The Las Vegas City Center Cable Car. Image by joanna8555.
The first and most important thing necessary to understand about Cable Cars as opposed to aerial cable technologies is this: The two technologies are not fundamentally different. Knowing your way around Gondolas and Aerial Trams will help your knowledge about Cable Cars immensely.
Both are characterized by passive vehicles being propelled along guideways for support. Both can provide detachability and both are characterized by a large variety of sub-technologies. Furthermore, like all aerial technologies, you can easily sub-divide Cable Cars into those that operate in a shuttle-based configuration and those that operate in a continuously-circulating configuration:
(Top) Continuously Circulating Configuration. (Bottom) Shuttle-Based Configuration.
Those familiar with aerial technologies will instantly notice the parallels: Shuttle-Based Cable Cars are equivalent to Aerial Trams and Funifors, whereas Continuously Circulating Cable Cars are equivalent to Monocable Detachable Gondolas (MDGs), Bi-Cable Detachable Gondolas (BDGs), Funitels and 3S systems.
The main difference between aerial and terrestrial technologies is this:
Whereas aerial technologies hang from steel cable guideways, Cable Cars are always supported from below by various supporting media, typically steel rails, I-beams, concrete and modular steel trusses.
This gives Cable Cars one distinct advantage over aerial technologies: The ability to maneuver around corners without need of angle stations.
5 Comments
How about pinched loop system.
Cars can detach from the cables while they stop at the station. In stations there can be two or three cables in parallel and cars can attach an other cable. This allows a pinched loop configuration like in many metros as well as branch lines. This allows a cable car operate just like any other metro.
matthias could you post a sketch or something? i think the only difficulty is the fact that a the whole line is about 6 or 7 meters high and if you want to put different lines together the technology just gets huge. But maybe I’m not exactly understanding what you mean.
A windows-paint image would even do it for me 😉
There is a graphic in isr magazine from isr.at
Its from Zürich airport Skymetro. An underground cablecar which rides on an aircushion like a hovercraft. It operates in a pinched loop with two stations and three trains, or in shuttle mode with only two trains. In total it has five pulling cables and motors, Two for the main track between station, Two for the pinched loops and one for the maintenance track. In stations the pulling ropes overlap so the train can detach the grip from one cable and can attach to another. Maximum is three cables at a station on for the running track, one for reverse track (pinched loop), and one for the maintenance track.
The system has only two stations but the technology can be used to make a line with as many section as possible as well as allow branching of the track. The speed is up to 60km/h, headway 2 Minutes.
Point is using this kind of CPT allows to built a light Metro network just as any Light metro or APT technology. So you can go around curves, have evacuation walkways, can go over or underground. Am if you don’t look closely you won’t expect its a cable propelled system at all.
http://www.isr.at/downloads/download_4191.pdf
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