Aerial tramway

An aerial tramway is a type of aerial lift, often called a cable car or ropeway, and sometimes incorrectly referred to as a gondola. Because of the proliferation of such systems in the Alpine regions of Europe, the French and German language names of Téléphérique and Seilbahn are often also used in an English language context.

An aerial tramway is one or two fixed cables (called track cables), one endless loop of cable (called a haulage rope), and two passenger cabins. The fixed cables provide support for the cabins. The haulage rope, by means of a grip, is solidly connected to the truck (the wheel set that rolls on the cables). The haulage rope is usually driven by an electric motor and being connected to the cabins, moves them up or down the mountain.

Two-car tramways use a jig-back system: A large electric 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 a funicular railway. The two passenger cabins, which carry from 4 to over 100 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 cable span.

Some aerial trams have only one cabin, which lends itself better for systems with small elevation changes along the cable run.

The original version was called telpherage, and was invented by Scottish engineer Fleeming Jenkin. Smaller telpherage systems are sometimes used to transport objects such as tools or mail within a building or factory.

Many aerial tramways were built by Von Roll Ltd. of Switzerland, which has since been acquired by Austrian lift manufacturer Doppelmayr ^*.

Aerial tramways differ from gondola lifts in that the latter use several smaller cabins circulating on a looped cable, and can be stopped at intermediate or end stations for passenger loading and unloading when uncoupled from their haulage cable by releasing cable grips.

An escape aerial tramway is a special form of the aerial tramway that allows a fast escape from a dangerous location. They are used on rocket launching sites in order to offer the launch staff or astronauts a fast retreat. The tramway consists of a rope which runs from the launch tower downward to a protection shelter. On the launch supply tower several small cabs can be occupied by the launch staff or the astronauts. After loosening a barrier these roll downward to the protection shelter. An escape aerial tramway exists on the launch pads 39A and 39B on Cape Canaveral.

Some aerial tramways have their own propulsion, such as the Lasso Mule or the Josef Mountain Aerial Tramway near Meran.

Records

Tallest support tower: 113.6 metres (373 feet) (Gletscherbahn Kaprun, Austria)
Deepest: Masada cableway, Israel
Highest: Mérida cable car, Venezuela
Longest: Norsjö aerial tramway, Sweden
As mass transit: The Roosevelt Island Tramway in New York City is the only aerial tramway in North America used by commuters as a mode of mass transit (See Transportation in New York City). Passengers pay with the same farecard used for the New York City Subway.
The Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico is the world's longest single span tramway.

List of accidents

August 15, 1960:: between Castellammare di Stabia and the Monte Faito, near Naples, Italy.
August 29, 1961: A military plane splits the hauling cable of a cabin railway on the Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif: 6 people killed.
1963: Cabin of the renovated PKB crashes at the valley station, 1 person killed, several injured.
December 25, 1965: Power failure on the aerial ropeway at Puy de Sancy in central France causes abrupt cabin halt, cabin wall breaks. 17 people fall, 7 killed.
July 9, 1966: A cable breaks on a cabin railway at Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif: 3 cabins fall, 4 people killed.
December 6, 1970: 5 people killed at Meran, South Tyrol.
July 13, 1972: 13 killed at the crash of a cab in Bettmeralp, Switzerland.
October 26, 1972: During a test at an aerial tramway at Les Deux Alpes in France, two cabs collide. 9 killed.
March 10, 1976: In the Italian Dolomites at Cavalese, a cab falls after a rope break, killing 42. (See Cavalese cable-car disaster)
March 26, 1976: Damage to the carrying rope leads to crash of multiple cabs of the aerial tramway at Vail, Colorado, USA. 4 people killed, 5 injured.
April 15, 1978: In a storm, two carrying ropes of the Squaw Valley Aerial Tramway in California fall from the aerial tramway support tower. One of the ropes partly destroys the cabin. 4 killed, 32 injured.
January 29, 1983: A cabin of the Singapore Cable Car falls into the sea between Singapore and the Sentosa island after the cableway was hit by an oil rig. 8 people killed.
February 13, 1983: 2 cabs collide in Aosta (Italy), 11 dead.
January 13, 1989: 8 people killed during a test of the French aerial tramway Vaujany at Val d'Isere.
June 1, 1990: 15 people killed after a rope break in Tbilisi, Georgia.
1995: Operator error causes cabin of Muttereralmbahn near Innsbruck, Austria, to crash. No casualties or injuries.
February 3, 1998: U.S. military aircraft severs the cable of an aerial ropeway in Cavalese, Italy, killing 20 people. (See Cavalese cable-car disaster)
July 1, 1999: 20 people killed at the crash of an aerial tramway at the Bure observatory in the French alps.
July 6, 2000: Entering the middle station of Nebelhornbahn, a cabin fails to brake. 23 people injured.
October 9, 2004: Crash of a cabin of the Grünberg aerial tramway in Gmunden, Austria. Many hurt.
November 14, 2004: Empty cabin of tramway in Sölden, Austria, falls after becoming entangled with rope. No casualties, 113 people rescued from other cabins
September 5, 2005: Nine people die, several are injured when a 750 kg concrete hopper accidentially lost by a helicopter hits a cabin in Sölden, Austria.

External links

Lift-Database: Aerial Tramways (worldwide)
The Telpherage system in the repair sheds of the New York City subway

Vertical transportation devices | Scottish inventions

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Aerial tramway

Records

List of accidents

See also

External links