Posts Tagged: Aerial Tram

09
Jun

2015

Technology For Staten Island Tram Doesn’t Exist

Last week we discussed why the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation’s idea for an Aerial Tram connecting the island borough to the southern tip of Manhattan was, like, a really, really terrible idea.

Five days ago, meanwhile, major manufacturers Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr admitted that such technology doesn’t even exist yet to make the system viable. “The technology for a tram to do this distance isn’t yet there,” stated Tom Sanford, vice president of sales for Doppelmayr.

I’m sure this is going to confuse people.

Given long-distance gondolas over water in Vietnam and 3S cable cars crossing for miles over British Columbia mountain valleys why is it not possible to cross 5.7 miles of inner New York harbour?

The answer is straightforward for industry insiders, but totally confusing to the general layman. Note what Sanford said — “the technology for a tram to do this distance isn’t there yet.” The operative word is tram. As in Aerial Tram.

For outsiders, the cable car sector is completely baffling. In our experience, most people assume that all cable cars are the same. In their world, buses are all basically identical just as are all streetcars and subways.

The thing about cable cars is that they are not a single, unified technology. They’re not all the same. Cable cars are a family of technologies with significant nuances between them. Those nuances affect the viability and cost-benefit of any given project and should be understood—at least superficially—by project proponents before going public with any idea.

So now we have a classic case of a major government agency spending a significant amount of public time and resources to conceive a project that is completely without merit. Somehow they even managed to come up with a cost estimate of $175 million USD to build something that the builders have publicly stated cannot be built. And that happened because the proponents didn’t so much as understand the basic performance characteristics of an Aerial Tram. Had they understood those characteristics, they’d have known this project was dead from the beginning.

Lesson — know your technologies and match the right technology to the right project. That doesn’t apply just to cable cars, it applies to all transit planning endeavours.

Want to learn more about the difference between Aerial Trams and Gondolas? Read our post Aerial Trams vs. Gondolas.



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.

17
Oct

2012

The Hauser Kaibling Aerial Tram — (Tauern Seilbahn)

This is a guest post by Ross Edgar.

Departing from the lower station of the Tauren Seilbahn

The Hauser Kaibling Aerial Tram is located just south east of Schladming in central Austria. The aerial tram takes passengers from the valley station at 810m to the summit station at 1836m. It was built in 1960.

Although the cable system runs an impressive 3km up the mountain, it is predominantly used in the summer by hikers or to access the restaurant (which is integrated directly into the summit station). Even in the winter the tram is not used by many skiers as it is difficult to access and requires a short walk through town.

8 passengers in one cabin

One obvious feature of this aerial tram is its small cabin size — each vehicle holds only eight people. However, the small, unassuming aerial tram tucked away on the Alpine mountainside is of a rather unique design. Instead of operating just two cars back and forth between two stations, the system has four cabins and a third (middle) station.

At any one time there are two aerial tram cars travelling in each direction — two of which operate between the valley and mid-station (shown in red), and two of which move between the mid and summit stations (show in blue). The two lower and the two upper cabins are on opposing sides of the cable loop. Riders must switch between vehicles at the mid-station — although with no more than sixteen people on board this is a smooth and efficient transition that takes a matter of seconds.

The figure below demonstrates how a person must use two vehicles to get from the valley station to the peak of the mountain.

Traveling to the summit in 5 easy steps.

Essentially the Hauser Kaibling is two trams operating as one, where the red cabins are one system and the blue two cabins are another. Yet, this set up breaks the extensive distance in half without the cost of constructing and operating two entirely separate aerial tram systems. In fact, the mid-station was added after the tram initially opened as a way to double the capacity from the original two-cabin alignment.

The mid-station is discreetly located between the trees.

This setup is unique for an aerial tram and has a number of advantages over a more conventional system. Firstly, by dividing the system into two segments, the Hauser Kaibling Aerial Tram allows for the provision of a middle station which adds a degree of versatility to the system and provides additional options for passengers (there is access to ground level via a flight of stairs). Moreover, the waiting time for the next aerial tram car to depart is cut in half. In addition, the operation of a single system rather than two separate systems has many advantages in terms of construction, operational and maintenance costs.

Conversely, the design of this type of tram requires that the middle station is positioned exactly halfway between the valley station and the summit station. This is a limiting factor in the design as very rarely will the desired position for a middle station be exactly in this position.

By considerably increasing the capacity of the aerial tram cars, a system of this nature could prove invaluable across long distances within an urban environment. In urban areas where traffic is not especially heavy such a setup could prove to be exceptionally cost effective as well as versatile, even if it is slightly restrictive in the positioning of the middle station.



Become a Contributor, Write a Guest Post
For more information check out the Get Involved page here



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.

22
Mar

2012

Gondola Stations As Art?

Bonistöck Aerial Tram. Image by Steven Dale.

I saw this a few days ago and it got me thinking. . .

The above picture is of the 25 year old Bonistock Aerial Tram. Nothing impressive, nothing interesting. Or is there?

I don’t know about you, but when I look at this system I see something almost sculptural and artistic. It almost reminds me of some of artist Jean Tinguely’s work:

Read more



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.

15
Feb

2012

Sky Ride – 1933 Chicago’s World Fair

I accidentally stumbled upon this ad while reading the Economist on my subway ride home. Image by Zurich.

A week ago Julia provided us with a very sound analysis of using CPT technology in Chicago. Little did we know (or maybe we did), but suspended cable car technology already has a fairly colourful history in the Windy City.

The Sky Ride travelled at 6 mph or 9 kph across a lagoon. Image by Voice of America.

The Sky Ride was built in 1933 for the Chicago’s World Fair and was heralded as the fair’s architectural symbol and show piece. During its one year operational period, it’s estimated that the 32 “rocket riders” (i.e. cabins) helped transport 4.5 million passengers!

While some debate whether this ride should be considered a transporter bridge or an aerial tram – given it’s past success, perhaps a discussion of this system could be used as a launchpad to further develop the Chicago Cable Car proposal.

 



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.

27
Jan

2012

Weekly Roundup

Just some dude climbing on a cable 3491m long. No biggie. Grimselwelt Mountains, Switzerland. Image from Dailymail.co.uk.

It’s been a busy week here at the Gondola Project. So let’s take a quick look at some of the highlights from around the world of Urban Gondolas, Gondola Transit, and Cable Propelled Transit.

 



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.

18
Jul

2011

Buy Your Own Aerial Tram!

It’s cheap. It’s German. It’s only €50,000. And it’s on eBay.

Seriously: Why wouldn't you buy this?

 



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.

25
Aug

2010

Info Needed: Chongqing Cable Car

The Chongquing Cable Car. Image from Foreign Policy.

Somehow this one seems to have slipped under our collective radar:

Nick sends us a link to an urban cable transit system in Chongqing, China. Seems like an old Aerial Tram system with scant details.

Since The Gondola Project readers have been so good at drumming up information on little known systems, maybe you all would like to take a crack at this one . . .



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.