Alweg

Alwegbahn is the name of a standing monorail rapid transit construction. Preliminary work had been done in the 1940s in Hamburg. With the financial support of the initiator and Swedish multi-millionaire Axel Lennart Wenner -Gren a sensational test track was built under the direction of the German railway engineers Josef Hinsken and Georg Holzer after the founding of the Federal Republic in Cologne- Fühlingen. A reaction in the German-speaking countries came despite high expectations never materialized. Some individual routes were realized primarily in the Asia Pacific region. Particular use in individual Disney parks became famous.

Technical concept

When Alwegsystem be used as vehicles cars with trucks that are equipped with twin -tyred wheels and support also pneumatic-tired guide wheels. The cars sit on elevated driving beams of concrete or steel section and enclose the roadway partially. The chassis beams have a rectangular cross -section which is often slightly laterally retracted hourglass. After the first prototype with a diesel engine, an electric drive was used later. The power supply ( DC ) is thereby produced via the side coated busbar.

Alwegbahnen in different versions and versions

Alwegbahnstation Tama in Tokyo

Alwegbahn in Japan

Drive concept

During the first phase of development of Alweg monorail early 1950s were alternative drive concepts - in particular, a magnetic levitation technology for the linear motor concept - in conversation, but came through a model status never beyond. Originally also the high-speed long-distance transport was provided as an insert area adjacent industrial railways and transport, the maximum speed should be at 300 km / h. In the media, the sensational futuristic look and high international interest in the underlined " high-speed railway of tomorrow." Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard stressed during a sightseeing tour the German interest in a technology leadership in this area. A commitment of the Legislature but was later excluded due to lack of export prospects, so that a German reference plant never materialized.

Technical advantages over the wheel-rail

Of the Alwegherstellern were highlighted as an advantage over conventional wheel-rail systems:

• The increased safety ( collision, derailment )
• The possibility of an automatic train control
• The clear space-saving Routing with tighter curve radii on elevated train tracks high, even approximately parallel to existing highways
• The lower energy consumption due to the closely huddled to the traveling support vehicle and better aerodynamic profile
• The possibility of achieving new concepts drive speeds up to 300 km / h

Planned applications

In conversation have included long distances in Brazil, South Africa, a European cross-connection from Hamburg to Madrid, some commuter trains and airport shuttle service in Munich and city connecting lines in Switzerland and in the Ruhr.

Trial and technical realization

A functional model of Alwegbahn was built in 1952 in Cologne Fühlingen on a scale of 1:2.5. On October 6, 1952, carried out with this model version, a first public test run on a test track in the Fühlinger Heath. The Alwegbahn riding on a concrete beam and partially wraps around the guideway ( "saddle path "). This roll their rubber wheels on three sides of the infrastructure: support wheels on the top, guide wheels on the side. In the test sheet were first speed by 80 km / h and reaches later to 180 km / h. In 1957, at the same place a 1.6 km long test track on a 1:1 scale, including the necessary premises. It was until 1967 operated with vehicles and dismantled afterwards.

Projects and Studies

Interests and considerations, it was, inter alia, to long-distance transport projects in Brazil, South Africa, the British Empire and in the United Kingdom and Canada, further in city traffic in London, Vienna, Sao Paulo, Cologne, Hamburg, Leverkusen and Frankfurt.

For the transport in Frankfurt am Main Alwegsystem was proposed with two lines in 1959 initially. In a comparative study, in which the Alwegsystem should be compared to a subway and an underground railway network, the network proposal in 1961 expanded to five lines. However, since the City Council favored a gradual system to be realized, it was decided to build a subway, by involving existing infrastructure tram. Likewise, were well advanced plans in the late 1960s for a north- south route in Jena / GDR, for the technology from the Federal Republic would have to be imported. Due to a directive to " Störfreimachung from the west " this import would not have been possible, so that the plans had to be abandoned in 1971. Also in other European cities, there were Alwegvorhaben that have not been realized. That was for Vienna from 1958 Alwegbahn on the belt and above the Mariahilferstraße in discussion (see Wiener Alwegbahnpläne ). Notwithstanding the fact that the powerful financial officer and later mayor Felix Slavik favored the system, they also decided here for the more expensive, but more gentle cityscape construction of a metro.

For financial reasons and because of more promising projects was limited in the technical realization of some operations in transport. These projects also only the Cologne test track was built in Germany, the promising route Cologne - Leverkusen - Opladen came against the will of Max Adenauer, son of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and then Cologne city manager, and despite a positive Cologne city council decision never materialized. The range of Alweg AG, the route pre-finance in kind of an early PPP, did not come to fruition. This was due to a lack of commitment or budget disputes in the federal system and the negative attitude of the industry ( Bayer Leverkusen), which favored the expansion of railway lines.

Exports to Asia and overseas, continuation of the technology in Japan

The first Alweganwendung was a visitor train in Disneyland, additional references were mainly possible in Asia and overseas. The concept of Alwegbahn found most in Japan use. A license agreement for the system was developed by Krupp ( Alwegeigner after the death of Wenner -Gren ) with Hitachi and the Disney Company ( developed by Bombardier Transportation) closed. Hitachi built several Asian Alwegbahnen, including Tokyo Haneda Airport, in Osaka and Singapore. The city of Seattle in the U.S. has a Alwegbahn, which is now to be expanded since 1962. Also at fairs and amusement parks Alwegbahnen were built. The latest Alwegbahn is opened in 2004, Las Vegas Monorail, a short distance on the Strip in Las Vegas, the only completely privately built and operated public transport system in the United States.

Reasons for the lack of acceptance

The Alwegbahn was a zeitgeist formative, futuristic system, wrought in the 1950s and 1960s, a great sensation. Reasons for the nevertheless only small implementation in some smaller projects ( as eg in Turin, the Kuala Lumpur Monorail and Sydney Monorail ) were due to the lack of acceptance of the associated massive interventions in urban landscape and cultural landscape and the insufficient compatibility with the traditional rail transport.

Moreover, the concept was not adapted to the parallel event automobile engine and the expansion of air traffic. The use of tires on a concrete beam led ( see also Metro Paris) to wear problems on the fly. In addition, the ride on the pilot line so clearly bumpier than the normal rail traffic dar.