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61-408: [REDACTED] The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn (English: Wuppertal's Suspension Railway ) is a suspension railway in Wuppertal , Germany. The line was originally called in German : Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen (English: Single-Rail Hanging Railway, System of Eugen Langen ) named after its inventor, Eugen Langen . It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in

122-512: A live rail below the running rail. Until August 2019, the Schwebebahn used block signalling like other light- and heavy-rail systems. Signals with red, green, and yellow lights, present at every station, signalled the driver if the next block, usually continuing until the next station, was free or not. The yellow aspect was mostly used to warn about construction work ahead, while a blinking red light warned about more severe problems. Today,

183-524: A commission for the construction of an elevated railway or Hochbahn . In 1894 they chose the system of the engineer Eugen Langen of Cologne , and in 1896 the order was licensed by the City of Düsseldorf. In 2003, the Rhine Heritage Office ( Rheinisches Amt für Denkmalpflege des Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland or LVR) announced the discovery of an original section of the test route of

244-583: A desire to move to the gold standard . For this system a new unit mark was proposed equal to a drittelthaler or 1 ⁄ 3 Vereinsthaler, also equal to 1 ⁄ 2 the Austrian gulden, but decimally divided into 100 pfennig instead of the existing 120 pfennig. Combined with a gold-silver ratio of 15.5, the new mark of 5 + 5 ⁄ 9 g fine silver was therefore equivalent to 100 ⁄ 279 g fine gold. With 5 billion gold francs (equivalent to 4.05 billion gold marks) secured from France at

305-531: A number of outdoor dance choreographies in another Wim Wenders film – 2011's Pina , where some dances are also set inside the cars. The Schwebebahn is both subject and title of video work by the Turner Prize -nominated artist Darren Almond . Produced in 1995, Schwebebahn is the first of three videos that constitute his Train Trilogy. The Museum of Modern Art has a two-minute film from 1902 featuring

366-525: A patent application for a horse-drawn suspended single-rail system in 1821, and constructed a demonstration at Woolwich Arsenal , in England soon afterwards. German industrial pioneer, thinker and politician Friedrich Harkort built a demonstration track of Palmer's system in 1826, in Elberfeld, Germany, at the time commercial centre of the early industrial area Wupper Valley . The steelmill owner had

427-518: A prototype of an electric monorail in Odessa , modern-day Ukraine. In 1897, he presented a functional model of his monorail at the meeting of Russian technological society. This idea was approved by the society, and an experimental electric monorail was built in 1899. In 1900, Empress Maria Fedorovna approved the building of an 0.2 kilometres (0.12 mi) long electric monorail in Gatchina. The monorail

488-498: 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). At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes. The Schwebebahn operates within

549-504: A standard of 5 grams silver per mark. Production of 2 and 5 mark coins ceased in 1915 while 1-mark coins continued to be issued until 1916. A few 3 mark coins were minted until 1918, and 1 ⁄ 2 mark coins continued to be issued in silver until 1919. These silver coins are token or subsidiary currency for the gold mark and are therefore legal tender only up to 20 marks. However, all silver 3-mark Vereinsthaler s issued before 1871 enjoyed unlimited legal tender status even after

610-668: A test ride on 24 October 1900, is still operated on scheduled excursion services, special occasions and for charter events. The Schwebebahn is alluded to in Theodor Herzl 's 1902 utopian novel Altneuland ( The Old New Land ). For Herzl, the Schwebebahn was the ideal form of urban transport, and he imagined a large monorail built in its style in Haifa . A sequence in Peter Delpeut 's 1992 collage film Lyrical Nitrate , using film from between 1905 and 1915, features

671-613: A troy ounce of gold was worth 86.78 ℳ︁). Gold coin production ceased in 1915. 5-mark gold coins were minted only in 1877 and 1878. Gold marks are a popular choice for Latin Currency Union coin collectors. The 20 mark is the most seen and offers a variety of different types that were mass-produced and therefore can be purchased at a low premium above each coin's melt value. However, some designs are extremely elusive given that they were struck in very low mintages. The rarest type features Adolph Friedrich V with just 1,160 pieces issued by

