Malbergbahn, Funicular railway in Bad Ems, Germany

The Malbergbahn is a disused water-ballast funicular in Bad Ems. Its 520-metre, metre-gauge double track climbs 260 metres at up to 54.5 percent, using a Riggenbach ladder rack as a brake. The lower station houses a renovated car; the upper station, holding the other car, is closed because it is at risk of collapse.

The Malbergbahn opened on 5 June 1887, built by Malbergbahn AG to serve a hotel on the Hohen Malberg. It ran without a single accident until 1979, when TÜV Rheinland found serious defects and the town halted operations. It was declared a technical monument on 7 December 1981, and in 2000 the town council decided not to reopen it.

The name comes from the Hohe Malberg, the hill the line climbed to reach its hotel, café and small animal park, which could only be reached on foot or by the railway. The carriages carried advertising: one surviving red car bears the painted names "Bemoulung Fischer" and "MC Donald's KAPITULKRN HRABBI" beside a small shamrock. Since 1982 a support association of around 150 members has campaigned to preserve the line and put it back into service.

The lower station and the car standing on its track there were renovated from 2014 and now serve as a café; the car is the one kept in the valley, while the second car remains at the upper station. The upper station is closed because it is at risk of collapse, so the line itself cannot be walked. The site lies near the Lahntalbahn line, opposite the Kurwaldbahn opened in 1979 on the other bank of the Lahn.

The railway used water tanks in the upper carriage to power itself: as the upper car descended, water weight helped pull the lower car upward without requiring an engine. This simple system proved reliable throughout the railway's long operational life.