Aerial lift in which the cars are permanently fixed to the cables
This article is about aerial cable shuttle transport. For aerial cable transport that travels around a looped track, seegondola lift.
"Skylift" redirects here. For the proposed planet-to-space transportation, seeSpace elevator. For the science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, seeSky Lift.
Anaerial tramway,aerial tram,sky tram,cable car oraerial cablecar,aerial cableway,telepherique (French), orSeilbahn (German) is a type ofaerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third moving cable providing propulsion.[1] With this form of lift, the grip of an aerial tramway cabin is fixed onto the propulsion cable and cannot be decoupled from it during operation. Aerial tramways usually provide lower line capacities and longer wait times thangondola lifts.[2]
Cable car is the usual term in British English, wheretramway generally refers to a railedstreet tramway. In American English,cable car may additionally refer to a cable-pulled street tramway with detachable vehicles (e.g.,San Francisco's cable cars). Consequently careful phrasing is necessary to prevent confusion.
It is also sometimes called aropeway or even incorrectly referred to as agondola lift. A gondola lift has cabins suspended from a continuously circulating cable whereas aerial trams simply shuttle back and forth on cables. In Japan, the two are considered as the same category of vehicle and calledropeway, while the termcable car refers to bothground-level cable cars andfuniculars. An aerial railway where the vehicles are suspended from a fixed track as opposed to a cable is known as asuspension railway.
An aerial tramway consists of one or two fixedcables (calledtrack cables), one loop of cable (called ahaulage rope), and one or two passenger or cargo cabins. The fixed cables provide support for the cabins while the haulage rope, by means of a grip, is solidly connected to the truck (the wheel set that rolls on the track cables). Anelectric motor drives the haulage rope which providespropulsion. Aerial tramways are constructed asreversible systems; vehicles shuttling back and forth between two end terminals and propelled by a cable loop which stops and reverses direction when the cabins arrive at the end stations. Aerial tramways differ fromgondola lifts in that gondola lifts are consideredcontinuous systems (cabins attached onto acirculating haul cable that moves continuously).[3]
Two-car tramways use ajig-back system: a largeelectric motor is located at the bottom of the tramway so that it effectively pulls one cabin down, using that cabin's weight to help pull the other cabin up. A similar system of cables is used in afunicular railway. The two passenger or cargo cabins, which carry from 4 to over 150 people, are situated at opposite ends of the loops of cable. Thus, while one is coming up, the other is going down the mountain, and they pass each other midway on the cablespan.
Some aerial trams have only onecabin, which lends itself better to systems with small elevation changes along the cable run.
The first design of an aerial lift was by Croatian polymathFausto Veranzio, and the first operational aerial tram was built in 1644 byAdam Wybe inGdańsk, Poland.[4] It was moved by horses and used to move soil over the river to build defences.[5] It is called the first known cable lift in European history and precedes the invention of steel cables. It is not known how long this lift was used. Germany installed the second cable lift 230 years later, now using iron wire cable.[6]
Aerial tramways are sometimes used in mountainous regions to carryore from a mine located high on the mountain to an ore mill located at a lower elevation. Ore tramways were common in the early 20th century at the mines in North and South America. One can still be seen in theSan Juan Mountains of the US state ofColorado. Another famous use of aerial tramways was at theKennecott Copper mine inWrangell-St. Elias National Park,Alaska.
Other firms entered the mining tramway business, including Otto, Leschen, Breco Ropeways Ltd., Ceretti and Tanfani, and Riblet. A major British contributor was Bullivant, which became a constituent of British Ropes in 1924.[7]
In the beginning of the 20th century, the rise of the middle class and theleisure industry allowed for investment in sight-seeing transport. Prior to 1893, a combined goods and passenger carrying cableway was installed atGibraltar. Initially, its passengers were military personnel. An 1893 industry publication said ofa two-mile system in Hong Kong that it "is the only wire tramway which has been erected exclusively for the carriage of individuals" (albeit workmen).[8] After the pioneer cable car suitable for public transport onMount Ulia in 1907[9][10] (San Sebastián, Spain) byLeonardo Torres Quevedo and theWetterhorn Elevator (Grindelwald, Switzerland) in 1908,[11] others to the top of high peaks in the Alps of Austria, Germany and Switzerland resulted. They were much less expensive to build than the earlierrack railway.
One of the first aerial trams was atChamonix, while others in Switzerland, andGarmisch soon followed. From this, it was a natural transposition to build ski lifts and chairlifts. The first cable car in North America was atCannon Mountain inFranconia, New Hampshire in 1938.[12]
Many aerial tramways were built byVon Roll Ltd. of Switzerland, later acquired by Austrian lift manufacturerDoppelmayr. Other German, Swiss, and Austrian firms played an important role in the cable car business:Bleichert, Heckel, Pohlig, PHB (Pohlig-Heckel-Bleichert), Garaventa and Waagner-Biró. Now there are three groups dominating the world market:Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, Leitner Group, andPoma, the last two being owned by one person.