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732-594: The Papiermark (paper mark) which suffered a serious loss of value through hyperinflation following World War I during hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic . For comparison, from 1900 to 1933, the United States adhered to a gold standard as well with the gold dollar containing 1.50463 grams (23.22 grains ) fine gold; it was therefore worth 4.198 gold marks. The monetary hegemon of the time when

793-593: The Port of Qingdao , the first phase of which was put into operation in 2021. German gold mark The German mark ( German : Goldmark [ˈɡɔltmaʁk] ; sign : ℳ︁ ) was the currency of the German Empire , which spanned from 1871 to 1918. The mark was paired with the minor unit of the pfennig (₰); 100 pfennigs were equivalent to 1 mark. The mark was on the gold standard from 1871 to 1914, but like most nations during World War I ,

854-494: The Vereinsthaler being a silver standard currency, it remained unlimited legal tender for 3 gold marks until it was demonetized in 1908. The South German gulden of 4 ⁄ 7 Vereinsthaler was converted to 1 + 5 ⁄ 7 or 1.71 gold marks. The gold-based Bremen thaler was converted directly to the mark at a rate of 1 Thaler gold = 3 + 9 ⁄ 28 or 3.32 marks. The Hamburg mark courant or currency

915-652: The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and accepts tickets issued by the VRR companies including the Deutschlandticket . The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn had a forerunner: in 1824, Henry Robinson Palmer of Britain presented a railway system which differed from all previous constructions. It was a low single-rail suspension railway on which the carriages were drawn by horses. Friedrich Harkort , a Prussian industrial entrepreneur and politician, loved

976-565: The end of the Franco-Prussian War , the new currency was launched in 1873 in the form of gold 10-mark and 20-mark coins as well as limited legal-tender silver marks and copper pfennigs. The German Empire 's conversion to the gold standard led to the same being adopted in the rest of Europe and North America, as well as the change in standard in the Latin Monetary Union from bimetallism to solely gold. Despite

1037-708: The 1920s the Port of Hamburg used a petrol powered, suspended monorail to transport luggage and freight from ocean-going vessels to a passenger depot. Very small and light weight systems have been used widely on farms to transport crops such as bananas. In the mining industry suspended monorails have been used because of their ability to descend and climb steep tunnels using rack and pinion drive. This significantly reduces cost and length of tunnels, by up to 60% in some cases, which otherwise must be at gentle gradients to suit road vehicles or conventional railways. A suspended monorail capable of carrying fully loaded 20' and 40' containers has been under construction since 2020 at

1098-601: The Berlin Mint.   Banknotes were issued by the Imperial Treasury (known as "Reichskassenschein") and the Reichsbank , as well as by the banks of some of the states. Imperial Treasury notes were issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 50 Mark, whilst Reichsbank notes were produced in denominations of 20, 50, 100 and 1000 Mark. The notes issued after 1914 are referred to as Papiermark . In Unicode,

1159-831: The German Empire removed the gold backing in August 1914, and gold coins ceased to circulate. After the fall of the Empire due to the November Revolution of 1918, the mark was succeeded by the Weimar Republic 's mark, derisively referred to as the Papiermark ( lit.   ' Paper mark ' ) due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1923. The introduction of the German mark in 1873

1220-780: The Japanese have built two successful SAFEGE lines, the Siemens Company of Germany has developed a smaller scale system similar to the SAFEGE Monorail. Aerorail of Texas and Sky Train of Florida were promoting steel-wheel versions of SAFEGE as well but both appear to have ceased trading without having installed a system. Japan would later adopt the ALWEG and SAFEGE monorail systems including the Shonan Monorail and build more transit monorails than any other country in

1281-489: The Schwebebahn uses the European Train Control System , allowing for shorter distances between trains. The supporting frame and tracks are made out of 486 pillars and bridgework sections. When the line was originally built, Anton Rieppel , head of MAN-Werk Gustavsburg, designed the structural system, which he patented. At each end of the line is a servicing depot, including a loop of track to allow

