The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn

One of the most remarkable public transport systems in the world can be found in Wuppertal, a twenty minute train ride away from Dusseldorf. Wuppertal offers a fascinating glimpse at how urban transport systems might have developed if they had taken a different path.

The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn is a suspended railway system developed in the late 19th century at a time when cities across Europe were experimenting with innovative new solutions to traffic congestion. The construction of the first section of the Schwebebahn began in 1898 and received the official seal of approval when Kaiser Wilhelm II took a ride in October 1900, before public operation began in March 1901.

To put this into context, the first electric trains appeared on the City and South London Railway in 1890; the first electric elevated railway opened in Liverpool in 1893; and the regular operation of electric trams began in Croydon in 1901.

A Schwebebahn train approaches the terminus at Vohwinkel

The ingenuity of the Schwebebahn was that it could connect the urban centres of Barmen and Elberfeld with the industrial developments along the Wupper Valley without requiring widespread demolition and re-construction. Instead, it largely followed the course of the Wupper river. The line reached its full extent in June 1903, stretching just over eight miles on a run between Vohwinkel and Oberbarmen, of which six miles are over water.

Today, a ride on the Schwebebahn from end to end takes 30 minutes. The journey takes in 20 stations and provides a fascinating view of the industrial complexes of the Wupper valley, including the Bayer plant where Aspirin was invented and first manufactured. There is a terrific audioguide produced by the city that provides a running commentary as you travel and you can pick up English language line guides from the Tourist information centre (which also sells a range of Schwebebahn themed items including masks, pencils, models and magnets).

This month marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most famous episodes in the history of the railway. A circus was in town with a particularly adventurous young elephant named Tuffi and someone had the bright idea of taking her for a ride on the Schwebebahn. It is thought that Tuffi was disturbed by the sound of the Schwebebahn or the flashes of the cameras from the press pack and lost control. The elephant broke through the windows and plunged into the river below. Amazingly, the elephant emerged with just a few scratches to show for her ordeal.

A Schwebebahn train crosses Bundesstraße 7 near Ohligsmühle station

I have been fascinated by the Schwebebahn ever since I first stumbled across a photo, so took great delight in the opportunity to ride the Schwebebahn and take some photographs along the route. I started my journey at Hauptbahnhof (Döppersberg) which is a few minutes walk from the main railway station. You can’t miss it – the overhead line runs straight over the pedestrianised walkway into the shopping centre.

At first it seems strange to be standing on a platform with no tracks below you, but soon you don’t think anything more of it. The train glided in to the station and I stepped aboard. There was a gentle swing to the carriage in the platform, a bit like stepping into a cable car. Travelling on the Schwebebahn feels perfectly normal, albeit with much better views than you usually get from ground level transport.

The seats at the end of the carriage offer a particularly impressive view looking back at the track you have just covered and the sight of trains passing in the opposite direction. It was no surprise to discover that these were a popular choice with locals and tourists. I was far from alone in making the trip to see the Schwebebahn, with plenty of other tourists around taking photographs. There is a bit of variety in the train liveries to capture, including one delivering a public message about a coronavirus with a mask around the driver’s cab!

A Schwebebahn train above the Wupper river on the approach to Oberbarmen

As a photographer there are many interesting locations. I liked the bridge over the road near Ohligsmühle (with a viewpoint on a pedestrian bridge running parallel to the line), the station at Kluse (especially with the station illuminated in the blue hour), the art nouveau styled Werther Brücke station (with listed bridge from 1902 underneath) and the line above the Wupper river on the approach to Oberbarmen.

One classic shot that I wasn’t able to reproduce can be tried at Sonnborner/Friedrich-Ebert Straße near Zoo/Stadion where the mainline railway runs over the top of the Schwebebahn. If you get lucky there is a shot to be had with trains of both types, though not the trams or zeppelins that appear in historic pictures!

A new class of Schwebebahn trains, Generation 15, were introduced in November 2015 with a pale blue livery and soon received the nickname of ‘blaues wunder’ (blue wonder). The 31 articulated trains were built by Vossloh Kiepe at a cost of around 120 million euros. Each train can hold up to 175 passengers (45 seated, 130 standing) and would usually run at intervals of between 3-15 minutes. However, usually does not apply right now…

A serious problem was discovered with the new trains in May 2020. The wheels are wearing out at a much faster rate than anyone would have anticipated (they looked to have the wear of 60,000 kilometres, despite only running 20,000 kilometres). The atypical wear is causing unprecedented damage to the track. In addition to this, there have been other problems with the doors and software systems. It will take time to identity and apply a fix for the wheel problems. In the meantime the local authorities are exploring legal action against the manufacturers.

A train pulls into the art nouveau styled Werther Brücke station

Ten trains have already been taken out of service and the peak frequency of trains reduced to every 6 minutes. On top of this, the Schwebebahn will only operate on weekends once the summer holidays are over (from August 12th) with a bus replacement service in its place. Testing of different wheel profiles and loads will take place while the line is out of public use, with the option of switching back to the old wheel system one of the solutions under consideration. It is expected that weekday services will not resume until Summer 2021.

