Posts Tagged: Algeria

21
Jun

2013

Weekly Roundup

A quick look at some of the things that happened this week in the world of cable cars, urban gondolas, and cable propelled transit:



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Weekly Roundup
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19
Jul

2012

Constantine Telepherique Celebrates 12 Million Passengers, Announces 2 More Lines

Constantine Telepherique - Station Tatache Belkacem. Image from Wikipedia.

The Constantine Telepherique in Constantine, Algeria officially held celebrations for its 12 million passengers (in French) last week. Since it opened in June 2008, the system averaged approximately 3 million riders per year. Not too shabby for a 1.5km cable system in a city with only half a million residents. If the statistics hold true, the system carries more passengers annually than the Portland Aerial Tram and Roosevelt Island Tram combined!

Based on these facts, it appears that while the Constantine Telepherique is likely one of the most successful CPT systems, it unfortunately continues to be one of the least understood in the English-speaking world. In fact, similar to what happened in Medellin where one successful CPT line stimulated the need to build more cable lines, the city’s Director of Transportation has announced a proposal to construct two more cable lifts in Constantine! If they are built, the city will match the total number of CPT lines currently operating in Medellin.

One of proposed lines is expected to connect to Bekira Hospital while the second line links downtown to the Sidi Mabrouk district. We’ll be sure to follow this story and provide more updates as they become available.

 



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26
Aug

2011

The Algiers Téléphériques

One of four Téléphériques in Algiers, Algeria. Image via Poma.

From what we can piece together, Cable Propelled Transit (CPT) systems in Algeria began in the mid-1950’s with the construction of the Téléphérique d’El Madania in the capital Algiers. This system was then followed in 1982 by the Téléphérique Notre-Dame d’Afrique – again in Algiers.

Five years later in 1987, two more Téléphériques would be constructed in Algiers; the Télépherique du Memorial and the Téléphérique du Palais de la Culture.

All four of these systems would be Aerial Trams designed, manufactured and built by the Italian company Poma – the company that would eventually renovate and modernize the systems 20 years later.

Despite moving millions of people per year (according to the Poma website the el Madania system alone moves more than 1 million people per year), these are remarkably modest systems:

  • None have intermediary stations.
  • System vehicles have capacity for 35 people and the systems can offer total capacity of 1,200 pphpd.

Maybe more surprising is how short in length these systems are:

  • Téléphérique d’El Madania – 220m
  • Téléphérique du Mémorial – 230m
  • Téléphérique du Palais de la Culture – 368m
  • Téléphérique de Notre Dame d’Afrique – 250m

To put those numbers in perspective, the line distances are little more than the distance between two North American bus stops. In other words, the Téléphériques function more like elevators than transit; similar in the way the Ascencors of Valparaiso manage to collapse height and distance and ease movements between the higher and lower parts of the city.

Yet to call these systems mere “elevators” would do them an injustice.

The Téléphériques are important enough to the movement of people in Algiers that they are all fully integrated with ETUSA, Algiers’ regional transit planning agency. And as stated previously, these systems do move millions of people a year. That suggests these aren’t simple elevators but rather essential links in the growing Algiers transit scheme.



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Algerian Gondolas
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25
Aug

2011

New Urban Gondola Under Construction in Algiers

 

Construction site of the Bouzareah Télécabine. Image via Imageshack.

Of all the Urban Gondolas / Téléphériques / Télécabines in Algeria, perhaps the most exciting right now is the Bouzareah Télécabine. The reason is fourfold:

ONE – This system is actually under construction and has been for at least the last year. That suggests it should be nearing completion any time now.

TWO – From what we understand, this will be the first Gondola system built in Algiers. The five previous systems that were built/rehabilitated in Algiers were all Aerial Trams. This is a step in the right direction as Gondola technology is arguably more suitable to complex urban environments than Aerial Tram technology (for a discussion on this matter, see here).

