Dresden suspension railway

This article deals with a mountain railway in Dresden. For the unrealized transport project, see the Dresden - Deuben suspension railway .

Dresden suspension railway with mountain station

Dresden suspension railway with a view of Blasewitz, 1984

The suspension railway Dresden is a suspension railway in Dresden , which connects the districts of Loschwitz and Oberloschwitz . Technically correct, it is an overhead monorail ; the term suspension railway is incorrect because, in contrast to a magnetic suspension train, there is constant contact between the track and the vehicle . In addition to the neighboring Dresden funicular railway , it is one of the two Dresden mountain railways .

The driverless train is operated by the Dresden public transport company, is 274 meters long and overcomes a height difference of around 84 meters. It was opened on May 6, 1901 and in 2007 was nominated for the award as a Historic Landmark of Civil Engineering in Germany .

History and technology

Like the recently opened Wuppertal suspension railway, the continuous double- track railway is constructed according to the system by Eugen Langen and has 33 supports up to 14 meters high. The drives of the two pendulum-mounted cabins roll on a special steel girder, which is also called Rieppel girders after its inventor, Anton von Rieppel .

In contrast to the Wuppertal suspension railway, the Dresden vehicles do not have their own drive, but are moved by a pull rope , similar to a funicular railway . This is driven by a hoisting machine located in the mountain station . The railway is the only suspension railway in the world that is not an adhesion railway .

The Dresden suspension railway went into operation on May 6, 1901. In 1909 the compound steam engine was replaced by a direct current motor. The suspension railway survived the Second World War unscathed. From 1984 to 1992 it was out of service due to a thorough renovation; Mi-8 helicopters were used to assemble the girders  .

Extensive repair work on the supporting structure was carried out in 2001/2002, and the mountain station was also partially converted. Among other things, an outside elevator was installed that makes the roof of the station accessible as a viewing platform. In February 2013 the now 104-year-old large wheel of the drive was replaced; operations resumed on March 29, 2013. In 2014, 300,000 passengers used the suspension railway.

The suspension railway leads over a residential street, the Veilchenweg. Due to the crossing track, there is a height restriction of 2.60 m.

Picture gallery

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  Historic photo (ca.1902)

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  Valley station

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  Entrance to the valley station

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  Mountain station with viewing platform

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  View of the route

Web links

Commons : Schwebebahn Dresden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Schwebebahn  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• www.dresdner-bergbahnen.de
• The suspension railway in the Stadtwiki Dresden
• Information from Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG about the suspension railway in Dresden
• Photographs of the suspension railway
• Project report on renovation 2001/2002

literature

• Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe (Ed.): Uphill, downhill with the Dresden mountain railways. Dresden 2005.
• Norbert Kuschinski: The younger sister. 100 years of the suspension railway in Dresden. in: Straßenbahnmagazin issue 5/2001, pp. 68–73.
• Hansjörg F. Zureck: On the balcony of Dresden. From the history of the mountain suspension railway in Dresden-Loschwitz. in: Tram magazine 26/1977, pp. 318–330.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 650,000 passengers on the mountain railways . In: Saxon newspaper . January 7, 2015 ( paid online [accessed January 7, 2015]).

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 14.5 ″  N , 13 ° 49 ′ 5.3 ″  E