Posts Tagged: Austria

27
Jul

2014

Weekly Roundup: Cable Car to Pyramidenkogel Tower?

Pyramidenkogel Tower. Image by Flickr user photodesk.at.

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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24
Mar

2014

Urban Gondolas: Innovative Station Designs, Part 1

This is a guest post by Billy Beasley. 

For many years, some critics of urban gondolas have argued that they won’t work in dense city centers due to the lack of space to build terminals. These stations, especially for larger lift types like the 3S or Aerial Tram require larger buildings to house the important machinery that power them.

Even more space is required on systems where the operator wants to take the cabins off the line nightly and keep them in a storage building to prevent wear and tear. Thus, one question becomes how to minimize and conserve space for urban gondolas in situations where land is in short supply. For this first article of a 2-part series, we will examine two unique and innovative case examples.


Solden Ski Resort – Gaislachkoglbahn (Austria)

Check out this Doppelmayr installation in Austria at the well-known Solden Ski Resort named Gaislachkoglbahn. This system is designed with two segments: the first section consists of a monocable gondola while the second section has a 3S tricable gondola.

Typically there would four terminals for the lift but in this instance, Solden only built 3 stations (map of transfer station). The top terminal of the 8-passenger gondola is combined with the bottom terminal of the 3S system. With this configuration, it saves money and space as two stations are built as one single building.

The two cable lifts also feature incredibly innovative cabin parking systems. The monocable’s lower segment parks the cabins above the actual lift terminal itself and when the operator is ready to start the cable car, the cabins descend on a series of rails down to the terminal where they join the line.

Bottom station. Image by Flickr user liquidx.

The 3S segment also features an innovative cabin management system located in the bottom terminal of the lift (which remind you, is also the top station of the lower segment). The cabins enter the bottom station but a set of the in-terminal sheaves rotates and transfers the cabin from the line to a series of rails. From here, it transfers the cabin to the correct spot in the parking area. The parking area itself is inside the station, where the lift maze starts for loading the 3S gondola. With this design, the entire system manages to save a significant amount of space as potentially six buildings for the system (four stations, two cabin parking buildings) has been effectively reduced to three.

This would be helpful for an urban gondola system that wants to utilize cabin parking but doesn’t have a tremendous amount of space to put the cabins when they are not on the line.

Keystone Mountain (Colorado) – Outpost Gondola and River Run Gondola

Keystone Mountain in Colorado used cabin parking for their two gondolas in an before they built their new gondola but they did it in an interesting fashion. The bottom floor of the Outpost Gondola (the top was the lift station itself) was a sprawling cabin parking facility for both the Outpost Gondola and the nearby River Run Gondola.

Check out Skilifts.org for some great pictures and walkthrough of this design!

Lift maintenance would transfer the cabins from the line of the River Run Gondola to the cabin parking facility where the cabins from the Outpost Gondola were also being stored. From here, maintenance crews could work on the grips, clean the cabins, and store the cabins properly for both lifts in one convenient location. This is especially impressive when you consider that the lifts were built by two different manufacturers – the River Run Gondola by Von Roll and the Outpost Gondola by Doppelmayr (keep in mind, this was before Doppelmayr purchased Von Roll and both companies had separate grip designs at the time).

Therefore, two different rails and two different storage pods needed to be built because the Von Roll cabins couldn’t go on the Doppelmayr rails and vice versa. There were two separate control systems but maintenance could do typical work on the cabins in one big facility.

This design could be helpful on urban gondola systems that are built with two different lift types or on ones that add another section to an existing system of a different model.

In the next article we will examine systems in Nevada, Vermont and Colorado. Stay tuned!



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28
Feb

2014

Weekly Roundup: Gondolas Galore – Luxembourg City, Kirkland, Salzburg and Kota Kinabalu Analyzing Cable Cars

 

Kirchberg plateau in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Image by Cayambe.

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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06
Dec

2012

The Salzburg Festungsbahn and Reisszug Funiculars

This is a guest post by Ross Edgar.

Hohensalzburg Caste from Salzburg

The Salzburg Festungsbahn is a funicular railway that transports tourists from the historic heart of Salzburg to the Hohensalzburg Castle — impressively perched on a steep hill overlooking the city. The Salzburg fortress is one of three castles that was rapidly expanded during the Thirty Years’ War by the Archbishop Count Paris of Lodron in order to protect the territory controlled by the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg. With a length of 250m and a width of 150m, Hohensalzburg Castle is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

The Festungsbahn.

The Festungsbahn funicular was originally opened in 1892, providing a link from Festungsgasse, located to the north under the castle walls, to the fortress itself. The Festungsbahn was constructed initially as a water balance funicular. In such a system water is be used as a ballast in the upper car, thus both assisting in the upper car’s descent and counterbalancing the ascent of the lower car.

The funicular line is 198m in length, ascending a total of 98m with a maximum gradient of 68%. From the time of its opening the Festungsbahn operated two cars along a single track with a passing loop at the midway point.

The Modern Day Festungsbahn. Image from Salzburg-ag.at.

In 1960 the two funicular cars were entirely replaced and an electric motor was installed to supersede the water balance system. Thereafter, the Hohensalzbrug Castle and Festungsgasse stations were remodelled in 1975 and 1976 respectively. The line was further modernised in 1991 with brand new cars featuring an enlarged passenger space and greater ascent speeds. Today’s Festungsbahn operates at a maximum speed of 5 m/s, resulting in a journey time of approximately one minute. Each car has a maximum capacity of 48 passengers. While the funicular cars are particularly modern looking, they do not feel out of place.

