Why Does Germany Build Suspended Monorails (When Almost Nobody Else Does)?

Tim, you forgot the most important reason for the monorail: something for tourists to do when their airplane is delayed for 2 hours!

I would like to submit "Suspend your disbelief!" as a possible slogan.

I just want to mention that the first one (the one in Wuppertal) was really important because of the style of city Wuppertal is. While others of these hanging trains may be "because it looks cool", it was kind of the only solution for Wuppertal as there was only one space for this kind of public transport available, and that was right above the river.

As Tim explains, the cars swing out going around turns, so the passengers feel no side-force. In the summer of 1964 I lived in Wuppertal and rode the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn often. There are plenty of curves and the lack of side forces is obvious and helpful. It is indeed a physics lesson for people growing up there.

Monorails are really funny, they make the best one-liners!

The train at Dortmund was a R&D project of the Technical University (my alma mater) put to good use to connect the north and the south campus. There‘s a ravine separating those two locations, making it quite difficult to get to the next lecture on time by bicycle. The network started as a simple point-to-point connection and has been expanded step by step. And because there was this R&D project that had consumed a little bit of government funding, the guys at Düsseldorf Airport were asked to check out the Dortmund train system when they started looking for something to solve their public transportation needs. End of story.

You forgot one major benefit of those H-Bahns: They are driverless and can be run via relatively simple programms. This is a huge advantage in long term financial planning.

I really wish more countries would consider this for construction along crowded urban roads. The footprint it takes on the ground is so small compared to even a conventional monorail (which is already much better than elevated heavy rail), but the fact that it's suspended means that you get a more unobstructed view of the surroundings from the ground, and the rubber wheels means it's so quiet it wouldn't even bother people living next to it!

As a Düsseldorf resident with insomnia who lives not too far away from the airport, I sometimes go to the airport just to shop at the supermarket there which is open until midnight, a rarity here in Germany. When I'm not able to drive myself, for whatever reason, the sky train seems like a gift from the gods, an incredibly smooth ride. Also, if you plan to visit, you will basically never be asked for a ticket ever.

I keep forgetting that the beginning of the pandemic was 15 months ago, not just 2 weeks ago, and that 2019 was two years ago, not just one.

The Düsseldorf Skytrains also do not have a driver (no sure about the ones in other cities), which makes the feeling of it even more futuristic. For the biggest part of my life I lived very closely to the Düsseldorf Airport. As kids we used to go there just to ride the Skytrain from start to end and back or to wander around the Airport shopping mall. Thanks for the nice video and the little trip to my childhood :)

Took me a moment to realize I've actually been on that when I flew from Düsseldorf a year and a half ago. Unrelated fun side fact: I read an East German sci-fi novel where the name of the inventor of the first time machine was Tim E. Traveller.

not only does Tim speak perfect French but he always makes sure his accent is on point for any foreign place names or words. Probably the only British person I've ever heard who can say Düsseldorf even nearly correctly. Edit: I just reached the Michelin and Renault part and totally proved my own point

"But hang on ... " The best puns are the cheap shots that come in from the side almost not noticed ...

It looks really futuristic, but when I first used this train in Düsseldorf, I was shocked by how loud it rumbled along. I sort of imagined it to glide like a maglev train, but nope: Wheels in a steel casing, plain and simple...

I just now remembered that Germany once had another suspended type of train - the aerobus of Mannheim. Built in 1975 and operated until 1976, the aerobus was constructed for the horticultural show of 1975 in Mannheim. It operated on a 2.8 km long double-track line hanging above the streets of Mannheim (maybe a bit comparable to the street-sections of Wuppertal Schwebebahn). In this original layout the "rails" were actually steel cables, however in a later refit as a test track, the cables were replaced with aluminium rails, thus making it a proper railway. The concept never catched on and the only other aerobus open to the public was one in a skiing area near Toronto. I think it's a fairly interesting bit of transit history, and yes - we Germans like our suspended railways 😉 (even though the aerobus is originally a Swiss invention)

BUT MAIN STREET IS STILL ALL CRACKED AND BROKEN!

"The Dusseldorf Dangletrain" really sound like something that would cost extra. And possibly get you arrested and/or deported.

“Düsseldorf: Gateway to the Dangletrains” That really got me 😂

I lived in Chiba city, Japan for 2 years and it had one of the longest monorail in the world. It was actually fantastic getting around to different districts