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The Wuppertal Suspension Railway ((ドイツ語:Wuppertaler Schwebebahn)) is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany. Its full name is "Electric Elevated Railway (Suspension Railway) Installation, Eugen Langen System" (''Anlage einer elektrischen Hochbahn (Schwebebahn), System Eugen Langen'').〔http://www.ag-sdd.de/ausgew_erw/rundgaenge/vollansicht/rundgang_5/spk_9.htm〕 It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world and is a unique system. Designed by Eugen Langen to sell to the city of Berlin,〔("Die Große Erneuerung ist schon arg in Verzug" ) (in German), ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', 25 August 1998.〕 the installation with elevated stations was built in Barmen, Elberfeld and Vohwinkel between 1897 and 1903; the first track opened in 1901. The ''Schwebebahn'' is still in use today as a normal means of local public transport, moving 25 million passengers annually (2008).〔(2008 Annual report ) (in German), p. 44.〕 The suspension railway runs along a route of , at a height of about above the river Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Straße () and about above the valley road between Sonnborner Straße and Vohwinkel (). At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes.〔 The Wuppertal Suspension Railway operates within the VRR transport association and accepts tickets issued by the VRR companies. == History == The Wuppertal Suspension Railway had a forerunner: in 1824, Henry Robinson Palmer of England 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 the idea. He saw big advantages for the transportation 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 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 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 the Wuppertal Suspension Railway. Construction on the actual Wuppertal Suspension Railway 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, while the line to the eastern terminus at Oberbarmen did not open until 27 June 1903.〔 Around of steel were used to produce the supporting frame and the railway stations.〔 The construction cost 16 million gold marks. The railway was closed owing to severe damage during World War II, but reopened as early as 1946.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wuppertal Suspension Railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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