This month 30 years ago…

February 1989 – The LEP monorail

On 21 February 1989, CERN inaugurated its new monorail, suspended from the ceiling of the 27-kilometre Large Electron-Positron Collider tunnel.

The trains, all named after local villages, travelled at around 12 kilometres per hour and came in three different designs to handle different cargoes. LEP was in the second phase of construction, and sixty thousand tonnes of equipment had to be installed quickly in a very narrow space. The monorail let workers and equipment move efficiently and safely.

The inaugural speeches took place at different points around the tunnel and the guests, who had been warned to wrap up warmly, were treated to a ride between them on CERN’s very own metro.