Funicular
A funicular or funicular railway, also called inclined railway or inclined plane, is a system of transportation in which cables are attached to a tram-like vehicle on rails to move it up and down a very steep slope. The vehicle is specially designed for the particular inclination, so that seats and/or floors remain roughly horizontal. Typically the steepness of the track does not vary very much, which is a distinction from a cable car on rails.
It is thus a hybrid between cable transport and rail transport. Two cars at the end of a cable go alternately up and down on either two tracks or one track which splits and rejoins in the middle.
Funiculars are often used in the mountains. Many cities have short funiculars on hills or cliffs, such as the Montmartre funicular in Paris, or those in the English seaside resort of Scarborough.
The world's steepest passenger railway is the Incline Railway, a funicular up the side of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, with maximum grade of 72.7% (36° from horizontal, 90° being vertical). [1] [2]
Funiculars are also called trams or cable cars in many places.
Gütschbahn in Lucerne from Führer für Luzern,
Vierwaldstättersee und Umgebung, Lucerne, 1893.
Funiculars of the world:
- Bergen, Norway
- Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
- Duquesne Incline and Monongahela Incline, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- Graz, Austria
- Gütschbahn, Lucerne, Switzerland
- Hastings, England
- Hong Kong Victoria Peak
- Harderbahn, Interlaken, Switzerland
- Istanbul, Turkey (underground)
- Likabitos, Athens
- Lynmouth, Devon, UK
- Montjuïc, Barcelona
- Montserrat (mountain), Catalonia
- Montmartre, Paris, France
- Mendelbahn, South Tyrol, Italy, build in 1903
- Naples, Italy
- Nazaré, Portugal
- Penang, Malaysia
- Quebec City
- Tibidabo, Barcelona
- Vallvidrera, Barcelona
- Wellington, New Zealand (Kelburn)
- Wiesbaden, Germany (using water as weight to move the cars)
- Zagreb, Croatia
See also: Kaprun disaster, Public transport