Table Mountain Aerial Cableway | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Location | Cape Town |
Country | South Africa |
Open | 4 October 1929 [1] |
Website | www |
Operation | |
Operator | Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company |
No. of carriers | 2 |
Carrier capacity | 65 [2] |
Trip duration | 4 to 5 minutes [2] |
Technical features | |
Aerial lift type | Aerial tramway |
Manufactured by | Adolf Bleichert & Co. |
Vertical Interval | 765 metres (2,510 ft) |
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway is a cable car transportation system offering visitors a five-minute ride to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of Cape Town's most popular tourist attractions with approximately one million people a year using the Cableway. [3] In January 2019, the Cableway welcomed its 28 millionth visitor.
The upper cable station is on the westernmost end of the Table Mountain plateau, at an elevation of 1,067 metres (3,501 ft). The upper cable station offers views over Cape Town, Table Bay and Robben Island to the north, and the Atlantic seaboard to the west and south. Amenities at the upper station include free guided walking tours, an audio tour, meal options at a café and a wi-fi lounge.
By the 1870s, Capetonians had proposed a railway to the top of Table Mountain, but plans were halted by the Anglo-Boer War. The City Council began investigating the options again in 1912, but this was in turn halted by the First World War. Despite initial cost estimates of £100,000 [4] (equivalent to £38,800,000 in 2011 pounds [5] ) to build the cableway the city's population was supportive of the project and in a referendum overwhelmingly voted in support of the project.
A Norwegian engineer, Trygve Stromsoe, presented plans for a cableway in 1926, and construction began soon after with the formation of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC). Former world leading wire ropeway company Adolf Bleichert & Co. [6] from Leipzig (Germany) was awarded the contract for the construction. It was completed in 1929 at a cost of £60,000 [4] (equivalent to £11,400,000 in 2011 pounds [5] ) and the cableway was opened on 4 October 1929, by the Mayor of Cape Town AJS Lewis. The cableway has been upgraded three times since then. Sir David Graaff, a leading industrialist, former mayor of Cape Town and government minister, also invested heavily in the project.
In 1993, the son of one of the founders sold the TMACC and the new owners took charge of upgrading the cableway. In 1997, the cableway was reopened after extensive renovations, and new cars were introduced.
The "Rotair" cableway was installed by Garaventa (Doppelmayr Garaventa Group) from Switzerland in 1997, the design being based on the Titlis Rotair cableway in Engelberg, Switzerland. [7] Each car carries 65 passengers (compared to 25 for the old cars), and runs on a double cable making them more stable in high winds, giving a faster journey of 4–5 minutes to the summit. The floors of the cars rotate through 360 degrees during the ascent or descent, giving passengers a panoramic view.
Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. Table Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in South Africa, attracting 4.2 million people every year for various activities. The mountain has 8,200 plant species, of which around 80% are fynbos, meaning fine bush. It forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, and part of the lands formerly ranged by Khoe-speaking clans, such as the !Uriǁʼaes. It is home to a large array of mostly endemic fauna and flora.
An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip of an aerial tramway cabin is fixed onto the propulsion rope and cannot be decoupled from it during operations. In comparison to gondola lifts, aerial tramways generally provide lower line capacities and higher wait times.
Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers for ski areas, urban transport, amusement parks, and material handling systems. As of 2019, the group have produced over 15,000 installations in 96 countries. The Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group was formed in 2002 when Doppelmayr of Wolfurt, Austria merged with Garaventa AG of Switzerland to form the world's largest ropeway manufacturer.
The Lauterbrunnen–Mürren Mountain Railway is a hybrid transport system in the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland, which connects the villages of Lauterbrunnen and Mürren. The system consists of a connected aerial cableway, also known as the Grütschalpbahn, and an adhesion worked mountain railway. The cableway replaced a funicular, on the same route, in 2010.
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs, California, is the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world. It was opened in September 1963 as a way of getting from the floor of the Coachella Valley to near the top of San Jacinto Peak and was constructed in rugged Chino Canyon. Before its construction, the only way to the top of the mountain was to hike hours from Idyllwild. The rotating cars were added in 2000.
Ngong Ping 360 is a bicable gondola lift on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Intended to improve tourism to the area, the aerial lift was previously known as Tung Chung Cable Car Project before acquiring the Ngong Ping 360 brand in April 2005. It consists of the Ngong Ping Cable Car, formerly known as the Ngong Ping 360 Skyrail, and the Ngong Ping Village, a retail and entertainment centre adjacent to the cable car's upper station. Ngong Ping 360 connects Tung Chung, on the north coast of Lantau and itself linked to central Hong Kong by the Tung Chung line, with the Ngong Ping area in the hills above. This is home to the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha, both already significant tourist attractions in their own right. Before Ngong Ping 360's opening, the only access was via a mountain road and bus service.
A material ropeway, ropeway conveyor is a subtype of gondola lift, from which containers for goods rather than passenger cars are suspended.
Rigi Railways is a railway company that operates a group of railways on the mountain Rigi, located between two of the arms of Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland. They include two standard gauge rack railways, the Vitznau–Rigi Bahn (VRB) and the Arth–Rigi Bahn (ARB), along with the Luftseilbahn Weggis–Rigi Kaltbad (LWRK) cable car.
The Penang Hill Railway is a one-section funicular railway which climbs the Penang Hill from Air Itam, on the outskirts of the city of George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. The railway first opened in 1923 as a two-section railway, but was overhauled in 2010 into a one-section system. It is a single-track railway with a passing loop, and it passes through a tunnel which is the steepest in the world. The total journey time can take between five and twenty minutes. The funicular train coach travels directly from the lower station to the top, but may stop at other intermediate stations upon request.
The Stanserhorn is a mountain in Switzerland, located in the canton of Nidwalden near to the border with Obwalden, with the peak at 1,898 metres (6,227 ft) above sea level.
The Wengen–Männlichen aerial cableway is a cable car linking Wengen with the Männlichen in Switzerland. It is owned and operated by the Luftseilbahn Wengen–Männlichen AG.
The Zugspitzebahn was the first wire ropeway to open the summit of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain on the border of Austria. Designed and built by Adolf Bleichert & Co. of Leipzig, Germany, the system was a record-holder for the highest altitude.
The Port Vell Aerial Tramway is an aerial tramway in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It crosses Port Vell, Barcelona's old harbour, connecting the Montjuïc hill with the seaside suburb of Barceloneta.
Wings of Tatev is a 5.7 km (3.5 mi) cableway between Halidzor and the Tatev monastery in Armenia. It is the longest reversible aerial tramway built in only one section, and holds the record for Longest non-stop double track cable car. Construction was finished on 16 October 2010.
Kloof Nek Road, one of South Africa's oldest roads, was built in 1848 as an access road for the suburban pass with the same name which was used primarily as a look-out post for soldiers and a supply route to Camps Bay. The route starts at Kloof Street on the edge of the city bowl and turns into Camps Bay Road at the end of a mountain pass running between Table Mountain and Lion's Head. Despite being only two kilometers long, it is very steep with an average gradient 1:11. The summit of Kloof Nek Road is a small but complicated intersection that's not clearly visible on approach and often catches motorists unaware. The road's steepness may be a contributor to the regular occurrence of often-fatal accidents on Kloof Nek Road.