Wuppertal Schwebebahn services suspended

[Adlington]

The Railway Gazette reports:

Weekday services on the Wuppertal Schwebebahn suspended monorail are to be withdrawn for up to a year to enable urgent guideway repairs, the operator has confirmed.

The 13·3 km line had only reopened in August 2019 following a nine-month closure to facilitate infrastructure renewals and the installation of ETCS Level 3 train control.

The operator has been complaining about defects in its new fleet for the past four years. Eight trains were taken out of service earlier this year after the detection of failures in bonded joints on the lightweight vehicles, which posed the risk of parts of the air-conditioning systems falling off. The trains reportedly could not be repaired immediately because the certification for Düsseldorf-based Kiepe Electric to undertake such bonding work had lapsed. The glued joints are now being checked for fatigue damage every three weeks, against the eight years originally envisaged.

Somehow this doesn't feel like the stereotypical "German engineering"

 

[causton]

Worth noting (as it is just one word in the article) that it is the opposite of what we would consider normal - there is a bus replacement during the week but a normal service on the weekend!

 

[Adlington]

Good point.....

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is a FB group on the subject of the Schwebebahn which has been reporting on all sorts of issues with ETCS and the new (Stadler, I think) vehicles - the whole thing sounds more like the continuing saga of incompetence surrounding Berlin Airport than anything truly Germanic.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Weren't these services always suspended?

 

[Mag_seven]

Worth noting (as it is just one word in the article) that it is the opposite of what we would consider normal - there is a bus replacement during the week but a normal service on the weekend!

Which implies its mainly a tourist thing than a means of transport for the good citizens of Wuppertal!

 

[Adlington]

the new (Stadler, I think) vehicles

The Railway Gazette, quoted in the 1st post says:

The 31 three-car sets were supplied by the then Vossloh Kiepe, under a €122m contract awarded in November 2011. Kiepe provided the traction equipment, with the vehicles being assembled by Stadler Rail Valencia and Prose providing development and manufacturing support services.

 

[FQTV]

Weren't these services always suspended?

Well, I thought this was good .

 

[RT4038]

There is a FB group on the subject of the Schwebebahn which has been reporting on all sorts of issues with ETCS and the new (Stadler, I think) vehicles - the whole thing sounds more like the continuing saga of incompetence surrounding Berlin Airport than anything truly Germanic.

What with this, and Berlin Airport and the one type of ICE train being hopelessly unreliable since new, and the VW emissions scandal, they can't be that far from being like us......

 

[Bletchleyite]

What with this, and Berlin Airport and the one type of ICE train being hopelessly unreliable since new, and the VW emissions scandal, they can't be that far from being like us......

We're a lot more like the Germans (and vice versa) than many would admit. Though possibly a bit more like the Dutch.

 

[blackfive460]

Which implies its mainly a tourist thing than a means of transport for the good citizens of Wuppertal!

Far from it. The good citizens of Wuppertal of all ages make a great deal of use of the Schwebebahn especially at weekends when it can be very busy, even on Sundays!
The occasional 'tourist type' I've seen on my visits have generally been of the enthusiast variety. After all, Wuppertal isn't exactly what you'd call a tourist hot spot.

 

[morrisobrien]

Far from it. The good citizens of Wuppertal of all ages make a great deal of use of the Schwebebahn especially at weekends when it can be very busy, even on Sundays!
The occasional 'tourist type' I've seen on my visits have generally been of the enthusiast variety. After all, Wuppertal isn't exactly what you'd call a tourist hot spot.

I find Wuppertal and environs a very interesting area.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I find Wuppertal and environs a very interesting area.

I'm sure it is - but the Ruhrgebiet generally is rather like the West Midlands conurbation - certainly interesting, but not exactly a pretty holiday destination.

 

[WestCoast]

Hope it's back to full capacity soon, my absolute favourite system - it's the closest you're going to get to a rollercoaster on a form of (ground based) public transport.

 

[Ianno87]

Far from it. The good citizens of Wuppertal of all ages make a great deal of use of the Schwebebahn especially at weekends when it can be very busy, even on Sundays!
The occasional 'tourist type' I've seen on my visits have generally been of the enthusiast variety. After all, Wuppertal isn't exactly what you'd call a tourist hot spot.

Oh yes, 'normal' use is by far the most common. Check out the official Cab Ride on YouTube:

 

[alex397]

On my only visit, which was a few hours, it was definitely mostly ordinary people using the service - shoppers, students etc. It was great to see it being well used for ordinary purposes, rather than just a tourist line.

 

[Jamesrob637]

We're a lot more like the Germans (and vice versa) than many would admit. Though possibly a bit more like the Dutch.

Anglo-Saxon! Sachsen?

 

[Jamesrob637]

I'm sure it is - but the Ruhrgebiet generally is rather like the West Midlands conurbation - certainly interesting, but not exactly a pretty holiday destination.

It's quite good to live in though and places like Bayern best left for visits. A bit like living in/around Birmingham and using Cornwall or the Lakes just for holidays. Plus you can go shopping post-8pm as the draconian ways of Southern Germany don't apply so much in the Ruhrgebiet. People are quite friendly too. I've been on the Schwebebahn a few times now but will make a point of not using it through 2021.

On a side note, has Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof been redone? It was a mess when I was last there two years ago.

 

[duesselmartin]

Yes Wuppertal Hbf is largely renovated and a lot better than it ever was.

 

[Richard Scott]

What with this, and Berlin Airport and the one type of ICE train being hopelessly unreliable since new, and the VW emissions scandal, they can't be that far from being like us......

