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The unique suspended monorail in the city of Wuppertal runs above the Wupper river and was opened in 1901. Some historic stations have been carefully restored and contrast in a nice way with rebuilt, architecturally interesting stations from the 1990's.
Photo: Landgericht station from 1903.
Rhine-Ruhr area is an agglomeration of about 30 cities in western Germany with some 20 metro-tram lines and 9 S-Bahn lines [jochen-schoenfisch.de].
Photo: The combined metro-tram and bus station Neue Mitte, built in 1996 in the city of Oberhausen, was obviously influenced by deconstructivist architecture.
Photo: Lohring metro tram station from 2006 in the city of Bochum with a platform made of frosted glass, illuminated from below.
Try the following tour, recommended by residents or metro enthusiasts:
For the metro buff, it might be interesting to spend a day or even two going from city to city only by means of urban transport, including three monorail lines. Here's a tour along some interesting lines and stations. Note that the tour is very long and will be hard to do in one day. Lines with a 'U' in their name are mostly underground, some others are too. Start in Dortmund Hbf (the main station) in the morning and spend 25 EUR for a day ticket for the regional transport throughout the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia ('SchönerTagTicket NRW Single'). Take the loop of U45 and U46 via Westphalenstadion to Reinoldikirche. Take U44 to Marten Süd. Take S4 to Dorstfeld, then S1 to Universität. Ride the suspended monorail (H-Bahn) around the university campus and back. Continue S1 to Bochum Hbf. Take LRT line 310 to see the tunnel stations of Lohring, Rathaus, and Bochumer Verein. From Hbf, take U35 to Herne Hbf. Take S2 to Altenessen. Take U11 to Messe Süd/Gruga for some interesting stations and go back to Essen Hbf. Take U18 to Mülheim Hbf. Take tram 301 to Duisburg Hbf. Take U79 to Meiderich and back, continue U79 to Düsseldorf Oberbilk/Philipshalle (1 hour). Take S7 to Flughafen Terminal (DUS airport). Take the suspended monorail 'SkyTrain' to Flughafen station. Take S1 to Hbf, then S8 or S11 to Wuppertal Vohwinkel and walk the short distance to the station of the famous Schwebebahn (suspended monorail) from 1901. Ride it up to Oberbarmen. Take either S8 and S6/S11 via Düsseldorf (90 minutes) or regional express line RE7 (30 minutes) to Cologne Mülheim. Take LRT line 18 to Slabystr., then 13 to Ehrenfeld. Take 3/4 to Wolffsohnstr. and back to Poststr. Take line 16 to Bonn Bad Godesberg Stadthalle (1 hour; underground in Bonn).