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1342-403: The Schwebebahn. Construction on the Schwebebahn began in 1898, overseen by the government's master builder, Wilhelm Feldmann. On 24 October 1900, Emperor Wilhelm II participated in a monorail trial run. In 1901 the railway came into operation. It opened in sections: the line from Kluse to Zoo/Stadion opened on 1 March, the line to the western terminus at Vohwinkel opened on 24 May; the line to

1403-632: The Schwebebahn. Rüdiger Vogler and Yella Rottländer 's characters ride the Schwebebahn in Wim Wenders 's 1974 movie Alice in the Cities ( Alice in den Städten ). It also appears in the 1992 Dutch movie The Sunday Child ( De Zondagsjongen ) by Pieter Verhoeff , in Tom Tykwer 's 2000 film The Princess and the Warrior ( Der Krieger und die Kaiserin ), and as a background to

1464-563: The Schwebebahn. A colourized and upscaled version of the 1902 film is now available and has been matched with a recent video. Some of the events in Le Feu de Wotan , a Belgian bande dessinée in the Yoko Tsuno series, take place in the Schwebebahn . The denouement of the episode of the 1972 ITC TV series The Adventurer called "I'll Get There Sometime" takes place on

1525-960: The Wuppertal Schwebebahn or H-Bahn systems in Germany. A 1.6-kilometre (0.99 mi) test track in Margao, Goa started trials in 2004, but on September 25, one employee was killed and three injured in an accident. No progress was made after the accident. In 2013, the metro was dismantled. Four new SAFEGE style suspended railway prototypes, with test tracks and vehicles, have been developed since 2010. In China three have been created, by CRRC Qingdao Sifang in Qingdao, by China Railway Science and Industry Group in Wuhan and by Zhongtang Air Rail Technology in Chengdu. A SAFEGE based test line

1586-500: The ageing GTW 72 fleet. The 31 new articulated cars were assembled by Vossloh España in Valencia , Spain, featuring a light blue livery and having cushioned seating , air conditioning , information displays , LED lights , improved disabled access , and induction motors with energy recovery during braking . The first new train was commissioned by WSW in 2015 and entered regular passenger service on 18 December 2016, at which point

1647-599: The city of Wuppertal. Wuppertal Schwebebahn has a sister suspension railway relationships with Shonan Monorail since 2018. Shonan Monorail is a suspension railway located in Kanagawa , Japan and connects the cities between Kamakura and Fujisawa . Starting in 2018, both suspension railways made a campaign of their twinning. The cars are suspended from a single rail built underneath a supporting steel frame. The cars hang on wheels which are driven by multiple electric motors operating at 600 or 750 V DC , fed from

1708-556: The cost of the reconstruction work had increased from €380 million to €480 million. On 15 December 2009, the Schwebebahn suspended its operations due to safety concerns. Several of the older support structures needed to be renewed, a process that was completed on 19 April 2010. In 2012, the Schwebebahn was closed for significant periods to allow upgrades to the system: from 7 to 21 July and 6 August to 22 October, and on weekends in September (15/16) and November (10/11). The modernization

1769-424: The eastern terminus at Oberbarmen opened on 27 June 1903. Around 19,200 tonnes (18,900 long tons; 21,200 short tons) of steel were used to produce the supporting frame and the stations. The construction cost 16 million gold marks . The railway was closed owing to severe damage during World War II , but reopened in 1946. The Schwebebahn carries approximately 80,000 passengers through the city per weekday. Since 1997,

1830-685: The end of the decade, in 1969, a prototype test track of track of the Vero Monocab personal rapid transit was built in Texas. This design was sold to and developed by Rohr, Inc. as the ROMAG system with a new test track built in California. Based on another new design using small capacity cars, the Jetrail system opened in 1970 at Dallas Love Field Airport taking passengers from a carpark to

