Cable car (railway)

A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are propelled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. Individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required. Cable cars are sometimes confused with funiculars, where the cars are permanently attached to the cable.

Relation to Funiculars

A cable car is superficially very similar to a funicular but differs from such a system in that its cars are not permanently attached to the cable and can stop independently, whereas a funicular has cars that are permanently attached to the propulsion cable, which is itself stopped and started. A cable car cannot climb as steep a grade as a funicular, but many more cars can be operated with a single cable, making it more flexible, and allowing a higher capacity. During the rush hour on San Francisco's Market Street Railway, a car would leave the terminal every 15 seconds.

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A hybrid cable car/funicular line once existed in the form of the Wellington Cable Car, situated in the New Zealand city of Wellington. This line had both a continuous loop haulage cable that the cars gripped using a cable car gripper, and a balance cable permanently attached to both cars over an undriven pulley at the top of the line. The descending car gripped the haulage cable and was pulled downhill, in turn pulling the ascending car (which remained ungripped) uphill by the balance cable. This line was rebuilt in 1979, and is now a standard funicular, although confusingly it retains its old cable car name.

Related Topics:
Wellington Cable Car - New Zealand - Wellington - 1979

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