Think you'll find the Germans are very good at marketing and perpetuating the myth about their engineering. Some of it has substance but not the up to the perceived reputation.

 

[superjohn]

they can't be that far from being like us......

I suspect DB punctuality is worse than the very darkest days of BR and has been so for several years now.

Whenever I’m there I am always struck by the number of locked out defective doors and toilets on German trains as well.

 

[JonathanP]

Yes, it is "real" public transport and not a tourist attraction(although the tourist authorities in Wuppertal speak of little else). However, I believe they normally close the Schwebebahn in the summer so the staff can take their holidays, so they have a lot of practise at providing an equivalent service with buses.

I would like to make some slightly tounge-in-cheek responses to other points on this thread:

I'm sure it is - but the Ruhrgebiet generally is rather like the West Midlands conurbation - certainly interesting, but not exactly a pretty holiday destination.

What would you say the West Midlands equivalent of this is? I'd love to visit it.

one type of ICE train being hopelessly unreliable since new

I am not sure what you mean here. The ICE4 had some safety problems relating to bodyshell welds but there have been no major technical issues that I know. The ICE3M had technical issues with safety system/voltage changes but this is not so much of a problem any more.

I suspect DB punctuality is worse than the very darkest days of BR and has been so for several years now.

Luckily there is no need to stop at suspicions because there are statistics for this.

The percentage of station stops made within 15 minutes of scheduled time by Deutsche Bahn trains in calendar Q4 2019 was 98.5%. In the UK in the same period it was 97.8%.
Unfortunately the statistics for "slighty late" trains do not match up exactly, but in the UK it was 79.5% within 3 minutes, and in Germany around 94% within 6 minutes.
So I think there is not much difference there.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What would you say the West Midlands equivalent of this is? I'd love to visit it.

Wow, that's impressive! Don't think there's one of those. I was initially thinking of the Anderton canal barge lift, but that's in Cheshire.

 

[jopsuk]

Weren't these services always suspended?

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought this when they saw the title

 

[RT4038]

I am not sure what you mean here. The ICE4 had some safety problems relating to bodyshell welds but there have been no major technical issues that I know. The ICE3M had technical issues with safety system/voltage changes but this is not so much of a problem any more.

Luckily there is no need to stop at suspicions because there are statistics for this.

The percentage of station stops made within 15 minutes of scheduled time by Deutsche Bahn trains in calendar Q4 2019 was 98.5%. In the UK in the same period it was 97.8%.
Unfortunately the statistics for "slighty late" trains do not match up exactly, but in the UK it was 79.5% within 3 minutes, and in Germany around 94% within 6 minutes.
So I think there is not much difference there.

Not sure of the type, but the ICE train that is used on the Frankfurt-Koln-Amsterdam/Brussels, that has had a lot of software problems, resulting in a pretty unreliable service.
After the VW emissions scandal, I am not sure that I would trust the German punctuality statistics much. Every time I go to Germany I see departure boards full of late running IC/ICE trains. Perhaps they have a greater proportion of punctual local trains to dilute the statistics?
However, I would concur that there is probably not much difference between the two countries train punctuality.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Every time I go to Germany I see departure boards full of late running IC/ICE trains. Perhaps they have a greater proportion of punctual local trains to dilute the statistics?

Train punctuality is a good illustration of a UK/DE difference: Germans appear to have a much greater expectation of punctuality, so the system is scheduled with very short connection times at popular interchanges. Trains are expected to run on time, so common connections are designed to minimise time spent at intermediate stations. But the consequence is that even a five minute delay can cause a major impact when connecting to an hourly train.

Whereas in the UK, I think we have a much lower expectation of punctuality, and therefore comnon connections tend to be designed to have half an hour or a whole hour.

(I might have opened Pandora’s box with that observation...!)

 

[edwin_m]

The tilting diesel ICEs were pretty unreliable I believe.

The West Midlands equivalent of the Schwebebahn would probably have to be the erstwhile Merry Hill monorail.

 

[superjohn]

Every time I go to Germany I see departure boards full of late running IC/ICE trains. Perhaps they have a greater proportion of punctual local trains to dilute the statistics?

This seems highly likely, for every one of the many long distance trains that is late there are probably a dozen S-Bahns that are on time.

The standard timetable in Germany seems to be very tight though. They don‘t embrace our ‚robust‘ timetable approach with plenty of recovery time. Consequently the slightest delay can snowball very easily. In more recent years they seem to have taken the British approach of delaying late running trains to allow punctual services to pass. This can be infuriating if you are sat on a late train only to watch two or three other trains arrive and depart on the adjacent platform, presumably this is to maintain connections to them.

On the other hand, any revised engineering work timetables seem to be very generous with early arrivals and standing outside stations being very common in my experience.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

This talk at the CCC analyses German rail punctuality statistics. I can't seem to find an English version right now sadly, but I think it exists.

 

[paul_munich]

I suspect DB punctuality is worse than the very darkest days of BR and has been so for several years now.

The summers of 2018 and especially 2019 were an absolute disaster, but it is getting better every day now, we are already through the valley of tears...
The government decided to pump 85 billion € into the network until 2030, in order to rebuild bridges and tracks, reduce temporally speed restrictions and make the service more reliable, they also pump more money into maintenance, you mentioned doors and restrooms...

The goal is a punctuality rate of 90% for long distance services (ICE/IC/EC) and 95% for everything else.
the punctuality rate of yesterday shows, that there is still a long way to go:
ICE: 78,4%, IC: 89,2%, EC:73,9% (source: here)