Every so often we are confronted with wonderful and mysterious transportation devices (see Chinese Tunnel Bus). Today, we happen to come across the Sistema Monorail Con Funiculares (or the Monorail System With Funiculars) — a conceptual transit system designed by ECOLVIAS from Medellin, Colombia. There’s not much information about this technology but it does make me wonder what type of...
If anyone lived in Vancouver back in 1986, they would probably remember Expo86 — a world’s fair which showcased the best and latest transport technologies from around the globe. It included everything from monorails, HSST, and of course, Vancouver’s famous Skytrain. And perhaps surprisingly (or not), the event featured two urban gondola systems – both...
Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the classic Conan O’Brien penned episode of The Simpsons entitled ‘Marge vs. The Monorail.’ The episode tells how the naive residents of Springfield choose to spend an unexpected windfall of revenue on a monorail instead of repairing dilapidated Main Street. The salesman is a smooth-talking (and singing) gent in...
ANY CHARACTER HERE One thing I love about cable is the questions and discussions it creates. Generally speaking, people are curious creatures and when confronted with the strange, bizarre and not-so-everyday, they want to know more. They ask questions, ponder and – for better or for worse – they come to their own conclusions. Those...
As some people know, there’s a huge subset of bottom-supported cable transit in the form of Cable Cars & Funiculars. Yet it’s a topic I’ve not given much attention to so far. Here’s why: It’s hard to get people’s attention with Cable Cars. Urban Gondolas? Much simpler. Back in March I was interviewed for an...
In the central German city of Wuppertal is a piece of transit infrastructure completely unique in the world. Translated directly, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn means “floating railway” and it’s easy to see how it received it’s name. Built in 1900, the Shwebebahn in the oldest monorail on the planet and an elegant piece of transit history...