page_title: Wuppertal Schwebebahn
section_title: Incidents
hierarchical_section_title: Wuppertal Schwebebahn / Incidents
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Der Sturz auf die Fernwärmeleitung verhinderte noch Schlimmeres. English: Aftermath of the 12 April 1999 derailment of a Wuppertal Suspension Railway train, the result of track-maintenance equipment not being removed from the line before the resumption of normal traffic..
context_page_description: The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany.
  Its original name is Einschienige Hängebahn System Eugen Langen. It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world and is a unique system in Germany.
  Designed by Eugen Langen and offered first to the cities of Berlin, Breslau and Munich who all turned it down, the installation with elevated stations was built in Barmen, Elberfeld and Vohwinkel between 1897 and 1903; the first track opened in 1901. The railway line is credited with growth of the original cities and their eventual merger into Wuppertal. The Schwebebahn is still in use as a normal means of local public transport, moving 25 million passengers annually, per the 2008 annual report. New rail cars were ordered in 2015, called Generation 15, and the first new car went into service in December 2016.
  The Schwebebahn runs along a route of 13.3 kilometres, at a height of about 12 metres above the River Wupper between Oberbarmen and Sonnborner Straße and about 8 metres 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.
context_section_description: 15 January 1917
  A train rear-ended another train that had stopped unexpectedly in front of it between Oberbarmen and Wupperfeld, causing the trailing car of the stopped train to fall off the track. There were two minor injuries. Subsequently, a safety device was developed to make derailments nearly impossible.
  21 July 1950
  The Althoff Circus organised a publicity stunt by putting a baby elephant on a train at Alter Markt station. As the elephant started to bump around during the ride, she fell out of the car and into the river Wupper. The elephant, two journalists, and one passenger sustained minor injuries. After this jump, the elephant got the name Tuffi, meaning 'waterdive' in Italian. Both operator and circus director were fined after the incident.
  11 September 1968
  A truck crashed into a pillar and caused a section of track to fall. There were no trains in the area at the time. This incident led to the use of concrete barriers around the pillar anchors.
  25 March 1997
  A technical malfunction caused a rear-end collision in Oberbarmen station between a structure train and the Kaiserwagen. There were 14 injuries, but no derailment.
  12 April 1999
  The line's only fatal incident occurred close to Robert-Daum-Platz station during maintenance work in the early morning hours of 12 April 1999. Workers had forgotten to remove a metal claw from the track on completion of scheduled night work. The first eastbound train of the day hit the claw at a speed of around 50 km/h (31 mph), derailed, and fell about 10 metres (33 ft) into the river Wupper, killing five passengers and injuring 47, some seriously. The salvage operation took three days and nights to complete. Eight weeks after the incident the Schwebebahn returned to operation. The cost of the damage was approximately 8 million marks.
  The judicial proceedings following the incident highlighted that the disaster was not caused by technical defects or system failure, but by negligence by workers having fallen behind in their schedule during the preceding night, and abandoning the work site hastily ten minutes before the train departed from the depot. Contributing to the circumstances was a lack of control of their activities by site supervisors.
  The Works Manager in charge of safety and the workers dealing with the steel claw at the time were acquitted of all charges by the District Court of Wuppertal. The site supervision personnel, having neglected their duties of control, were sentenced for involuntary manslaughter in five cases and bodily injury caused by negligence in 47 cases, but let off on probation with verdict 4 StR 289/01 dated 31 January 2002.
  5 August 2008
  A train collided with a crane truck making deliveries under the track, causing a 10-metre-long (33 ft) tear in the floor of one of the cars. The truck driver was seriously injured, and the train driver and some passengers were treated for shock.
  17 October 2013
  A section of power rail 100 metres (330 ft) long fell from the track onto Federal Route 7, damaging several cars parked there and forcing closure of the road. The city's fire service had to rescue 70 passengers from a stopped train. No one was injured.
  November 2018
  A support beam and part of the line partially collapsed due to a loose busbar, shutting down the line up until August 2019.
caption: Incident of 12 April 1999, near Robert-Daum-Platz station
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