
World's steepest funicular railway opens in Switzerland - DoreenMichele
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/high-point_world-s-steepest-funicular-railway-opens-in-switzerland/43758880
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bonniemuffin
Apparently I had no idea how to interpret percent grade numbers, because I
would've thought a 110% grade was impossible or meant going directly vertical
or something.

But actually the internet tells me it represents rise/run as a percent, so a
110% grade is slightly more than a 45 degree angle. The more you know!

~~~
igitur
So a 90° angle is... infinity%?

~~~
mikestew
It’s related to a ratio. A ~6 degree slope would have you dropping one meter
for every ten meters you move forward: 10%. 45 degrees means one meter for
every meter forward: 100%. Keep plotting that out and it approaches infinity
as you reach 90 degrees (or just ask, “for every meter forward, how many
up/down?” if it is 90 degrees.)

~~~
lisper
The problem is that "forward" is ambiguous. You can measure it relative to
your direction of travel, or perpendicular to the gravitational vector. For
small gradients these are more or less the same, but the steeper the slope the
more these two measures diverge.

~~~
usrusr
Fortunately, as 110% it's not ambiguous anymore.

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_nalply
I went with my family before they shuttered the old funicular. The old
funicular was expensive to maintain and prone to interruption by falling
rocks. So they decided to scrap the old funicular and build a new one. However
not everything worked out to plan. After all there was a two-year delay. They
underestimated the difficulties the steep grades created. For example they had
to tether all workers to ropes. Tools falling down turned into dangerous
projectiles. Tunnel boring machines had to use a climbing contraption to bore
literally upwards. An so on.

By the way would have Elon Musk helped by combining his Boring Company and
SpaceX to bore upwards?

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nmcfarl
There are a few videos of the built thing running on YouTube, and
[http://stoos-muotatal.ch](http://stoos-muotatal.ch) none of which are perfect
but this is my fav:

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C5YoI5F3xEw](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C5YoI5F3xEw)

~~~
EwanG
One more for consideration - does a nice job of showing how the cars work:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se4KrC0nfGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se4KrC0nfGE)

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svarrall
The Scenic Railway in the Blue Mountains, NSW is listed at 52deg so I believe
it’s still steeper?

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katoomba_Scenic_World#Railwa...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katoomba_Scenic_World#Railway)

~~~
thomasahle
Unless they've used 400deg degrees to make it sound steeper. In that case, the
Scenic Railway would be slightly less steep.

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PuffinBlue
I went on this one once, it's actually the worlds oldest I think. Short, but
incredibly steep!

[https://www.salzburg.info/en/travel-info/arrival-
traffic/cab...](https://www.salzburg.info/en/travel-info/arrival-
traffic/cable_railway)

<del>I can't find any info on an exact percentage but I'm surprised another
railway beat it as it really is very steep</del>

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m507EEHp34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m507EEHp34)

EDIT: 62% according to wikipedia (once I found the right name for this
railway). That's less than half the one linked in this post. Impressive!

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Animats
Intamin offers comparable systems.[1] Intamin is primarily a roller coaster
manufacturer. As a sideline they offer the "Mountain People Mover", which uses
roller coaster track and wheel systems. It's electric drive, not cable drive,
so it's a people mover, not a funicular. The track can be much more curved, in
all axes, than with a cable driven system.

Intamin offers the tilting cabin option, but their existing installations
don't use it.

At some inclination, cable-driven systems are considered elevators. The George
Washington Masonic Temple has cable-hauled elevators which are 82.5 degrees
from horizontal. This is a 759% slope. They're tilted in two axes, because the
building is a narrowing tower with big meeting rooms on several floors, and
the elevators don't break up the space.

[1]
[http://www.intamintransportation.com/transportation/Mountain...](http://www.intamintransportation.com/transportation/MountainPeopleMover/tabid/119/language/de-
DE/Default.aspx)

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chris_st
I rode the cog railway up Pike's Peak a few years ago.

