11 Jul Cable Car World 2022
The world’s 1st congress and trade fair for urban cable cars with the title – Cable Car World – took place from 21 – 22.06.2022 in Essen.
Under the motto “Home of new urban mobility”, numerous interested, international visitors came to attend the top-class presentations and then enter into an exchange with specially selected experts from the scene at the Mobility Lab.
The cable car planning office – Melzer & Hopfner – was supported by Ing. Daniel Mangold, who was also available to visitors as an expert at the Mobility Lab for questions and interesting discussions.
This trade fair, which focused on urban cable cars as a serious component of new urban mobility, got off to a successful start by showing the public the interfaces between cable cars and urban mobility. At the same time, tasks for cities and municipalities, as well as planning offices and transport developers, were formulated and the great potential and associated opportunities were presented.
As already mentioned, the centerpiece of Cable Car World was the Mobility Lab with the four themed areas of Society, Sustainability, Technology and Profitability, which were arranged in an open and spacious area. Here, visitors were able to come into direct contact with independent experts from various companies and institutions as well as with the three largest ropeway manufacturers in the world.
The offer for visitors to Cable Car World ranged from the planning and manufacture to the operation of finished cable car systems. An integral part of the trade fair was the specialist congress, at which more than 20 national and international experts discussed current issues relating to mobility with urban ropeways in four thematic blocks.
The starting point for the new trade fair was the numerous considerations in Germany and around the world to use more cable cars in public transportation in the future. While traffic on the terrestrial level takes up a lot of space and often comes to a standstill, the focus in Europe and worldwide is on the plus-one level. In particular, cable cars operate there, which are considered one of the safest means of transportation and have been in successful and reliable use at many locations for decades.
Summary of the 1st urban ropeway trade fair from the perspective of Ing. Swiss chard:
There is a lot to say in this context. One thing I noticed in the course of several personal conversations at Mobility Lab is that there is a tendency, if not an urge, in the urban ropeway scene to embellish, adapt and expand the proven and reliable ropeway technology to such an extent that the most essential advantages of the ropeway – short point-to-point connections in a straight line peppered with differences in altitude – almost fade into the background.
Ropeway ideas of many kilometers > 7km in a row, many stations in a network, decoupling complete cabin vehicles onto independent self-propelled chassis and much more lead, among other things, to the fact that the decision-makers themselves are often unsure what exactly represents the right ropeway technology for them.
As things stand today, I am certain that less is more. I am referring to the fact that the advantages of the cable car, which have existed for decades, should be utilized. Once again briefly mentioned:
- Short point-to-point connections à ideally up to 5km at a time
- Straight, fast connections as the crow flies
- Small footprint on the ground
- Continuous conveyor – no waiting times
- Short construction time
- Easy to dismantle
