Wellington Cable Car
The Wellington Cable Car is a funicular railway in Wellington, New Zealand. It carries passengers between Lambton Quay, the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city, rising 120 m over a length of 612 m. It is widely recognised as a symbol of Wellington.
Contents
Track and stations
The line consists of 628 metres of mostly straight 1 m (3 ft 33⁄8 in)-gauge single track with pine sleepers. The only curves are at the passing loop in the middle, at Talavera station. Except for the lowest part, the line rises at a constant grade of 1 in 5.06, through three tunnels and over three bridges.
The lower terminus is in Cable Car Lane, off Lambton Quay (). The upper terminus is next to the Wellington Botanic Garden at the city end of Upland Road, Kelburn's main street (). There are three other equally-spaced stations — from Lambton Quay, they are Clifton, Talavera and Salamanca (also referred to as University), all named after nearby streets.
Cars and propulsion
The Cable Car has two cars, which start from opposite ends of the line and pass in the middle. They are attached to each other by a 30-mm diameter cable, supported by 120 rollers, which runs round a pulley at the top of the hill. A 185-kW 550-V DC motor at the top of the hill drives the pulley. The Cable Car is a funicular rather than a true cable car: the cars are permanently attached to the cable, which stops and starts as required, while a cable car grips and releases a continuously-moving cable. Wheels on the south side of car 1 and the north side of car 2 have double flanges, while the opposite wheels on each car have no flanges, directing the cars to the correct side of the mid-way passing loop at Talavera.
The cars are designed to fit the grade, using internal steps to provide horizontal floors.
The normal operating speed is 18 km/h (5 m/s), with a maximum passenger load of around 100 (30 seated, 70 standing). Each car weighs approximately 13.5 t when empty and 21 t when full.
Passengers
The Cable Car is used by slightly under a million people each year. In the mornings and evenings, it is used by commuters travelling between Kelburn and the city; at other times of the day, it is used by people travelling between the city and the Wellington Botanic Garden, by students attending Victoria University and living in nearby student hostels, and by many tourists, especially during summer.
Ownership
The Cable Car is owned by Wellington Cable Car Ltd, itself owned by Wellington City Council. Wellington Cable Car Ltd also owns the overhead wires for Wellington's trolleybuses. Operation is contracted out to Australian company Transfield Services. Wellington Cable Car Ltd is responsible for awarding this contract and for the maintenance of cars and track, while Transfield Services employs drivers, sells tickets, and provides customer service. Unlike buses and trains, the Cable Car does not receive a subsidy, and is profitable.
Museum
The Wellington Cable Car Museum opened in December 2000. Located in the original winding house and a recently completed extension, it houses original grip cars 1 and 3 and electric winding gear. Car 1 is in red 1970s livery, including original advertising boards. Car 3 was restored in 2005 to a green livery dating from about 1905, and a bell from the San Francisco Cable Car was added. The winding gear is still in working order and runs a loop of cable, but the cable no longer leaves the building.
In the 1980s an original grip car and trailer were placed in the children's playground opposite Salamanca station. The gripping mechanism was removed, and they became a mock train.
History
At the end of the 19th century, Wellington was expanding rapidly, and, due to the city's hilly terrain, good building land was at a premium. When new residential developments were proposed for Kelburn, it was suggested that a cable car or funicular could be built to provide easy access. In 1898, a number of people prominent in development of the residential subdivisions founded the Kelburne & Karori Tramway Company. The plan was to build a tramway between the city and Kelburn, and link it by carriage to Karori, a settlement on the far side of Kelburn. The company began purchasing land for the construction of the tramway, and negotiated with the Karori authorities for a new road (now Upland Road) to link the upper terminus with Karori. In 1898, the City Council granted permission for the venture, on condition that it had the option to purchase the operation at a later date. The location of Victoria University of Wellington was influenced by the company's offer of a donation of £1000 if the University were located in Kelburn, so students would patronise the car when travelling between the city and the University.
The designer of the system was James Fulton, a Dunedin-born engineer. Fulton was responsible for both selecting the route and deciding the method of operation, a hybrid between a cable car and a funicular. Like a cable car, the line had a continuous loop haulage cable that the cars gripped using a cable car gripper, but it also had a funicular-style 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. There was a Fell type centre rail, used for emergency braking only. The line was double track, of 3 ft 6 in (1067 mm) gauge.
Construction began in 1899, involving three teams working around the clock. The line opened to the public on 22 February 1902. Demand was high, with thousands of people travelling each day. In 1903, a number of old horse-drawn Wellington trams were converted into cable car trailers, increasing capacity. By 1912, the annual number of passengers had reached one million. In 1933, the steam-powered winding gear was replaced by an electric motor, improving control and reducing operating costs.
In the 1940s, the Cable Car suffered from increased competition: City Council buses ran to Karori and other western suburbs, bypassing it. The company believed that it was inappropriate for the City Council to compete with a private company, and a legal dispute broke out. The argument ended when the City Council agreed to purchase the company, which occurred on 13 February 1947.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Cable Car was the subject of complaints about safety and comfort. The old wooden cars were increasingly considered antiquated. In 1973 a worker on the new motorway suffered serious injuries in an accident when he stepped in front of a Cable Car, prompting a review. The Ministry of Works concluded that aspects of the Cable Car were unsafe, particularly the use of unbraked trailers, and called for the system to be scrapped. The trailers were withdrawn, considerably reducing capacity.
The Upgrade
Despite public protests led by mayor Michael Fowler, the line closed on 22 September 1978 for installation of new steel cars and equipment by Habbegger AG of Switzerland, becoming a full funicular. The line re-opened on 22 October 1979.
Initially, the refurbished Cable Car suffered a number of problems. The service was frequently interrupted for technical reasons and for extensive safety checks. Largely as a result of these problems, patronage dropped to a low of 500,000 in 1982. After a serious accident in 1988, which put the cars out of service for months, the system underwent a major revamp. This solved most of the problems and patronage has steadily increased since then. A safety survey is conducted annually at the end of October, and takes four days.
Deregulation
In 1991, when passenger transport was deregulated, there was speculation about the future of the Cable Car. Councils could no longer provide transport services directly, having to either privatise or corporatise their operations. The City Council sold its bus operation, and it was thought by some that the same would happen to the Cable Car, but due to public pressure it retained ownership of the Cable Car and the trolleybus overhead wiring, with operations and maintenance contracted out separately.
Initially, both contracts were won by Harbour City Cable Car Ltd, a joint venture between the Stagecoach Group, which had purchased the buses, and East by West, a Wellington ferry operator. In 1994 the City Council decided to carry out its own maintenance, and Wellington Cable Car Ltd established its own maintenance capacity. In 1997 the operations contract was won by Serco, which was later purchased by Transfield Services.
In July 2006 renovation of Lambton station began, to improve its looks and accessibility. The works were budgeted at NZ$1.3 million, scheduled to be completed in early November. On 18 December the renovated station came into use, with automated turnstiles (and a substantial price rise). The new automation and computing systems currently suffer from many malfunctions, resulting in free trips for concession card users. It is understood problems with the new equipment will shortly be overcome.
