Aerial railroad / Schwebebahn Wuppertal (Germany)

The aerial railway at Wuppertal was opened on March 1, 1901 and has a length of 13.3 km. One trip from on terminus to the other takes about 30 minutes; the train stops at 20 stations. Technically it is a hanging monorail. The “Schwebebahn“ follows the river “Wupper“ for about 12 km; in the southern part at Vohwinkel it follows a road. The aerial railroad operates at an altitute of about 12 meters above the surface. Each of the originally 28 cars (class GTW 72) has a top speed of 60 km/h, is meters long and weighs about 22.1 tons. The trains had been delivered by MAN between 1972 and 1975 and are about to be replaced by 2014. The historic train at the end of the video is the “Kaiserwagen“, built in 1900. This unit is being used for special trips only.