DEU-Stadtwerke Solingen  Verkehrsbetriebe (SWS)

In 2018 trials began with four Solaris battery electric trolleybuses that can operate independently from the overhead wires, using in-motion charging.

The City of Solingen has around 160,000 inhabitants. Solingen is famous for its blade industry, and the largest trolleybus network in Germany (including a busturntable in Solingen-Burg), and a lot of other sights – the Museum of Art in beautiful Solingen-Gräfrath, the castle “Schloss Burg” , the 107 meter high railbridge “Müngstener Brücke” and the 75 km. hiking trail around Solingen (“Klingenpfad”).

The major operator is the Stadtwerke Solingen – Verkehrsbetriebe (SWS) – the traffic department of Stadtwerke Soingen, and owned by the city of Solingen. SWS operates six trolley services, eleven regular services with diesel-buses, one seasonal service for hikers (687), six night services, and five on-demand services operated by Taxis (“TaxiBus”). Trolley buses appeared on the streets of Solingen in 1952, and replaced the tramway by 1959 (the last  tramway in Solingen was replaced by buses in 1969 – it was the line from the neighbour city of Wuppertal, operated by Wuppertaler Stadtwerke.).

Other operators in Solingen connecting the city with its neighbours are:
– Bahnen der Stadt Monheim (BSM), service 791 (joint service with Rheinbahn)
– Kraftverkehr Gebrüder Wiedenhoff, services 250 & 252
– Regionalverkehr Köln (RVK), service 266
– Rheinbahn, Services 782, 783, joint service 791 & 792
– Stadtwerke Remscheid (SR), services 653, 654, 658 & NE13
– Wuppertaler Stadtwerke (WSW), service CE64 (and seasonal, 605)

The fleet of SWS consists of (October 2017):
– Van Hool AG300T, Berkhof Premier AT18 and Hess Swiss Trolley 3 (Trolleys, all 18 mtr.)
– Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro & Citaro C2, 12 mtr. and 18 mtr. buses
– One Mercedes-Benz O405N2 from 1997 (12 mtr.).

The Obus-Museum (Trolleybus Museum) operates in the summer a scheduled service with its buses. All vehicles of the Museum – which includes also one DeLijn-Trolleybus from Gent – are located in the Garage of SWS.

Website of the operator:  www.sobus.net
Website of the museum: www.obus-museum-solingen.de