MDG — Monocable

Monocable Detachable Gondolas (MDG) utilize a single cable (or “rope”) for both propulsion and support. They are the most commonly used fully-enclosed cable car system on the planet today. This is the technology that was employed by Metro de Medellin in 2004 and started the entire global trend of using urban gondolas as fully-integrated parts of urban transit systems.

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BDG — Bicable

Bicable Detachable Gondola (BDG) systems utilize a single cable for propulsion and a second cable for support. They are rarely used any more as the Monocable and Tricable Detachable Gondolas have largely made them obsolete. Nevertheless, many are still functioning around the world and are occasionally installed for specific challenges.

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CC BY-SA 4.0 image by Sparktour. 

TDG / 3S — Tricable

Tricable Detachable Gondolas (TDG or “3S”) are the most advanced aerial cable car technology on the planet. Very high capacities, rope spans, speeds and wind stability are achieved through it’s use of two cables for support and a third cable for propulsion. These benefits come with a trade-off of typically being double or triple the price of a comparable Monocable system.

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ATW — Aerial Tram

The Aerial Tramways (ATW) are one of the original aerial cable transit typologies. Generally, speaking, Aerial Trams are two vehicle systems that shuttle back-and-forth between two stations. Grips for an Aerial Tramway are fixed making intermediary stations extremely rare and turns impossible. Cabin capacity can range from a handful of people up to several hundred people. Like Tricable systems, Aerial Trams are supported by two track ropes and a third rope is used for propulsion. It is common for people to confuse Detachable Gondola systems with Aerial Tramways leading to poor research results.

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CC BY-SA 2.5 image by Cacophony. 

FTL — Funitel

The Funitel is a fast, detachable-grip gondola that offers a comfortable ride and high wind stability. The most obvious characteristic of finitely cabins are their short, double arms which provide stability in winds up to 100 km/hr.

Funitels are known to use the most energy of all cable car systems and due to their dual loop configuration (which provide both support and propulsion) have higher maintenance costs. With the spread of 3S technology, the Funitel is largely a relic of a bygone era with very few ever built.

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CC BY 3.0 image by Σ64.

FUN — Funifor

The Funifor (FUN) is a jig-back Aerial Tramway technology similar to the Funitel but that consists of two independently operating, double-armed vehicles. The two arms give the system high wind stability and the independently operating vehicles allow one vehicle to be used to evacuate the other in case of emergency. Funifors are

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CC BY-SA 3.0 image by Wolfgang Moroder.

PUL — Pulsed

Pulsed (PUL) systems are fixed grip gondola systems that circulate one or more trains or “pulses” of cabins. These systems are relatively low-cost compared to detachable systems but are only appropriate where distances are short and capacity requirements are modest

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CC BY-SA 4.0 image by Jean-Paul Corlin

Cabins

Often referred to as gondolas, cabins, cars or carriers; the cabin is the physical vehicle that passengers ride in (or on!) while travelling on a Cable-Propelled Transit system. Cabins come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending upon the system and cable car manufacturer.

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Support

Support describes the guideway along which a vehicle travels. Support can be provided either by rails or cables. In all but the rarest of examples, support from above is provided by cable and support from below is provided by rails.

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Propulsion

Unlike traditional vehicles, CPT vehicles do not have an onboard engine or motor. Propulsion is provided by an off-board engine and bull wheel located in a station that moves a cable. Vehicles are equipped with a grip used to attach and detach the vehicle to the cable.

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Grips

Grips are what attaches a vehicle to a cable. There are two major types of grips and cable technology can be subdivided into two categories based on those types: detachable and fixed.

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Towers

Tower sizes and footprints are dependent on cable technology choice, system capacity and tower span distances. Lighter-weight systems, such as the MDG, typically have smaller, cylindrical towers while heftier systems, such as the 3S, have larger, lattice-style towers. In general, larger tower heights are correlated to longer tower span distances.

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Cable

Every modern day CPT cable is made of steel, and configured in a loop. This is done by “splicing” the cable. The most basic cable system operates on one single cable loop, while others have multiple loops as well as several stationary cable lines.

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CC BY-SA 3.0 Image by Johannes ‘volty’ Hemmerlein

Cornering

Gondolas (MDG, BDG, 3S, pulsed) can turn corners in a few ways, depending on the technology in use, the degree of the turn, and the alignment. Most often, a standard turn would occur in a station where two cable loops would meet at an angle and cabins would seamlessly move from one to the next.

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Brief History

The first documentation of cable dates back to 250 BC. For hundreds of years, rope propelled transit was used to move people and goods, such as minerals and ores.

Major cable innovations occurred in the 1800s with such inventions as the steel cable and the detachable grip. During this time period, cable was largely used for industrial purposes.

Cable was first adapted for major human movement in the form of cable cars, with cities such as San Francisco and Chicago pioneering this mode. As transit technology shifted to electric power, these systems became largely obsolete. At this point, around the 1930s and 40s, cable, for the movement of people, shifted to the recreational market, where it continued to grow and innovate until the last few decades.

While the use of cable does not ever fully shift from one market to the next (it is still used for industry and recreation) in the recent years there has been a noticeable growth of the technology within the urban market.