1891-515: The factory of Otto and Langen, now Deutz . The official name was Anlage einer elektrischen Hochbahn (Schwebebahn), System Eugen Langen Köln or Electrical Elevated Railroad ("Floating tram") Installation, System Eugen Langen Cologne . The installation and stations were built by three companies, among them the company of Friedrich Harkort. In 1901 the first track of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn opened, and still runs today. In 1903 it

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1952-478: The first track opened in 1901. The railway line is credited with growth of the original cities and their eventual merger into Wuppertal. The Schwebebahn is still in use as a local public transport line, moving 25 million passengers annually, per the 2008 annual report. New rail cars were ordered in 2015, called Generation 15, and the first new car went into service in December 2016. The Schwebebahn runs along

2013-421: The gold mark was in use, however, was the pound sterling , with the sovereign (£1) being valued at 20.43 gold marks. World War I reparations owed by Germany were stated in gold reserves in 1921, 1929 and 1931; this was the victorious Allies' response to their fear that vanquished Germany might try to pay off the obligation in paper currency. The actual amount of reparations that Germany was obliged to pay out

2074-616: The grounds of the Daft Electric Company in Greenville , New Jersey, in 1886. It was built out of lightweight steel construction and worked well, but was never expanded. The design of the rail-frame appears to have influenced Eugen Langen , as his Wuppertal Schwebebahn framing bears a remarkable likeness to the Enos construction. In March 1895, Russian engineer Ippolit Romanov (originally from Tbilisi , Georgia) built

2135-656: The idea. He saw big advantages for the transport of coal to the early industrialised region in and around the Wupper valley. Harkort had his own steel mill in Elberfeld ; he built a demonstration segment of the Palmer system and set it up in 1826 on the grounds of what is today the Wuppertal tax office. He tried to attract public attention to his railway plans. On 9 September 1826, the town councillors of Elberfeld met to discuss

2196-542: The individual states, using a standard design for the reverses (the Reichsadler , the eagle insignia of the German Empire) with a design specific to the state on the obverse, generally a portrait of the monarch of the kingdom or duchy (and not that of the emperor); while the free cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck each used the city's coat of arms. Occasionally commemorative coins were minted, in which cases

2257-541: The inventor of the internal-combustion engine , and probably knew the Palmer Railway. In the nearby expanding industrial zone of Wupper Valley, entrepreneurs and governors were looking for a modern urban transportation system. A cooperation between politicians and businessmen from the Barmen-Elberfeld industrial area around 1890 led to the implementation of an electric powered elevated railway system from

2318-504: The line's power supply voltage was raised from 600 to 750  V . The GTW 72 stock was gradually withdrawn from service as the new trains were introduced, the last of which operated immediately prior to the line's shutdown in November 2018. WSW announced it would not scrap any of the GTW 72 stock, but instead offer 21 of the vehicles for sale and three for free, as long as they remained in

2379-449: The monorail began service in 1988. Two further H-Bahn suspension railways were built in Germany in 1975, at Dortmund University campus and Düsseldorf airport . The Memphis Suspension Railway was opened in the United States in 1982. The Skybus Metro was a prototype suspended railway in Goa , India. The system consisted of an elevated track with the cars suspended below the track, like

2440-554: The obverse and (much more rarely) the reverse designs might depart from the usual pictorial standards. Many of the smaller states issued coins in very small numbers. Also, in general all states' coinage became very limited after the First World War began. Well-preserved examples of such low-mintage coins can be rare and valuable. The Principality of Lippe was the only state not to issue any gold coins in this period. Subsidiary silver coins were minted in .900 fineness to

2501-412: The payment of debt that Germany had acquired in the inter-war period to finance its reparation payments, paying off the principal on those debts by 1980. The interest on those debts was paid off on 3 October 2010, the 20th anniversary of German reunification . Coins of denominations between 1 pfennig and 1 mark were issued in standard designs for the whole empire, whilst those above 1 mark were issued by