While typically used for ski resorts, aerial tramways have come into use in the urban environment. The 1976Roosevelt Island Tramway in New York City, the 2022Rakavlit cable car in Haifa, Israel and the 2006Portland Aerial Tram are examples where this technology has been successfully adapted forpublic transport.
The telpherage concept was first publicised in 1883 and several experimental lines were constructed. It was designed to compete not with railways, but with horses and carts.[13]
The first commercial telpherage line was inGlynde, which is in Sussex, England. It was built to connect a newly opened clay pit to the local railway station and opened in 1885.[13]
There are aerial tramways with double deck cabins. TheVanoise Express cable car carries 200 people in each cabin at a height of 380 m (1,247 ft) over the Ponturingorge in France. TheShinhotaka Ropeway carries 121 people in each cabin atMount Hotaka in Japan. The CabriO cable car to the summit of theStanserhorn in Switzerland carries 60 persons, with the upper floor accommodating 30 people in the open air.[14]
World's longest functioning aerial tramway, 1987–2013:Forsby-KöpingWings of Tatev,Armenia, the world's longest reversible cable car line of one sectionMasada cableway has the world's lowest station.
First – Adam Wybe's construction in Gdańsk (1644).[4] It was the first rope railway with many supports and the biggest built until the end of 19th century.
Longest (at time of building) and years operated:
35 km (22 mi) 1906–1927Chilecito – Mina La Mejicana, Argentina (34.3 km or 21.3 mi and 0.86 km or 0.53 mi branch).
39 km (24 mi) 1925–1950 Dúrcal – Motril, Spain (33.4 km or 20.8 mi and 5.5 km or 3.4 mi branch).
13.2 km (8.2 mi)Norsjö aerial tramway Mensträsk-Bjurfors inNorsjö, Sweden. Passenger tramway, a section of the former 96-km Kristineberg-Boliden industrial ropeway.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world3,374 m (11,070 ft) from 1,074 to 4,448 m (3,524 to 14,593 ft) at Chilecito – Mina La Mejicana, Argentina (drops back to 4,404 m or 14,449 ft at upper terminal).
Highest lift currently operational:
3188 m (10,459 ft) from 1,577 MSL to 4,765 MSL (5,174 FAMSL to 15,633 FAMSL)Mérida cable car, Venezuela.
Highest station:
Greater than 5,874 m (19,272 ft) 1935-19??Aucanquilcha, Chile.
Despite the introduction of various safety measures (back-up power generators, evacuation plans, etc.) there have been several serious incidents on aerial tramways, some fatal.
July 9, 1974:Ulriksbanen is an aerial tramway inBergen, Norway, operated by a tow rope, which hauls it, and a carrying rope. On July 9, 1974, as the carriage reached its destination at the top station and just as the carriage operator was about to open the doors, the tow rope broke. The carriage operator was thrown into the back of the vehicle, preventing him from reaching the emergency brake. The carriage began whizzing down the still intact carrying rope, gathering speed quickly and approaching the first vertical mast about 70meters away. Because the tow rope was broken, it was no longer taut at the point where it crossed over themast—as the carriage crossed the mast, the broken tow rope jammed up and caused the carriage to jump off the carrying rope and begin to free-fall straight down towards the ground 15meters below. The carriage crashed to the ground on a downslope, causing the carriage to careen down the mountainside a further 30meters before it was crushed up against some boulders, finally coming to a stop. Four of the eight occupants were killed.[21]
April 15, 1978: In a storm, two carrying ropes of theSquaw Valley Aerial Tramway in California fell from the aerial tramway support tower. One of the ropes partly destroyed the cabin. Four were killed, 32 injured.
October 19, 2003: Four were killed and 11 injured when three cars slipped off the cable of theDarjeeling Ropeway.
April 2, 2004: In Yerevan, Armenia on an urban cable car one of the two cabins derailed from the steel track cable and fell 15 m (49 ft) to the ground killing five, including two Iranians, and injuring 11 others. The second cabin slammed onto the lower station injuring three people.[22]
October 9, 2004: Crash of a cabin of the Grünberg aerial tramway inGmunden, Austria. Many injuries.
December 31, 2012: The Alyeska Resort Aerial Tramway was blown sideways while operating in high winds and was impaled on the tower guide, severely damaging the contacting cabin. Only minor injuries were incurred.
December 4, 2018, an exterior panel of thePortland Aerial Tram dropped at least 100 feet (30 m) and struck a pedestrian walking below.[23]
^abHoffman, K.; Zrnić, Nenad (2012). Koetsier, Teun; Ceccarelli, Marco (eds.).Explorations in the history of machines and mechanisms : proceedings of HMM2012. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 387.ISBN9789400741324.
^Going to the Isle of Dogs by Lesser Columbus, Bullivant & Co. 1893 page 10. This item can be accessed through an original held by the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers
_-_Fondo_Car-Kutxa_Fototeka.jpg)
.jpg)
