WUPPERTAL SUSPENSION RAILWAY: [ Second time lucky! ] The Schwebebahn suspended monorail. 

I live also in Wuppertal, Elberfeld region 😊

@@stevenmcstone1008 Barmen 👍

I never knew Germans only need five hours of sleep per night

@@DdW85 Now you know

If you liked Metropolis you can see the original 'robot' at the toy museum in Figures, Spain.

Lucky the elephant didn't get poisoned! Don't think it would have survived in this drought year by the look of it.

Thanks for this. What a great vehicle. Reminds me of the old Pullman carriages in the UK.

The Kaiserwagen will not be running again until spring 2024.

@@Michael_from_EU_Germany thank you for the information.

Simple, they're only the most feasible option in very rare and specific circumstances. Wuppertal happens to meet those criteria, but it's pretty unique in that regard. There was no room to put rails on the ground, no room for trams because the streets were already congested, the ground wasn't suitable for an underground, and buses were slow because of the already mentioned congested streets. The only place to realistically put any additional part of infrastructure was above the river and - in some parts - above the main road. In many other cities, regular elevated rail is enough for that. However, Wuppertal is an unusually long-stretched city that lies in a narrow and winding river valley, so the tracks need to take many curves along the route. Therefore, the concept of the suspended monorail was chosen because it can travel through the many bends and curves of the tracks a lot faster than traditional elevated rail, since the carriages swing outward while passing through curves. That's one of the key factors that made the concept feasible here, but makes it not worth it in other places where tracks have less curves or where there's room for transportation on the ground.

The Schwebebahn is from 1901, the Shonan Monorail from 1970. For 1901 it was way before its time.

@@phager Yes, you are right there. Actually I thought the Shonan monorail was much more recent than 1970??

The future was built over 120 years ago.

It's not only a tourist attraction. Most of Wuppertals locals use it as a normal public transportation. When the Schwebebahn is out of service the traffic is horrible.

The only similar monorail is the Shonan Monorail in Japan. These are completely integrated to the infrastructures of the cities. The other ones I know are much more shorter just for use as a lift or connect only two stations.

@@guemit82 i know of the Japanese one, they built it through sky scrapers. through them.

I was born there 76 years ago and it was then a place with much greenery and friendly people and a good place to live. Much has changed.

It's one of the greenest cities in Germany. 1/3 of Wuppertal is a forest, park or playground. It doesn't matter where in wuppertal you are, with 15 minutes of walking you can get to those places.

Go to the main street of any city with a population of 350,000 people, and you're most likely not gonna find a green paradise. Wuppertal is a former industrial city, of course it's not gonna be an oasis. It was also heavily bombed during WW2, hence the many post-war buildings

Actually trams and buses are a huge pain in teh ass in Wuppertal. Roads are narrow and road slopes are steep.

They actually wouldn't be more practical here, there's a reason the Schwebebahn was built. There was no room left on the streets, they were (and still are) absolutely crammed and heavily congested, since Wuppertal is a very long-stretched city in a river valley, meaning there's basically only one long main road going from one end to the other, that absolutely everyone has to use. Trams and buses would've just been stuck in traffic as well, the only place to put additional transportation was above the river and main road, since the ground is unsuitable for a subway.

Please explain

Black painted trains with yellow headlights and a lot of fog should do it 😁 And of course the track ends at the Wayne Tower

3 Euros one tour. That's the normal single ticket for Schwebebahn and Bus. No difference. There are also tickets for the whole Day. This is 7.30 Euros.

@@chico11mbit Thanks

There is a driver on board

Yes, from 9am to 6pm every day

Yes, it's normal, fare integrated public transport, so the 9-Euro ticket was valid on it.