Cable cars

A cable car is any of a variety of cable transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate. The terminology also refers to the vehicles on these systems. The cable car vehicles are motorless and engineless and they are pulled by a cable that is rotated by a motor off-board.

Cable car transport systems are a viable transportation system for various situations. Cable-Propelled Transit (CPT or cable for short) can be effective as a mass transit system at a reasonable cost.

They are advantageous for transit of mountains, valleys, steep slopes and bodies of water. Constructing roads in mountainous terrain requires substantial funding and can significantly affect the environment."The minimally invasive design enables ropeways to blend in almost imperceptibly with their surrounding- without harm to the visual impression of the tourist destination".

In an aerial transit system, cabins (also called carriers, vehicles, cable cars or simply cars) are suspended and propelled from above by cables. The cable that supports the cabin may or may not be the one that propels it too. This depends on the technology used. It is a two way transport.

A mono-cable detachable (MDG) system has only one cable that does the work of supporting and also propelling.

A bi-cable detachable gondola (BDG) has two cables, one of which supports the cabin. This cable is stationary while the other cable moves and serves the purpose of propulsion.

An aerial tramway consists of a cabin suspended from a cable, pulled by another cable.

A tri-cable detachable gondola (TDG) has three cables, two of which help in supporting and the other in propelling the cabin.

A funifor is a type of aerial lift or aerial tramway patented by Doppelmayr Garaventa Group which consists of two guide ropes and a haul rope loop per cabin. The drives of the two cabins are not interconnected with two reversible cabins running on parallel tracks. At the top of each track, the haul rope for that track loops back to the bottom instead of looping over to serve the other track as occurs with a normal aerial tramway. In other words, a funifor's propulsion is not returned to the opposite direction for use by the other vehicle.

A funitel is a type of aerial lift, generally used to transport skiers. The name funitel is a portmanteau between the French words funiculaire and telepherique. Funitels have not only been used as a means to transport skiers; there is one used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. Recently, more and more funitels have been added to ski areas.

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