The Gondola Project

26
Jan

2024

Weekly Roundup: India’s First Urban Ropeway in the Works

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Varanasi is one of India’s most visited spiritual cities, and tourists will soon find their visits even grander with the introduction and construction of the Kashi Ropeway. This Lord Shiva-themed public transit system aims to reduce foot traffic congestion and traffic load while providing a new way for locals and visitors alike to experience the religious city. Image credits to Ninara (CC BY 2.0 DEED) via Flickr.

Kashi Ropeway to be the first urban ropeway system in India. The new system will travel 3.85 kilometers from Varanasi Junction Railway station to Gadaulia and will have 5 stations total. When completed, the gondola will have 153 ten-passenger cabins, and commute time between the two points will decrease from 45 minutes down to 16 minutes. The 30 towers will be on both government, institutional, and private land.
Sunrise Gondola gains support through public outreach in Park City, Utah. The new gondola would carry passengers to the resort and would assist Canyons Village contributing to the fee-free public transit operation. Canyons Village Management Association and Park City Mountain have entered into a joint agreement and plan to purchase an $18 million 10-passenger gondola. The total project budget is estimated to be $27 million. The plan is for the new Sunrise Gondola to be in operation by the 2025-2026 ski season. See a related weekly roundup here.
Longest Cable Car in the world located in the Dominican Republic continues construction. The 6.6-kilometer monocable detachable gondola (MDG) will be the longest cable car in the world of its kind and will connect the capitol to the Boiling Lake. Several towers have been installed, the lower station foundations have been completed, and site prep for the top station and other buildings is underway. Construction continues and the system is getting closer to completion within 2024. See a related weekly roundup post here.

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19
Jan

2024

Weekly Roundup: Monumental 31 Millionth Visitor Rides Table Mountain Aerial Cableway

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The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway recently welcomed its 31 millionth rider since it began operations in 1929. The system is one of the most popular attractions in Cape Town, South Africa, and has been wildly successful in its past 90+ years of service. Image credits to Matt Kieffer (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED) via Flickr.

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC) in South Africa receives its 31 millionth visitor. TMACC is an aerial tram that offers guests a five-minute ride from Cape Town to the top of Table Mountain. The system has been upgraded since it was built in 1929, with the wooden, tin-roofed cabins being swapped out for modernized cabins with rotating floors and space for 65 passengers. The 31 millionth visitor was a woman celebrating her 69^th birthday who visited alongside with her husband.
Gondola extension was approved in Cetinje, the southern municipality of Montenegro. The current system runs from Kotor to Lovcen National Park. The project will extend the current system to 10,780 meters long, with an added intermediate station in Lovcen and a terminating station at the former capital of Cetinje. The next steps are to prepare a feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis of the system. Montenegro signed a contract worth 20 million euros (USD 21.7 million) with Novi Volvox and Leitner for the original system.

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12
Jan

2024

Weekly Roundup: Sports-Centered People Mover Coming Soon to Inglewood, California

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This highly anticipated Californian project will connect Inglewood’s sports stadiums and downtown area to the Los Angeles metro, taking cars off the roads and out of parking lots on congested game days. Commuters, tourists, and other public transit users will also be able to benefit from this new system during the off-season. Image credits to Ron Reiring (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr.