If you EVER get a chance to ride the train documented here, or any other such
train, BY ALL MEANS take it. The views are just spectacular. And, on a train,
you're not distracted by driving, so you can watch the view the whole time.

~~~
wavefunction
There used to be a funicular nearly adjacent to the starting point of the Cog
Railway that would have given the Swiss one a run for its money, as the
Manitou Incline hit 68° in some points. The Manitou Incline shuttered in the
90s after a rockfall damaged the tracks. It's a popular endurance trail now,
with people 'running' up the old incline track to the top of Mount Manitou.

I'd like to second your post though. I took the Cog Railway up to the summit
of Pikes Peak right before Christmas a few years ago and we were blessed with
having to stop as a herd of Rocky Mountain big-horn sheep moved across the
path. There is a protected lambing area on the backside of the mountain which
of course I've never visited but to see these animals up close at 11,000 feet
was spectacular.

Plus you can buy fresh donuts and coffee up at the summit. A nice way to visit
14,000 feet if you're not inclined to the wonderful but strenuous Barr Trail.

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s0rce
For the California/bay area folks there is a tram from Silver Lake to Lake
Agnew over in the Eastern Sierra (near june lake) that has a max of about a
105% grade. Sadly, you can't ride it but you can hike up parts and around the
station at the top. Even trying to climb up is quite a challenge. Its quite
amazing. Built in 1915 to support construction/operation of the Lake Agnew and
Gem Lake dams. I suggest going up in the fall when the aspen are changing
color.

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bmc7505
At what point does a funicular become an elevator?

~~~
discohead
At precisely 90 degrees.

~~~
mikeash
Apparently not!
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incline_elevator](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incline_elevator)

It seems the distinction is that funiculars operate in balanced pairs, while
elevators are independent units.

~~~
mordechai9000
I went to Germany this year and I made a point of planning a visit to a
funicular. To my great disappointment, the funicular we found in Freiburg am
Breisgau used a counterweight instead of another car. Now I wonder if it was
really a funicular at all.

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sndean
Looking at an image in a Guardian article about it
([https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/15/world-
steepest...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/15/world-steepest-
funicular-rail-line-open-switzerland)) what is the purpose of those panels
further up the mountain on either side of the tracks?

Is that to try to catch the train if it falls off the tracks?

~~~
pierrebeaucamp
Those are avalanche protection fences

 _Edit:_ s/avalanche protection/snow/g

>
> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_fence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_fence)

~~~
Bluestrike2
Specifically, they're called snow sheds[0] as they're angled to capture and
hold snow deposits, serving as a physical obstacle to accumulated snow that
could then later slide. The big risk there would be a slab avalanche,[1]
possibly triggered by the funicular's own vibrations. Because the snow sheds
are directly supporting any heavy deposits of snow, they isolate the slab from
a weaker snowpack that'd otherwise be underneath it.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_shed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_shed)

[1]
[https://www.meted.ucar.edu/afwa/avalanche/navmenu.php?tab=1&...](https://www.meted.ucar.edu/afwa/avalanche/navmenu.php?tab=1&page=2.3.0)

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DonHopkins
Is "funicular" the name of some new neural network hill climbing technique?

~~~
bitL
I bet somebody will read your comment and name their next method that way :D

~~~
mikeash
It would be a good name for a network that learns by making some other network
stupid.

~~~
bitL
FunicuGAN?

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zyztem
Seems strangely inexpensive to me. Serious engineering, special train, 1.3 km
construction on difficult terrain and only 45 mln. Euro?

In comparision, new Dublin tram line - COTS cars, 6 km line for 368 mln Euro.
Or Detroit Qline, $180 mln. for 5.3 km line.

~~~
willyt
Trams are expensive because of all the pipes and cables under the street that
have to be moved. Also a funicular train is driverless and unpowered, more
like big elevator car than a train.

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quotemstr
A vertical railway is just an elevator, isn't it?

