Cable car of the NH Hotel Prague

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Cable car between two of the two buildings of the Mövenpick Hotel in Prague-Smíchov
Cable car between two buildings of the Mövenpick Hotel in Prague-Smíchov

The cable car of the NH Prague City hotel (until October 2012: Hotel Mövenpick) is an inclined lift (technically a funicular ) that runs between two buildings of the NH hotel in the Smíchov district of the Czech capital Prague . The opening took place in 1996. It crosses a footpath on the hill between the two stations and otherwise does not drive directly over or next to an inhabited area.

history

prehistory

The plans for a direct connection of two buildings of the Mövenpick Hotel in Prague - Smíchov with a rail-based means of transport go back to 1989 . Immediately after the political change in the CSSR that year, people remembered the originally two funiculars that ran from the city center to two surrounding hills . However, the construction of a full-fledged railway of this type in the style of the only remaining Petřín funicular , opened in 1891, proved to be much too complex and expensive, albeit on a much smaller scale, mainly because of the relatively short travel distance.

Construction and opening

The solution seemed to be the construction of an inclined elevator , a means of transport on the border between the funicular and an elevator , which is also driven by a rope (in the classic case), but whose travel path, unlike the latter, is not vertical. The numerous inclined elevators from Valparaíso in Chile , which connect the higher-lying parts of the city with the lower-lying ones, served as an ideal model . In this case, however, the construction of a conventional type of system was out of the question, as the important aspects of comfort and safety had to be taken into account in each case and the available space did not allow this anyway.

The contract for the construction went to the Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr , whose division Doppelmayr Cable Cars (DCC) , which specializes in the construction of cable cars that run on rails or other special routes, is building a small inclined elevator in the style of its own Automated People Mover - APM ( German: Automated Passenger Conveyor ) constructed. The one-piece track of the railway is reminiscent of a monorail , and this inclined elevator can be seen as an interim solution from a classic inclined elevator and monorail due to its special construction. The inclined elevator opened after a year of construction together with the Mövenpick Hotel, which was renovated at the same time, in 1996.

Although this railway is almost always unofficially referred to in Czech as (pozemní) lanová dráha or lanovka (funicular) (since no distinction is made here between funicular and inclined lift), technically speaking it is undeniably an inclined lift. As a result, in rare cases the lift has recently been called the Šikmý výtah Hotel Mövenpick (Hotel Mövenpick Inclined Elevator ). However, it also happens in the English- speaking world that this or other inclined lifts are technically incorrectly classified as Mövenpick Hotel funicular (Mövenpick Hotel Funicular), more rarely and no less incorrectly as Mövenpick Hotel cable train or Mövenpick Hotel cable car ( Mövenpick Hotel Kabelbahn) - as can also be read on the hotel's website - the correct name would be Mövenpick Hotel inclined elevator . Officially, this facility is not a cable car and it is not subject to the Railway Act, unlike cable cars.

The only cabin of this inclined elevator is set in motion by two electrically driven wire ropes , but its travel path does not consist of railway or tram (similar) rails that are attached to the floor and / or an inclined surface or bridge, as is the case with conventional funiculars or inclined elevators but rather from a combined system made up of several prefabricated parts that is mounted on beams. For this reason, but also because of the relatively small size of the entire system and because the one-piece running rail is a type of construction based roughly on that of Doppelmayr's own cable-drawn gondola lifts, the track width is 550 (although this cannot actually be specified) mm, this is the distance between the two running gear consisting of a set of 16 smaller, externally invisible wheels with flanges . The ropes are not guided by rollers between the track, but a little above it with pulleys at the crossings at the top and bottom stations. With a length of 156 m, the route overcomes a height difference of 51 m, the gradient is 45 °. The average speed between the two hotel buildings is 2 m / s and the travel time is 1.3 minutes (78 seconds). The cab has two independent braking systems .

The cabin of the train, in a strong signal red color , is rather small in terms of dimensions and arranged at a 45 ° angle (corresponding to the incline) horizontally to the route, so that it has a level floor. It is made entirely of steel , has two-part sliding doors on each side and is glazed on all sides. Their maximum capacity is 16 people. With this, the train can transport a maximum of 372 people per hour.

business

The inclined elevator runs driverless and fully automatically in shuttle traffic, it is operated by hotel guests like an elevator as required and is available around the clock.

Technical specifications
  • Height of mountain station: 256  m nm
  • Difference in altitude: 51 m
  • Max. Slope: 45 ° (100%)
  • Main drive power: approx. 30 HP (23 kW )
  • Number of drive ropes: 2
  • Drive rope diameter: 20 mm
  • Max. Travel speed: 2.5 m / s
  • Average travel speed: 2.0 m / s
  • Travel time: approx. 1.5 minutes
  • Number of vehicles: 1
  • Cabin capacity: 16 people
  • Opening year: 1996

Other Prague funiculars

Web links

Commons : Cable car of the NH Prague City hotel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files