THREE – We can actually find research on it. That may sound like a poor reason to name something “the most exciting,” but given the lack of available research on the Algerian Gondolas, it’s exciting enough for us. Granted the research is in the form of poorly translated SkyscraperCity Forums (this one was particularly enlightening), but those forums led us to images like these:

Bouzareah Télécabine construction site. Image via Imageshack.

Close-up of Bouzareah Télécabine construction site signage. Image via Imageshack.

User-created map of the Bouzareah Télécabine route showing tower locations, route and station locations. Image via Imageshack.

Which leads us to the fourth reason to get excited:

FOUR – This is a fairly robust system. True, it only has three stations. But on the flip side, it’s almost 3 km in length and has an extreme turn at Station Frais Valon.

A last point: From the above images, we also learn that the system is being built by Garaventa of Switzerland. It’s therefore likely to be designed similarly to past Garaventa-built systems in Tlemcen, Constantine and Skikda.



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Algerian Gondolas
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24
Aug

2011

3 Algerian Télécabine Videos

Check out the following three news reports on the Tlemcen, Skikda and Constantine Télécabines (in that particular order):

(Of note: In the first video – Tlemcen – we get a really great sense of how the three stations fit within the surrounding urban fabric. In the second video – Skikda – we get a really great segment about the splicing of the cables around the 3:00 minute mark.)




Telecabine de Tlemcen par C_S_A_




Télécabine de Skikda par C_S_A_




Telecabine de Constantine par C_S_A_



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Algerian Gondolas
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19
Aug

2011

Two More Urban Gondolas Approved for Constantine, Algeria?

An urban gondola in Constantine, Algeria (we think). Image via Skyscraper City.

The Algerian Gondolas have been something of a black box to The Gondola Project. We know they exist. We’ve seen pictures of them and we keep hearing more are planned.

Beyond that, we know virtually nothing about them and still can’t seem to find a reliable way to gather intelligence and research on them.

Then this comes along:

According to a Google translation of a Skyscraper City forum, two more urban gondolas have been approved for Constantine, Algeria and a third is planned in the city of Tizi Ouzou. The Tizi Ouzou system is reported to be 7 km long with six individual stations (!).

Now before we get too excited, let’s remember a few things:

  • This is pure hearsay right now. While Skyscraper City is a useful resource for gathering intelligence and rumour, it’s not always the most independent or reliable of sources.
  • Compounding the previous, we’re relying on a Google translation of the forum post – also not the most reliable of resources.
  • Given our inability to gather information about the Algerian Gondolas, it’s hard to take this any more seriously than other rumours we’ve heard.

Having said that, this lack of research on the Algerian Gondolas is beginning to become a black eye on The Gondola Project. We need to track down more details on these systems as Algeria now has more urban gondolas than any other country on earth (from what we can gather – that claim needs to be double-checked as well).

As such, I’m declaring next week Algerian Gondola Week. Next week’s task for The Gondola Project is to gather as much intelligence on the Algerian Gondolas as we can possibly find. If you’d like to contribute, feel free to do so in a new Algerian Gondola specific forum.

Hopefully we can find some answers.



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Algerian Gondolas
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24
Feb

2011

Video: Urban Gondola Transit In Algeria

I spent the better part of a morning trying to track down an embeddable (let’s just pretend that’s a word, okay?) version of this news report on the urban gondolas in Algeria. Unfortunately, my search was in vain.

Nevertheless, you should certainly check it out. Unfortunately it’s all in German (no offense to our German-speaking readers). Yet despite that, it has some of the best video footage of the Algerian gondolas I’ve ever seen.

And given the fact that the politics in North Africa are – shall we say – complex, I highly doubt we’ll see many more videos of this quality in the near future. A shame, because these look like truly fascinating systems!

A few stray observations:

  • Strong physical integration between bus and gondola stations (0:19).
  • Beautiful (1:04).
  • While the tower is certainly no work of art, it doesn’t impose on the streetscape as one might expect (2:15).
  • It would be interesting to know what reaction the tenants of that apartment building think of the system (3:15).
  • The station is positively modest in its interaction with the surrounding urban fabric (3:25).


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Constantine Telepherique
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