I got to see the unreliability of the Schwebebahn for myself. On my first full day in Wuppertal the Schwebebahn came to a stop for an hour after a defect on one of the trains. The local press reported that they sent out another train to push it back to Oberbarmen. The next day I was trying a shot at Kluse in the blue hour but came a cropper when the service was suspended for a similar length of time. Finally, on the Sunday morning all seemed far quieter than I expected. The appearance of a double-train suggested yet another problem.

All of this is a particularly bitter pill for locals to swallow as they have already been without the Schwebebahn for nine months after a 350 metre long lengthy of power rail crashed to the ground in November 2018, narrowly missing a driver sitting at the traffic lights. A lengthy investigation and remedial works followed. Services were only been fully restored in August 2019.

A view of the Schwebebahn crossing the autobahn at Sonnborn, as seen from my train to Düsseldorf

Once the problems with the new trains are ironed out I am sure that the system will once again take up its rightful place as one of the more unusual attractions in Germany and allow a new wave of tourists to appreciate this extraordinary feat of engineering.

Practicalities

It was no surprise to learn that CNN Travel had named Wuppertal as one of the 20 best places to visit in 2020 on account of the ‘extraordinary ace up its sleeve – one of the world’s coolest rail systems’. I agree completely and thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the area.

In planning my trip I used the english language guide book ‘Wuppertal and the Suspension Railway‘ (ISBN: 978-3-89917-448-9) and the Falk Stadtplan for Wuppertal (ISBN: 978-3-82792-653-1) which covers the entirety of the line. I also used a laminated Kulturstadtplan Wuppertal (ISBN 978-3-89920-731-6) which was great for exploring the city centres in Barmen and Elberfeld, but didn’t cover the stretch of line between Westende and Vohwinkel.

It is worth getting out at the stations and seeing the wonderful variety of architecture and the local sights. The station garden at Vohwinkel also includes an example of one of the older wheelsets preserved on a plinth along with other relics from the Schwebebahn. The old gas holder in Oberbarmen (Gaskessel Wuppertal) also offers a terrific view over the area from their rooftop skywalk that includes the Schwebebahn as well as offering interesting projections inside the cylinder.

Plinthed wheelset in the station gardens at Vohwinkel

A day ticket for the system came to €7,20 at the time of my trip but I didn’t need to worry about this as my travel was included in the cost of my hotel stay. The FreeCityTicket offered by Fleming’s Express Hotel Wuppertal allowed me to use local public transport within the VRR operating area which stretches from Düsseldorf to Dortmund, as well as ride the Schwebebahn, for the duration of my stay. A similar arrangement is offered by the InterCity Hotel in Düsseldorf.

At the time of my visit the historic imperial carriage from 1900 was not in operation, but when it returns to the tracks in September 2021 you should be able to buy a ticket for one of their breakfast/coffee and cake rides You can even hire it out for weddings! Some time in the future one of the recently retired GTW72 trains may join it as the WSW has reportedly preserved one of these cars, with spare parts, as a potential museum vehicle.

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Weekend in Wuppertal

A weekend in Wuppertal might not seem the most obvious choice for a break, but gave me a chance to fulfill a long held desire to see their remarkable suspension railway in action (of which, more in the next post). I set out to see what the city had to offer in between my spells Schwebebahn spotting!

The grandeur of the neo-classical central railway station building at Wuppertal creates quite an impression on arrival. The station building is one of the oldest in Germany, dating to 1848. It had long been disfigured by the addition of an ugly modern concourse, reminiscent of that added to King’s Cross station in the 1970s. Thankfully, this was torn down in 2014 and a smart modern brick facade placed in front of the disfigured lower tier.

The neoclassical station building is one of the oldest in Germany, dating to 1848

The station certainly sets the bar high, but not far from here you find the railway administration buildings (1875) and a concert hall (1894) that is regarded as one of the best in Europe for its acoustics. A short stroll into town leads you to other impressive sights, such as the richly decorated gothic Elberfeld town hall (1895) and Jubilee fountain (1901). In addition, the old town hall is now the Von der Heydt-Museum which boasts an impressive art collection.

My first touristic stop was the Gaskessel Wuppertal in Oberbarmen which projects animations onto the walls and roof of a 1950s gas holder. It was interesting enough, but I wouldn’t say that the spectacle merits going too far out of your way. Admission also includes a small exhibition on the history of the site and a skywalk. The main chamber for the projections is massive, so no issues with social distancing there at all!

The next day I took in the Sculpture Park Waldfrieden which showcases some thrilling sculptures over 30 acres of woodland. Many of the pieces are by Tony Cragg, the British sculptor who created the park, but there are also pieces by artists such as Joan Miró, Henry Moore and Richard Deacon. The current exhibition shows off a selection of pieces by Sean Scully (until 3rd January 2021). It’s a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

The third and last of my covid-safe sights was a walk to the top of the Nützenberg, a forested park popular with hikers. At its peak is the Weyerbuschturm (1898), an observation tower which stands at an altitude of 259 metres above sea level. The tower is not open to the public, but looks great from the ground. I rather regretted the steep walk up from Westende station, but the descent of Sadowastraße was much easier with its 21% incline!

The sights of Wuppertal may not have been the primary draw, but they certainly kept me entertained in between my railway photography.

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