Germany’s “flying train” from 1902

The movie clip above, from the Museum of Modern Art, may look like something from an HG Wells-style science fiction movie made at the turn of the century, but it is actually a clip of a functioning suspended railway in Germany built in the late 1800s. Originally called the Einschienige Hangebahn System Eugen Langen (the Eugen Langen Monorail Overhead Conveyor System), it is now known as the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn or Wuppertal Suspension Railway. Not only that, but it is still running — although the cars have been upgraded multiple times since it was built. It moves 25 million passengers every year.

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