Festungsbahn Lower Station. Image from Salzburg2.at.

The station designs and architecture are both sympathetic to the heritage of the city. The lower station is seamlessly integrated into the historic Festungsgasse. The cars then travel through the fortress walls to reach the upper station, which is also located within the fortress walls. The majority of the upper half of the line is supported from below by a steel bridge with a wooden footbridge, which crosses the line mid route.

Reisszug. Photo by Michel Azéma via Funimag.

Perhaps even more interesting is the Reisszug, which transports goods from Nonnberg Abbey below the eastern walls of the fortress to the central courtyard of the fortress itself. What makes this funicular particularly interesting is its age. The line was first documented in 1515 but historians speculate that it could have been in existence as early as 1495 or 1504 due to inference in historical documents. Whatever the exact date of construction, the Reisszug is certainly the oldest documented funicular in the world and arguably even the world’s oldest documented railway still in operation.

The Reisszug travels through defensive walls and large wooden doors.

The Reisszug was originally operated by either human or animal power and continued to be powered in this manner until 1910. Along its route the funicular passes through the five independent layers of defensive walls, each equipped with a robust protective door, that make this fortress so foreboding and maintains its defensive integrity. It is speculated that runners may have originally been employed on the Reisszug, however historical records indicate that wooden rails and a hemp rope were readily adopted.

The Reisszug has been refined and entirely reconstructed on several occasions over the years, especially between 1988 and 1990. At present, the funicular has modern steel rails, steel wheels, and a steel haulage cable, in place of the wood and hemp parts of the past. The system is powered by an electric motor. The line is 190m in length with a total ascent of 80m and a maximum gradient of 67%. The Reisszug can transport three passengers and 2,500kg of goods at a time, with a maximum speed of 0.5m/s, resulting in a journey time of just over five and a half minutes.

The significance of the Reisszug speaks for itself. The age of this system testifies to both the simplicity and the endurance of the principles that lie behind funicular railways and perhaps even cable systems in general — still being as relevant today as it was 500 years ago. The Festungsbahn is also noteworthy, albeit from an entirely different perspective. This funicular demonstrates the potential to integrate a cable system seamlessly within a historic city. This is particularly poignant as Salzburg Old Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. While the Festungsbahn is by no means an inner city trunk route it does experience high volumes of traffic during the summer tourist season and copes with this passenger volume admirably.

All images by Ross Edgar unless otherwise noted.

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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.



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19
Sep

2012

The Hohenwerfen Castle Funicular

This is a guest post by Ross Edgar.

Hohenwerfen Castle. Photo by “Sir James”

There are few castles in Europe more iconic than Hohenwerfen Castle which stands imposingly over the town of Werfen, 40km (25 miles) south of Salzburg on the Austro-German border. The fortress dates back to 1075 but in more recent years featured in the 1968 film epic ‘Where Eagles Dare’ in which the castle played the part of ‘Schloss Adler’.

Despite its considerable history the fortress is home to an altogether more modern means of transport to provide access from the valley below. From the castle’s car park visitors board a modern funicular which carries passengers from the foot of the hill into the heart of the fortress itself.

Hohenwerfen Castle single track funicular. Photo by Ross Edgar.

However, this funicular is far from conventional. Firstly, the funicular system only features a single car rather than the more conventional two cars. This is most likely due to the relatively short distance covered by the funicular. In place of the second car which traditionally acts as a counterbalance for the first, a set of weights travel in the opposite direction below the funicular’s tracks.

But the most unconventional feature of the Hohenwerfen Castle funicular is that it functions in a manner similar to a hotel elevator. Passengers at either station can ‘call’ the funicular by means of a button located next to the entry door. Once aboard the funicular the passenger then chooses whether to go up or down through the use of a button within the car itself.

The result is that this funicular is totally independent of any input being required from the operator. Therefore staffing requirements are comparatively low when compared to other means of transit or even more traditional funiculars. What is more, being operated by the passengers themselves means that the funicular is able to respond immediately to the demands of the visitors to the fortress. Waiting times are therefore reduced and operating costs are cut as the funicular does not confirm to a rigid schedule.

Hohenwerfen Castle funicular station. Photo by Ross Edgar.

The potential application for such a unique cable system within an urban environment is compelling. Such a funicular would allow a local authority to connect two areas of a city at considerably different elevations without the costs associated with other forms of transport or even other cable systems. The automation of the system would reduce staffing requirements to a very basic level of supervision and the system would be much more cost effective compared to a system that operates continually regardless of passenger demand. Moreover, the use of larger cars or even the addition of a second car would increase capacity considerably.
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29
Nov

2011

Alpine Coaster (Sommerrodelbahn) – Mieders, Austria

For many people, travelling up and down a mountainside on a gondola provides enough enjoyment and excitement to last them an entire lifetime.

But for those times when a cable car ride isn’t enough, we have the Sommerrodelbahn Alpine Coaster – which is pretty darn fast.

A sommerrodelbahn can reach travel speeds of 40km/h! Image by Flickr User Nassfeld.

Hm…. roller coaster transit anyone? Enjoy the video!

 

On-Ride View


Off-Ride View 



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