Half of the funding has been secured for new people mover in Inglewood, California. The automated train will serve as a connector between SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers’ new arena. $1 billion in funding has been secured from the federal government, which will cover half the needed cost. The automated train will be 1.6 miles long and will have a capacity of 11,000 passengers per hour (pph).
The Centennial Express officially opens at Brundage Mountain in Idaho. The new Doppelmayr high-speed-quad has replaced the old Centennial Triple and decreased the ride time from 16 to six minutes. With the opening of the new lift, Brundage Mountain now has two high-speed quads on its front side. The new lift replaced the old alignment and takes skiers from the base to the upper ridge.
Heavenly Resort in California closes Heavenly Gondola due to a mechanical issue. The gondola maintenance team, working with the lift manufacturer and project engineer, found an issue with “one of the bearings in the high-speed shaft.” The resort assures that the gondola was not operated unsafely, and they will be replacing the bearings before re-opening. In a more recent update, the gondola should be up and running again within the week.
Austrian ski resort gondola cabin falls after tree strikes the line, injuring four passengers in Tyrol. The tree fell on the Acherkogelbahn line, damaged the grip of the cabin, and caused the cabin to fall about 23-33 feet to the forest floor. The location of the gondola cabin made it nearly inaccessible. The family inside was injured and airlifted from the crash with one in critical condition. The cause of the tree fall is unknown but experts investigating the incident say “nothing points to a technical or human failure.”

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05
Jan

2024

Weekly Roundup: Wellington Cable Car Hosts Its One-Millionth Post-Pandemic Passenger

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For the first time since 2019, the Wellington Cable Car in New Zealand has welcomed one million passengers on board, signifying a revival of the system and a remarkable recovery following the global pandemic. Image credit to Clilly4, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The new chairlift, Wild Spur Express, and other exciting upgrades are open for the season at Winter Park Resort in Colorado. The new lift is a high-speed 6-pack and has replaced a 4-pack, increasing the capacity to 2,800 people per hour. The system runs up to Vasquez Ridge and features a mid-station, which will give easier access to the intermediate and advanced terrain. The resort also completed its employee housing complex, featuring has over 330 beds and standing as one of the largest workforce housing projects in Colorado in 2023. SCJ Alliance, the parent company of The Gondola Project, was retained for engineering expertise on this project. See a related weekly roundup here.
Wellington Cable Car in New Zealand celebrates its one-millionth passenger in 2023. The Wellington Cable Car has been a part of the landscape since 1902 and serves as an icon for the city’s transportation system. With international travelers and particularly cruise passengers coming back into town following the pandemic, the cable car’s visitation has increased and has brought it back to must-see status. On December 30, the one-millionth passenger squeezed in just before the new year.
The Phu Kradueng Mountain cable car project in Thailand is on hold. A 4.4-kilometer system was proposed to reach the top of Phu Kradueng Mountain in 1981 and was later revived in 2012. The decision to proceed with the project is heavily reliant on another study that is set to be completed in 2025. Some arguments for the project include accessibility for the elderly, while others argue that the project would increase tourism which would then increase waste and destruction of the park. The government approved an additional 28 million baht ($804K USD) for a study focusing on the environmental and economic impacts as well as the engineering system.

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29
Dec

2023

Weekly Roundup: Improved Glacier Access to Come at the Mer de Glace

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A new gondola system is in the works at Chamonix-Mont Blanc Valley, France, as Chamonix seeks to add additional access to the legendary Mer de Glace. As the size of the glacier is directly impacted by the growing climate crisis, Chamonix hopes that this new system will help better illustrate the glacier’s visible changes to its 350,000 annual visitors. Image credits to Sylenius, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

New gondola parts for the Eaglecrest Ski Area system to add extra cost in Juneau, Alaska. The original system was purchased from an Austrian ski resort for $2 million and shipped for $1 million. However, the system will need extra towers and parts in order to have a mid-station. It is estimated that these additional parts may cost an added $1.86 million. These extra costs will leave about $6.5 million left for construction from the $10 million revenue-sharing agreement made with Goldbelt, Inc. SCJ Alliance, the parent company of the Gondola Project, has been retained to provide gondola expertise for this project. See a related Weekly Roundup here.
Lone Peak Tram opens to the public at Big Sky Resort in Montana. The Aerial Tram has two cabins, each of which can each carry more than 70 passengers. The Lone Peak Tram replaced the previous, 28-year old jig-back system, which only held 15 people per cabin. Big Sky plans to add another gondola spanning from the parking lot to the base of the Lone Peak Tram to improve access for skiers and non-skiers to get to the resort. See a related weekly Roundup here.
New gondola to open January 2024 at Mer de Glace in France. Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) is the largest glacier in France and draws 350,000 visitors annually. The new gondola will have 16 10-passenger cabins and will ferry guests from the train station, Montenvers Station, to the glacier and the ice caves below. See related weekly roundup here.

Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

22
Dec

2023

Weekly Roundup: Dodger Stadium Gondola System Inching Closer to Construction

Post by Gondola Project

Preparations for the LA ART gondola system continued as the final environmental impact report (EIR) is released. The system, though controversial to some, would keep 5,000 people off of Los Angeles roads and 3,000 cars out of stadium parking lots each game day. Image credits to Pix4free (CC0).

LA ART final environmental impact report (EIR) released by LA Metro. The report is over 3,700 pages and outlines the benefits of the gondola system and potential negative impacts on the environment during construction. The project is anticipated to eliminate 3,000 vehicles from the Dodger Stadium parking lot each game. The LA Metro board is set to vote on the EIR in January. If all goes well, the new system could be up and running by the 2028 Olympics. SCJ Alliance, the parent company of the gondola project, is retained for gondola expertise on this project.
Monorail to be replaced by cable car system at the Newark Airport in New Jersey. Port Authority has approved two contracts totaling $950 million for the project. Doppelmayr has been awarded the first-phase contract. The system will be designed similarly to those present in airports in Mexico City and Las Vegas and will feature 5 cars in a row. Construction on the system is expected to begin in 2025 and be completed in 2029. The new system will replace a troubled monorail, which was initially constructed for $354 Million in 1996.
First ever Karaoke Gondola launched by Ricola on Männlichen Cable Car in Switzerland. Two new gondola cabins allow guests to select from 36 different hits, grab the two microphones and sing away on the 20-minute ride through the Swiss Alps. The new cabins also feature a built-in camera for snapping a picture of the experience. The grand opening for these new cabins was December 9^th as they now rotate on the line for anyone to participate.
Steamboat Resort opens North’s America’s longest and fastest 10-person gondola. The new Wild Blue Gondola connects the base to a the top of Sunshine Peak in 13 minutes. The system spans 3.16 miles and runs at 7 meters per second on its second leg. The system carries 171 cabins and has the largest direct drive in the world as well as the largest diameter haul rope in North America. Construction for the system began in spring 2022 with the first leg being completed last winter season. Now with the full launch, the system opens up an additional 600 acres of terrain for skiers. This long and high-speed gondola system increased the capacity from the base of the mountain from 6,000 people to 10,000 people per hour. SCJ Alliance, the parent company of the gondola project, is retained for gondola expertise on this project.

Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

01
Dec

2023

Weekly Roundup: Birthday Upgrades in the Works for Manakamana Cable Car

Post by Gondola Project

Announced on the system’s 25th anniversary, these updates will bring the Nepalese cable car into the digital era, phasing out the analog technology it’s relied on since opening. Other improvements include replacing the control system, communication cables, and cabins. Image credits to Dhilung, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Blue Mountain Resort considers adding a year-round gondola to the area. The new system would have its base station at the Plunge parking lot, allowing tourists and resort visitors to take the gondola up to the top of the mountain year-around. A new lodge would be constructed near the base station and feature different amenities. The project is currently going through the approval process.

Manakamana cable car is undergoing upgrades following its 25^th anniversary. The analog technology will be replaced with the newest digital system, D-Connect, from Doppelmayr. Other upgrades include replacing the control system, communication lines, cabins, and adjustments to the towers, all of which is estimated to be completed by 2024. These renovations are estimated to cost Rs 450 million ($5.4 million USD).

New Zealand considers cable car alternatives for transit solutions. The Urban Transport Solutions Report, released by Doppelmayr, proposes 10 cable car routes throughout Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. The next phase for Doppelmayr is to find the best planning and transport agencies to partner with. The article goes into more detail on some of the specific alignments that are considered. It is also noted that there were 20 total alignments studied, with only half released in the report.

Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.

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