After we blogged about portable agricultural cableways last week, we received a number of emails from our readers in response. One of the most interesting messages came from Quentin and he has shared with us a video he found of an aerial farm ropeway operating in Japan. Check it out. — — Unfortunately, beyond this video...
— We recently received an awesome Youtube link of the infamous truck transporting ropeway that’s being used to help construct a $2.35bn hydroelectric power plant in Switzerland. It’s been reported that the cable car systems are capable of transporting a payload of more than 200t! Equally or even more impressive is the fact that the...
Public transit systems tend to take a beating. They handle thousands, if not millions of passengers each day. And not only that, in some high demand areas, service must be reliable and constantly available. Definitely not an easy feat for operators. For Cable Propelled Transit (CPT) it’s no different. Heavily ridden systems such as the Medellin...
The Obermatt – Unter Zingel Seilbahn in Switzerland is a cool old aerial tram that is powered, well, by gravity. Built in 1923 by Remigi Niederberger, the system still functions today. It is one of the last remaining water ballast tram systems. The ropeway consists of two open-air “cabins” that have a spot to sit...
We’ve talked a bit about cable splicing in the past, but never focused much on the process of actually making a cable. Today we resolve that. Here is a short video (albeit in French) that demonstrates how small steel cables are wound together to create medium-sized cables, which are then spun again with other medium-sized...
The issue of energy has come up a lot when we talk about urban cable systems — and for a good reason. If cable is going to succeed as the modern, comfortable, city transit technology it claims to be, then such amenities as heating, air conditioning, video screens, wifi, and two-way communication systems are going...
Fatzer AG is an 175 year old Swiss manufacturer and supplier of wire ropes and steel cables who’ve provided ropes for thousands of cable transit systems worldwide. They know a thing or two about this stuff. So it should cause all of us a moment of pause when a company like Fatzer decides to build...
Perhaps the oddest argument against Urban Gondolas is the boarding and alighting process. Oftentimes, people complain that passengers will be unable to board and alight these systems given the unique process involved: Generally speaking, urban gondolas move through stations at what is known as “crawl” or “creep” speed. While crawl speed can vary by system,...
Yesterday’s post High Speed Rail in China – Theft or Innovation? (Part 1) looked at ownership of ideas and innovation, specifically in terms of China’s role in the the advancement of HSR technologies. Following that train of thought (couldn’t help myself!) today I’ll look at what this means for the CPT industry, starting the discussion...
Sometimes we try to solve a problem because we were the first to spot the problem. Or we try to solve a problem simply because we want to solve the problem, not because it’s a problem that really needs solving. We all do it. But trying to solve a problem no one has is a short...