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2562-744: The railway. In 2013 the Schwebebahn Simulator 2013 was launched for Windows , Mac OS X and Wii U . In this simulator, the player controls the GTW 72 . In the "Add-on Wuppertal" DLC of the OMSI 2 bus simulator, there is the option for the player to control the Schwebebahn of the newest model ( GTW 15 ), with all stations faithfully recreated. 51°16′1.52″N 7°10′53.13″E  /  51.2670889°N 7.1814250°E  / 51.2670889; 7.1814250 Suspension railway The British engineer Henry Robinson Palmer (1795–1844) filed

2623-530: The supporting frame has been largely modernized, and many stations have been reconstructed and brought up to date technically. Kluse station, at the theatre in Elberfeld, was destroyed during the Second World War and was reconstructed during the modernization phase. Work was planned to be completed in 2001, but a serious accident took place in 1999 which left five people dead and 47 injured. That, along with delivery problems, delayed completion. By 2004,

2684-482: The switch-over to the gold standard . This ended with the demonetization of the Vereinsthaler in 1908 and the introduction of the new subsidiary 3-mark coins. The 5-mark coin, however, was significantly closer in value to older thalers (and other such crown-sized coins). Gold coins were minted in .900 fineness to a standard of 2,790 mark = 1 kilogram of gold (a mark was therefore about 0.3584 g of gold;

2745-665: The terminal. It closed in 1974 when Braniff International Airways moved most of its operations to another airport. Based on the SAFEGE design, the Shonan Monorail opened in 1970 in Kamakura , Japan—part of the Greater Tokyo area. It continues in operation today. The Chiba Urban Monorail , also in Japan, is the world's largest suspension railway; it is owned and operated by Chiba Urban Monorail Co. Ltd, established in 1979, and

2806-560: The track was dismantled and rebuilt at the Texas State fairgrounds where it ran until 1964 The Ueno Zoo Monorail is a 0.3 km (0.19 mi) long suspended monorail operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei). It is similar to the Wuppertal Schwebebahn , but has rubber tires rather than steel wheels. The line began operating on December 17, 1958. After 60 years of operation service

2867-405: The trains to be turned around. The current fleet consists of 31 articulated cars. The cars are 24 metres long and have 4 doors. One carriage can seat 48 with approximately 130 standing passengers. The top speed is 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) and the average speed is 27 km/h (17 mph). The Kaiserwagen (Emperor's car), the original train used by Emperor Wilhelm II during

2928-523: The use of a "Palmer's Railway" from the Ruhr region, Hinsbeck, or Langenberg , to the Wupper valley, Elberfeld, connecting Harkort's factories. Friedrich Harkort inspected the projected route with a surveyor and a member of the town council. The plans never went ahead because of protests from the transport branch and owners of mills that were not on the routes. In 1887 the cities of Elberfeld and Barmen formed

2989-437: The vision of a coal-carrier railway between Wupper Valley and the nearby coal-mining region of Ruhr , which would connect his own factories in Elberfeld and Deilbachtal. Due to protests from mill owners that were not integrated along the line and from the transporting branch, this idea could not be executed. The first suspended railway was opened at Cheshunt , England, United Kingdom on June 25, 1825, using Palmer's patent. It

3050-488: The world. In 1956 Monorail, Incorporated built a short test track of their suspended system at Arrowhead Park in Houston, Texas. The single 55 seat car was called "Trailblazer". Its promoters claimed it could reach speeds of 160 km but no installations were ever built. The system was unusual because the driver's position was on top of the bogies, not in the same cabin as the passengers. After eight months of testing,

3111-421: The world. Being grade-separated, it is considered rapid transit . Langen first offered the technology to the cities of Berlin , Munich , and Breslau which all turned it down. However, the towns of Barmen , Elberfeld , and Vohwinkel along the banks of the river Wupper were intrigued by the technology’s ability to connect their communities. The elevated tracks and stations were built between 1897 and 1903;

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3172-583: Was also constructed in the Krasnogorsk District, Russia in 2016. As of 2021 no revenue service systems have been completed although one short system began construction in 2020 in Enshi City China and a number of other projects have been considered in both China and Russia. Aside from a multitude of indoor uses in factories, suspended railways are also used for number of outdoor applications other than passenger transportation. In

