At the end of the 19th Century when Wuppertal was expanding it became obvious that a railway was necessary; but city planners faced a massive challenge, going down was not possible because of rocks and water, running on the surface meant compounding an already congested road system, Eugen Langen then proposed the only viable option and designed an innovative aerial rail. What was originally dubbed as an insane enterprise, the 13.5km long suspended rail, Wuppertaler Schwebebhan, runs 12m off the ground and astonishing 10km of rail runs above the River Wupper.
On the 24 October 1900, Kaiser Willhelm II, traveled on the maiden trip from Döppersberg (Elberfeld Centre) to Vohwinkel. Today, 120 years later, the fully digitised suspension rail moves 20 million people a year never getting snowed in and offering some of the best views of Wuppertal’s surrounding landscape.
Crazy how the insane ideas always seem to be the best ones!
