Cologne cable car
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The Cologne Cable Car (formerly Rheinseilbahn ) is a 935 meter long cable car in Cologne that crosses the Rhine . It was built for the Federal Horticultural Show in 1957 and connects the two banks of the river in Riehl and Deutz at the level of the zoo bridge . The operator is the Kölner Seilbahn-Gesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of the Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe (KVB) since 1998 . The cable car has carried over 20 million passengers so far. In addition to the cable car, which is mainly used for tourism , the construction of a 33-kilometer cable car system will complement theLocal transport in Cologne ( public transport ) discussed.
history
The former Zollstocker company Julius Pohlig was a company that had existed since 1894 for highly qualified conveying technology for any application. In the run-up to the planning for the BUGA 1957, following a council resolution of July 21, 1955, the company was commissioned to connect the Rheinpark in its northern area with the facilities of the Cologne Zoo on the left bank of the Rhine and the Flora in the opposite district of Riehl by means of a cable car . First of all, the regional president's concerns had to be allayed until construction could begin in February 1956. The technology for the planned cable car comes almost entirely from Cologne. The pendulum supports, which weigh up to 35 tons, came from Pohlig AG in Zollstock, the stations were planned by a city architect and the ropes were supplied by Felten & Guilleaume from the Mülheim plant.
The Cologne cable car cost 1.1 million DM and was put into operation on April 17, 1957 by the Mayor of Cologne Theo Burauen and the zoo director Wilhelm Windecker in time for the Federal Garden Show, which opened on April 26, 1957. It connected the exhibition grounds, the Rheinpark, with the bank on the left bank of the Rhine near the zoo and the flora. The first passengers were Federal President Theodor Heuss and the Federal Chancellor and former Cologne Mayor Konrad Adenauer . Even during the exhibition, the cable car transported 1.35 million guests, 2400 people per hour were a world record; The return trip cost 1.70 DM.
On September 3, 1963, the Rheinseilbahn ceased operations due to the construction of the zoo bridge and was dismantled because the pillar on the right bank of the Rhine stood in the way of the new zoo bridge. At first it was questionable whether the cable car should ever be rebuilt. There were discussions about whether motorists would be irritated by the cable car over the bridge. The council decision of July 23, 1964 finally resulted in a restart, which provided for a modified route. The pylon on the left bank of the Rhine was slightly rotated, the pylon on the right bank of the Rhine was moved to the south and the route was extended to a station deeper in the Rheinpark with a new smaller pillar. The compulsory break lasted more than two years until the new station could be put into operation on a mountain of rubble . Since then, the cable car has been 250 meters longer than when it was originally planned. The cable car now crosses the “Claudius Therme” thermal baths, which were later built in the Rheinpark . On August 22, 1966, the cable car was opened again after the ropes had been extended to 935 meters. The new zoo bridge was opened on November 22nd, 1966.
Since 1998, the railway is part of the Group of Cologne transporting enterprises AG, and since 2008 there is the possibility, in a golden wedding cable car to civilly marry . In 2010 the Cologne singer and painter Wolfgang Niedecken designed three gondolas.
Incident 2014
On the afternoon of October 21, 2014, during the passage of storm “Gonzalo”, the cable car blocked after a cabin jumped off a rope. Six people, including a toddler and an infant, were trapped in two of the gondolas. Rescue workers from the Cologne fire brigade evacuated all passengers by abseiling from the affected gondolas by late evening. After dark, a family of four had to be abseiled from a cabin 40 meters above the Rhine to a fire engine . The cause was identified as the design of guide plates, which are responsible for “briefing” the cabins in the guide rails of the support pillars. In strong winds, if the cabin is tilted, they can get caught between the pull rope and the guide rail. As an immediate measure, the operating procedures were changed in strong winds, later the problematic components are to be replaced by more wind-resistant models.
Incident 2017
On the afternoon of July 30, 2017, a rope between the contact wires of the cable car was wrapped around a gondola for unexplained reasons, causing the cable car to come to a standstill at a pylon. Then 65 people from 32 gondolas had to be rescued by the fire brigade, as the railway could no longer be started. People were also roped onto motor boats standing in the river. Height rescuers from Düsseldorf and Aachen were also involved in the operation. The inmates were rescued before dark. In August it became known that the public prosecutor's office was investigating two employees of the operating company in connection with the incident, as there was an initial suspicion of negligent bodily harm . Because of the incident, extensive technical changes were made, which cost around 1.2 million euros. The cable car was put back into operation in March 2019.
Technical specifications
The Cologne cable car operates from March to November. It is a gondola lift or, more precisely, a two-cable gondola lift . The 41 cabins for 4 people can carry up to 1,600 people per hour.
The pillars are 36.4 meters on the left bank of the Rhine, 50.3 and 34.0 meters on the right bank.
- Driving distance: 935 meters
- Driving time: 6 minutes (at approx. 10 km / h)
- Direction of travel: right-hand drive
- Greatest incline: 40%
- Diameter and load capacity of the ropes:
- Suspension rope: 45 millimeters, 230,280 kg
- Pull rope: 22 millimeters, 30,000 kg
Annual visitor numbers
- 2006: 275,000 visitors
- 2007: 360,000 visitors
- 2008: 326,900 visitors
- 2009: 340,900 visitors
- 2010: 369,000 visitors
- 2011: 428,000 visitors
- 2012: 525,000 visitors
Web links
- Cologne Cable Car - Official Website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dozens of passengers rescued from the cable car. In: Der Tagesspiegel . July 30, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Tim Attenberger: Along the Rhine: Cologne cable car more realistic than expected - manufacturers interested. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger . November 14, 2019, accessed November 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Peter Fuchs (ed.), Chronik zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln , Volume 2, 1991, p. 291
- ↑ Kölnische Rundschau of March 27, 2007, 14 million gondolaed across the Rhine
- ↑ koelner-seilbahn.de - Floating in the 7th Heaven ... accessed on December 18, 2014
- ^ All passengers saved , in: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger online from October 21, 2014, accessed on October 21, 2014
- ↑ Ingo Schmitz: Safety gap in cable car closed . In: Kölnische Rundschau . from February 14, 2016. Cologne.
- ↑ Safety stop for the Cologne cable car - 65 people were evacuated from the gondolas. Kölner Seilbahn-Gesellschaft mbH, July 31, 2017, accessed on July 31, 2017 .
- ↑ Rheinseilbahn - Cologne fire brigade has to rescue 65 passengers from gondolas. Internet presence of the Kölnische Rundschau , July 30, 2017, accessed on July 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Tim Stinauer: Cable car breakdown: Cologne public prosecutor's office is investigating further KVB employees . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . ( ksta.de [accessed on September 3, 2017]).
- ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Emergency in Cologne: Public prosecutor's office is investigating employees of cable car operators - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Panorama. Retrieved August 18, 2017 .
- ↑ WDR from March 28, 2019, Cologne cable car is finally running again , accessed on March 28, 2019
Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 16.4 " N , 6 ° 58 ′ 31.4" E