap]

Might be a Germanism, I just talk about how digging/creating tunnels would be too difficult due to the hard rock. I assumed that "boring a tunnel" means excavating a tunnel.

[@jamesrea329]

No, boring a tunnel is perfectly good English. I immediately understood what you meant.

[@Talon5516-tx3ih]

I think the best name is Danglebahn. Thanks Tim Traveller. It's cool, but there are good reasons why other cities never lined up to copy this. The biggest problem is that because it's supported from above it needs two big wide supports either side - so actually it's pretty space inefficient. A simple elevated railway could have been built with single support pillars in the middle of the river (ugly, but not worse) and then the whole structure only needs to be wide enough for the two tracks. There would be big cost savings for not using proprietary technology and the trains could come off the elevated section at the ends onto regular tram or train tracks.

[@ThisIsWideAngle]

Have you seen how an elevated railway in the nineteenth century was build? The Wupper does look quite small, but especially before the 1980s, when the dam of the Wuppertalsperre was finisched, it was very prone to flooding. Building structures into the river would have worsen this problem. Also the tracks continue above streets and the factor to be independent of the crowded traffic was a huge benefit of the reliability, as mentioned in the video. And finally and not mentioned in the video. there are also huge benefits in the suspended design with tight turns, because due to the forces the train tilts naturally and comfortably for the passengers. And the the design following the Wupper is curved constantly.

[@haraldselke]

It could have been built with single pillars in the middle - which was in fact the technique they used for a short piece of track that they built in Berlin before the system in Wuppertal was built. However, for Wuppertal - where most of the track runs above the river and space considerations obviously weren‘t that important, the designers of the system went for the solution with two supports on the river banks.

[@tintin_999]

A bigger problem is that it is effectively a monorail where switching tracks means moving the entire track. This leads to much lower capacity than a regular train track. I've got to wonder if it is possible to use two conical wheels between two rails, and switch tracks using a moving steel structure with rails on it? (It is much easier to move strong but light steel rails rather than the concrete beams that suspended railways with rubber tires run on). With the Wuppertal track as the wheel is double flanged and hangs around a single rail, to switch tracks... I don't know, but I suspect it is easier to switch on a two rail system rather than a one rail system somewhow).

[@jimeditorial]

Amazing technology. When I think of Wuppertal, this is what I imagine