🚋 The Next Gen: Generation 15 Hits Wuppertal’s Suspension Railway

Alright, so, late 2016 rolls around—bam, the old 1972 “Grandpa” railcars finally clock out, and in come the shiny, angular Generation 15s. Honestly, they look like the future. The colors are way sleeker now, no more trains plastered head-to-toe in cheesy ads. About time, right? Whole system just looks more put-together.

🚉 Vohwinkel: Where the Magic Starts

Picture this: new train chilling at Vohwinkel, spins around, heads back to Oberbarmen. Not much has changed with the layout—still 42 seats, room for 88 folks to stand and awkwardly avoid eye contact. But now, there are cameras everywhere. Like, everywhere. It’s basically the Big Brother Express, but hey, you’re probably safer.

Under the hood, these things are packing AC motors and can actually feed energy back into the grid when braking. That’s regenerative braking for you—pretty slick. Plus, the safety tech is all new (they call it WTC, sounds fancy). They even bumped up the juice: voltage goes from 600 to 750. These trains can hit 65 km/h, though the track’s like, “Nah, 60’s enough.”

🌉 Cruising Over the Wupper

Not long after leaving Sonnborner Straße, the whole train is just floating over the river Wupper—12 meters up. That’s like, what, a four-story building? All that without eating up ground space. The supports are kind of wild too, slanted pairs stretching across the tracks. Looks like something out of a sci-fi flick.

🚏 The Heart: Hauptbahnhof & Döppersberg

If you’re trying to get anywhere, Hauptbahnhof is the spot. Right next to it, Döppersberg’s been around since 1926 but got a massive facelift lately. City planners even shoved the main road underground to unclog the area. About time, honestly.

⏳ Back in the Day: GTW 72s

Flashback to the ‘90s: you’d see car #2 from the old GTW 72 batch looping out of Oberbarmen. These MAN-made beauties (well, “beauties” is generous—think orange and blue boxes on wheels) replaced the even older stock and ran for ages.

Old school driver Wolfgang Dandorfer (this guy’s basically a local legend) once said, “Wuppertal without its suspension railway? Can’t even picture it.” Berlin and Cologne dug subways, but Wuppertal’s hills and valleys made that a wallet-busting fantasy. Hanging trains just made more sense.

🌉 Werther Bridge Station: Still Old School

Werther Bridge stop? It’s like stepping into a time machine. Not many original stations left, but this one’s hanging in there. People here don’t just ride the suspension railway—it’s basically part of the city’s DNA.

Peter Leidig, who knows a thing or two about transit, summed it up: “You just can’t build a subway here. This is the only way.” Preach, Peter.

🏢 Who Runs the Show?

Wuppertaler Stadtwerke’s been running the gig since ‘48, but in 2013, the city actually took over the tracks and infrastructure. WSW still handles the trains, so it’s a bit of a tag-team.

🚏 Stations: Old Meets New

Twenty stops in total, and honestly, most of them look nothing like they did before. Big upgrades everywhere. Take Ohligsmühle—brand new, super modern, kinda Instagrammable if you’re into that.

As you approach Vohwinkel at the end, the train drops down to just eight meters above the street, gliding past fancy old buildings. Then, boom—end of the line. Time to hop off, unless you wanna ride it all over again (and, honestly, who wouldn’t?).

*This blog post is originally written by me on onthenode.com

Regards: Kiara

Have a cheerful day! Ecency Family ❤️