3233-849: Was built by the Scottish engineer George Bennie near Glasgow . Two propellers delivered 240 horsepower (180 kW) in a short burst for acceleration to the cruise speed of 160 km/h. It was not a true monorail as it used an overhead running rail and a guide rail below. In 1947, Lucien Chadenson became interested in the Bennie Railplane experimental line, and the Paris Metro Route 11 , which uses rubber tyres. A test track operated in Chateauneuf , south of Paris from 1958, but attracted no further interest in France. However,

3294-417: Was built to carry bricks, but as an opening stunt it carried passengers. A work, Description of the suspension railway invented by Maxwell Dick: with engravings By Maxwell Dick , published in Irvine, Scotland , in 1830, refers to an aerial tramway /cable car system. The Enos Electric Railway, an electric-powered monorail with wagons suspended from an elevated frame of open steelwork, was demonstrated in

3355-428: Was completed and the line fully reopened on 19 August 2013. In November 2018 a bus bar detached and fell to the ground but nobody was injured. Following this accident, the Schwebebahn was closed down for nearly nine months. It re-opened on 1 August 2019. On 10 November 2011, Wuppertaler Stadtwerke signed a contract with Vossloh Kiepe to supply a new fleet of Generation 15 or GTW 15 trains to gradually replace

3416-447: Was converted at 1 mark = 1.2 Imperial marks, and the Hamburg mark banco of the Bank of Hamburg was converted at 1 mark banco = 1.5 Imperial marks. From 1 January 1876 onwards, the mark and vereinsthaler became the only legal tenders . Before 1914, the mark was on a gold standard with 2790 marks equal to 1 kilogram of pure gold (1 mark = 358 mg). The term Goldmark was created later to retrospectively distinguish it from

3477-417: Was extended to the final length of 13.3 kilometres (8.3 mi). This system is still in operation as a means of public transport, moving over 20 million passengers each year. Langen also designed the Dresden Suspension Railway , a short funicular railway using the same suspended monorail technology, which opened in 1901 and is still in operation. A unique demonstration electrically powered suspension line

3538-567: Was not the 132 billion marks cited in the London Schedule of 1921 but rather the 50 billion marks stipulated in the A and B Bonds. The actual total payout from 1920 to 1931 (when payments were suspended indefinitely) was 20 billion German gold marks, worth about US$ 5 billion or £1 billion . Most of that money came from loans from New York bankers. Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, payments of reparations were officially abandoned. West Germany after World War II did not resume payment of reparations as such, but did resume

3599-508: Was suspended on 31 October 2019, with the operator citing the high costs of replacing the aging trains. In the 1960s in the United States a large number of suspended monorails systems were opened but none were for transit. These included 1962 at the LA County Fair (closed late 1990s), 1964–1965 at the New York World's Fair , in 1964 at Houston International Airport (closed 1966) and in 1966 at two Busch Gardens parks at Van Nuys in California (closed 1979), Tampa in Florida (closed 1999). At

3660-412: Was tested on 25 June 1900. The monorail carriage could be loaded with up to 25 kilograms (55 lb) and moved at a speed of 15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph). During the 1880s the German businessman and engineer Eugen Langen experimented in his Cologne sugar factory with a low one-track suspension railway system for the transportation of raw materials. He was a business partner of Nicolaus Otto ,

3721-708: Was the culmination of decades-long efforts to unify the various currencies used by the German Confederation . The Zollverein unified in 1838 the Prussian and South German currencies at a fixed rate of 1 Prussian thaler = 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 South German gulden = 16.704 g fine silver. A larger currency convention in 1857 replaced the Prussian thaler with the Vereinsthaler of 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 g fine silver, equivalent to 1 North German thaler , 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 Austro-Hungarian florins , or 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 South German gulden . Unification to this system proceeded further due to German Unification in 1871 as well as monetary conventions from 1865 to 1870 expressing

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