The Schwebebahn operates within the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and accepts tickets issued by the VRR companies. At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway. The Schwebebahn runs along a route of 13.3 kilometres (8.3 mi), at a height of about 12 metres (39 ft) above the River Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Straße (10 kilometres or 6.2 miles) and about 8 metres (26 ft) above the valley road between Sonnborner Straße and Vohwinkel (3.3 kilometres or 2.1 miles). New rail cars were ordered in 2015, called Generation 15, and the first new car went into service in December 2016. The Schwebebahn is still in use as a normal means of local public transport, moving 25 million passengers annually, per the 2008 annual report. The railway line is credited with growth of the original cities and their eventual merger into Wuppertal. It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world and is a unique system in Germany.ĭesigned by Eugen Langen and offered first to the cities of Berlin, Munich, and Breslau who all turned it down, the installation with elevated stations was built in Barmen, Elberfeld, and Vohwinkel between 18 the first track opened in 1901. Its original name was Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen ('Eugen Langen Monorail Overhead Conveyor System'). The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn ('Wuppertal Suspension Railway') is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany.
