Massaua-Asmara cable car

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Photo taken after the Second World War
Foundations of a cable car mast above Nefasit (2011)

The Asmara-Massawa Cableway in Eritrea was at her commissioning in 1937 the longest ropeway in the world and the fourth longest in the world that has ever been built.

Construction and operation

It was built on behalf of the colonial administration of the then Italian colony of Eritrea 1935-1937 by the company Ceretti & Tanfani SA , Milan . The steel ropes were supplied by Giuseppe & Fratello Redaelli , Milan, and the machines were supplied by Franco Tosi , Legnano . The cable car was built to connect the port city of Massaua on the Red Sea with the capital Asmara at an altitude of around 2300 m . The highest point of the track was 2,326 m high. It was supposed to increase the transport capacity on this connection, as the narrow- gauge Massaua – Biscia railroad , which ran in tight curves through the mountains, was fully utilized.

The 75.07 km (according to other information 74.5 km) long route of the cable car ran over steep mountains and valleys, but not on a direct route, but in a slight curve to stay closer to the railway line, which was the delivery of the building materials and facilitated subsequent maintenance in the otherwise pathless area. The route consisted of around 500 iron truss columns and was divided into independent sections. The drive motors were in Zaga , Mai Atal , Dig-Digta , Sebarguma , Embatkalla , Nefasit , Goley and Asmara. The platforms could also be loaded and unloaded at three intermediate stations. The suspension ropes were 30 mm thick and the revolving traction ropes, which were initially driven by heavy oil diesel engines and later by electric motors, were 22 mm thick. The detachable transport platforms with 2-roller drives could switch from one section to the next without stopping on fixed rails. 1,540 platforms (770 in each direction) with a permissible load of 300 kg were used. Another 80 platforms were located in the end stations for loading and unloading or as a reserve. The platforms were sent out at a distance of 110 m and took seven hours to travel between the endpoints. The train had a conveying capacity of 30 t / h in each direction. Although the transport platforms were mainly used to transport goods, they were also used by people.

destruction

The British considered Eritrea after its conquest as war booty and sold numerous plants in the country to get the money for the war reparations that they were owed by Italy to get. Among other things, they sold the drive systems of the cable car, which was therefore considered "temporarily" shut down, but was never put back into operation. After the federation of Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1952, the Eritrean operating company was still called the Imperial State Railway and Cable Car Administration in Eritrea . The Ethiopian Viceroy for Eritrea sold the plant after 1952 for 5 million Ethiopian dollars (at that time the equivalent of about 2.5 million USD). A travel report published in 1959 describes the ruinous condition of the facility, which is only still there because the price of the scrap to be extracted is lower than the cost of demolition. However, the system was actually scrapped in the following time. Only the concrete bases of the masts remained. Today all freight traffic between Massaua and Asmara is done with trucks.

See also

literature

  • A. Arcangeli: La camionale Mar Rosso-Altiplano eritreo (Massaua-Nefasit-Decamerè) . Istituto grafico tiberino. Roma 1936.
  • V. Calderini: La camionabile Massaua-Decmerè dal Mar Rosso all'altopiano eritreo . In: Le strade XIX (1937), p. 84.
  • Richard Grönstedt: Pride of Eritrea . Stockholm / Södersudd 2010.
  • Mike Metras, description of the remains of the plant
  • Bocresion Haile Gebre Mussie: The Collusion on Eritrea . 2nd edition Asmara 2007.
  • Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst: Eritrea on the Eve . London 1952.
  • CS Small: Far Wheels. A Railroad Safari . London 1959. [After reprinted in excerpts in: HaRakevet 23/4 (2010), pp. 22-25.]

Web links

Commons : Massawa-Asmara Cable Car  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
  • La Teleferica Massaua-Asmara , facsimile of the illustrated brochure from Ceretti & Tanfani with Engl. Translation by Mike Metras, Dave Engstrom et Renato Guadino

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See: here .
  2. ↑ La Teleferica Massaua-Asmara , facsimile of the illustrated brochure from Ceretti & Tanfani with Engl. Translation by Mike Metras, Dave Engstrom et Renato Guadino
  3. ↑ Leonardo Oriolo: Asmara Style . Asmara 1998, p. 21.
  4. ↑ Mussie, S. 174th
  5. ↑ Mussie, S. 174th
  6. ↑ Mussie, S. 174th
  7. ↑ Grönstedt, p. 13, shows a photograph of it.
  8. ↑ Mussie. S, 115; Pankhurst, p. 16.
  9. ↑ Small, p. 24, col. 3; Robinson p. 38.
  10. ↑ Mussie, S. 174th
  11. ↑ Small.

Coordinates: 15 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  N , 38 ° 56 ′ 0 ″  E