What is a car cable car?
Cable cars for passenger traffic come in all shapes and sizes these days, but did you know that the development of transport cable cars hasn't been standing still either?
The very first cable cars were used to transport goods. Whether it was transporting goods across a valley or transporting products from a mine, to the valley; transport cable cars have provided their services. As mining in particular is increasingly disappearing, these cable cars are less and less needed. Where possible, these transport cableways have been converted to variants that can be used for passenger traffic. Others have simply been demolished.
Which distinct or unique transport cable cars are in use today?
Bratislava car cableway
In 2003, the Bratislava car cableway, developed by the company Doppelmayr, was opened. This cable car is used to transport new Volkswagen cars, fresh from the factory, to the test track. The 450-metre-long cable car was built in just six months. Like the factory itself, the cable car is available 24 hours a day. The cable car has a maximum speed of 10 km per hour and can transport 67 cars per hour. The maximum height of the track is 15 metres. The car cable car in Bratislava is a good example of the practicality of a cable car.
Material cableway Tierfehd - Chalchtrittli
During the construction of the 1000 MW Linth-Limmern power plant, Garaventa built 2 material cable cars. These cable cars take personnel and goods from 800 metres to the newly built dam wall at an altitude of 2,400 metres. The first cable car takes goods up to a 3-kilometre-long tunnel. On the other side of this tunnel, the second cable car then transports the goods to their destination. Both cable cars can carry 25 tonnes of goods, combined with people, but if really necessary, even 40 tonnes can be conquered. A crane structure can transport the goods or the means of transport to the top, while the additional added cabin, with a capacity of 40 people, can take personnel up and down.
Material cableway Obervermuntwerk II
Another cable car that has captured the imagination is, the material cable car at the Obervermuntwerk II project in Vorarlberg, which opened in 2015. Near the Silvretta reservoir, between Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Switzerland, lies the Vermunt reservoir. High in the mountains, people are working on the second part of the Obervermuntwerk. For this, they need heavy equipment. Since there are no good roads at the site where they are working, another method had to be devised to get all the material to its destination quickly and easily. The solution was a material cable car. The cable car, with a length of 3,000 metres, takes goods from the valley station at 1,143 metres to the mountain station at 1,741 metres. The cable car, that can carry a load of 20 tonnes, overcomes an altitude difference of 598 metres. By means of a crane, goods can be transported up and down. This crane can transport whole containers, cars and even keep trucks and lorries up the mountain.
Cable car for pallets
In Parkstein, Germany, a company working in logistics ran into a problem. They needed to transport pallets from one building to another. This involved overcoming a height difference. Now, of course, it is unfortunate to run cars between the two buildings. This takes a lot of time, manpower and transport resources. Together with the company Doppelmayr, they came up with the idea of introducing a pallet cable car. Opened in 2013, this pallet cable car has a length of 150 metres, bridging a height difference of 15 metres. The pallet cable car is a shuttle cable car where 1,000 kilos can be transported at a time. Twenty rides can be made per hour. Fully automated, the pallets are placed in the cabin in the work hall. The cabin floats to the other work hall and, again automatically, the transported pallets are taken out of the cabin again. If pallets are needed in the upstairs work hall, the process works the other way round. In this way, sufficient pallets are always available.
Besides these transport cable cars, there are of course many other technical marvels. If you know of a unique cableway, please let us know.
