Even before the turn of the 19th century, Eugen Langen, an engineer from Cologne, had been working on his suspension railway project. It was envisaged as a link between the two towns of Barmen and Elberfeld that would form the conurbation of Wuppertal 30 years later. To start with there was a lot of resistance to the idea. Wuppertal’s citizens damned the railway as the work of Satan and a risky undertaking. Despite all their mutterings, Wuppertal’s suspension railway turned out to be a great success, became the citizens’ darling and today it is the town’s landmark, famous all over the world. Construction work began in 1898, with the first trial run taking place the same year. Until the serious accident in 1999, when a car crashed down eight metres, the suspension railway had been regarded as the safest form of transportation.
