Post by Steven Dale
It’s been a fairly slow week for cable, but a few interesting stories and tidbits floated out of the ether…
- As Vancouver’s Translink agency prepares to study a proposed gondola link between the Skytrain and Simon Fraser University, the usual chorus of cynics chime in: Rail For The Valley calls the study “pointless,” slags the concept as nothing more than a “skyride,” and perpetuates the common myth that Light Rail can carry “over 20,000 pphpd!” (exclamation theirs). The Vancouver gondola is a proposal I’ve followed for almost two years now, and I’ll write a post on it next week.
- An Op-Ed piece for the Trinidad Express Newspapers called “Send Cable Car to Maracas not Tunnel” invokes the ire of readers and commenters. If you’d like a quick insight into how misinformed many people are about cable technology, this is a good place to start; the comments are particularly illuminating.
- The EU grants $13.7 million USD to restore a cable car to the top of Mount Snezka, the Czech Republic’s highest mountain. The system will connect the mountain to the nearby city of Pec pod Snezkou.
- Robo Johor, an Asian travel and food blogger provides a nice photo essay on the Langkawi Cable Car.
- Thomas Morgan, candidate in an upcoming Wellington, New Zealand election proposes an Urban Gondola as mass urban transit.
- Reuters reports on successful investment strategies in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. According to the article, one such positive investment was by Mamdouh Mahmoud, an Iraqi businessman responsible for a new cable car in the northern province. Apparently, the system only cost $2.5 million and was built and constructed by a Chinese company. As Chinese companies aren’t exactly known for their meticulous attention to detail and safety, I suspect we’ll be hearing more and more about this system sometime in the future – for all the wrong reasons.
- Doppelmayr CTEC proposes a gondola transit system for Atlantic City. While promoters insist the idea would be a large generator of jobs, critics don’t see it as being viable in the long-term. The debate within the article is excellent and highlights the tension between short-term job creation via tourism and long-term planning for the future.
- Also in Wellington: A $1.3 million terminus for Wellington’s cable car may be built to replace the existing terminus which authorities say does not comply with modern safety standards.
- And lastly, in a story that will unfortunately be remembered for its irony rather than its tragedy, Jimi Heselden, the millionaire owner of the Segway company died last week…while riding a Segway.
Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.
Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.