Wuppertal Suspension Railway (Schwebebahn)
Ferrocarril suspendido de Wuppertal (Schwebebahn)
- Date
- 1 de marzo de 1901 · confidence high
- Place
- Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Credited to
- Eugen Langen
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A 13 km electric suspended monorail above the Wupper river and the streets of Wuppertal, with cars hanging from a beam. Opened in 1901, it still operates and is the oldest suspended monorail system in operation.
Eugen Langen, co-inventor of the Otto-Langen gas engine, proposed it around 1893; the 1900 tests included Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Lartigue monorail of Listowel (Ireland, 1888) was earlier but of a different type.
What it led to
- urban and airport monorails
- urban transport without occupying ground space in narrow valleys