The world´s first wholly automatic suspended transit system, the "H-bahn" was inaugurated in Dortmund in 1984. It was 1 kilometer in length and connected two university campuses.

The cars can take 42 passengers, maximum speed is 50 km/h and the construction costs at the time was about US $ 8 million. Siemens supplied the Dortmund system but has since then been trying to discontinue the building of this kind of transport systems. Duesseldorf and now Dortmund transit officials, however, are insisting that they want H-Bahn or SIPEM. The Dortmund system was extended in 2003 and today consist of 3.8 km of guideway, including one new station (transferring to regional rail) and one vehicle for about $12 million. About 1.6 million passengers ride the H-Bahn in a year, between campuses of the Frauenhofer University.

A similar system, called "SkyTrain", was started in the summer of 2002 in Duesseldorf, as a feeder line to the local airport.