Wuppertal cable car

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Wuppertal cable car
Location: Wuppertal
Mountains: Wuppertal South Heights
Length: 2800 m
Height difference: 165 m
Design type: Tricable gondola
Opening: proposed for 2025; Abandoned in 2019
Journey time: 9 minutes
Speed : 6 m / s (21.6 km / h)
Transport performance : 3500 (7000 in both directions) people / h
   
 0.0 Valley station: Central station 51 ° 15 ′ 16.7 ″  N , 7 ° 8 ′ 56.8 ″  E Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 16.7 ″  N , 7 ° 8 ′ 56.8 ″  E
   
 1.0 Middle station: University 51 ° 14 ′ 42.4 ″  N , 7 ° 8 ′ 48 ″  E
   
 2.8 Mountain station: Küllenhahn 51 ° 13 ′ 47.3 ″  N , 7 ° 8 ′ 36 ″  E

The Wuppertal Cable Car was a project to expand local public transport in Wuppertal. It should connect the main station in Elberfeld-Mitte with the university (Campus Grifflenberg) and the district Küllenhahn near the school center south on the Wuppertal south heights . However , the project was rejected in a public survey.

Starting position

At the front left is the post office building close to the planned valley station; top left the university and in the middle the white cafeteria building; At the top right the Küllenhahn telecommunications tower , behind which the South School Center is located.
The Küllenhahn bus station, behind it the South School Center

Wuppertal is a ribbon town with good transport connections along the valley axis with other public transport routes that are heavily used , especially in the direction of the southern heights. The route from the main train station to Küllenhahn ( Hahnerberg stop ) will be served by eight bus routes in 2015. These are lines CE64 and CE65 without a stop between the main train station and Küllenhahn, 607 and 635 on a direct route along Cronenberger Straße, 613 also on this route - but with a detour via Dürrweg, and lines 615, 625 and 645 via the area of University , which each run every 20 minutes, so that there are 24 trips per hour on this route. Four more lines run through the Hahnerberg district in the direction of the Cronenberg center.

Some of these lines run over the Grifflenberg , where the main campus of the Bergische Universität Wuppertal is located. This is directly connected by the two regular WSW mobile bus lines 615 and 645 , which also go to Küllenhahn, the bus lines 603 and 625 also run in the area of ​​the university. These four bus routes complement each other to a five-minute cycle, which is extended by two electric cars during lecture times; one with intermediate stops on the route from the main train station to the University Campus Grifflenberg to the Freudenberg campus and the Uni-Express , which takes up to eight journeys in 60 minutes without any further stops between the main train station and the Grifflenberg campus. All lines mentioned are served by articulated buses and create a dense shuttle service for students and residents between the main train station and the Grifflenberg campus, which is often overloaded, especially at peak times - at times, with up to 38 departures per hour towards the university and Hahnerberg, over 5300 rides are available.

Because of these two highly frequented destinations south of Elberfeld, the idea arose to open up the two quarters of Grifflenberg and Küllenhahn with a more efficient means of transport than the bus.

history

The idea of ​​building a cable car was known since a concept paper was presented by the Pro Bahn association in 2012 and was developed from over 130 proposals as one of 13 key projects by the end of 2013 as part of the Wuppertal 2025 strategy process. In a feasibility study, WSW mobil stated in May 2015 that the project could be implemented and operated economically, and that a maximum of 90 percent of the costs of around 51 million euros would be borne by funding programs. A subsequent preliminary study by the Schweiger engineering office with the participation of the Pro Bahn Association, the City of Wuppertal, the University and Deutsche Bahn confirmed the technical and topographical feasibility and developed the concept of a tricable gondola on the main train station – Grifflenberg – Küllenhahn line . On the occasion of these results, the citizens' initiative Seilbahnfreies Wuppertal was formed by mid-June 2015 , followed a month later by the counterpart Pro Seilbahn . In mid-July, the WSW offered both parties a trip to Koblenz including a visit to the cable car there, in order to gain new insights for both sides. The public discussions will continue until the end of 2015, after which the city council should decide whether the project will be continued and transferred to a plan approval procedure . Deutsche Bahn is planning to sell the individual property west of the train station, on which the valley station of the planned cable car is to be built, with various ancillary buildings to the municipal utilities. The decision to initiate a plan approval procedure by the Wuppertal city council was expected in 2019. [outdated]

In parallel with the European elections in 2019 on 26 May found by postal vote a plebiscite be held, it was decided with a concretization of the project. All Wuppertal residents with EU citizenship and a minimum age of 16 years were allowed to vote. The eligible voters from Wuppertal voted against a cable car with 61.59%. The turnout was 50.49%.

topography

District height Luftlinien-
distance 		Road distance As the crow flies Average gradient (road)
Elberfeld center 167 m ( SO ) - - - -
Grifflenberg 268 m 950 m Exit Bahnhofstrasse - stop cafeteria :
1.21 km 		10.6% 8.3%
Küllenhahn 330 m 1840 m Canteen stop - Hahnerberg stop :

2.6 km

Canteen stop - Schulzentrum Süd stop :

3.1 km

3.4% Mensa – Hahnerberg: 2.4%
Mensa – Schulzentrum Süd: 2.0%

Remarks:

  1. ↑ The straight line distance refers to the projected station points of the cable car
  2. ↑ The road distance refers to the Mensa stop in the direction of Küllenhahn, and the Universität stop in the direction of Elberfeld
  3. ↑ The height information refers to the main train station .

Project details

  • The cable car should travel from the main train station to the university in three minutes and reach Küllenhahn in a further six minutes. With a total travel time of nine minutes, it would have been faster than any other means of transport on this route.
  • The system was to be operated as a tricable gondola, as it, with the largest cabins, enables the highest transport performance per hour and direction for cable cars and also allows use with walkers or prams.
  • 45 gondolas were to be used on the route, with one gondola departing every 32 seconds. In the preliminary study, 41 cabins are named for the preferred variant.
  • The cable car was to have a total of six supports and an evacuation concept that would transport all cabins to the next station even if the drive failed.
  • According to a Doppelmayr illustration, the cable car could have carried 5,000 passengers per hour and direction, which would have been equivalent to 1,000 fully-used cars or 100 buses. According to the preliminary study, there should be 3500 passengers per hour and direction, which would correspond to 700 fully occupied cars or around 25 fully occupied buses with 141 seats.
  • The rope should be about 30 to 40 meters above the built-up area on average, at the university about six meters. The densest crossing height of 3.75 meters is between the route kilometers 1.57 and 1.60.

Public opinion

Shortly after the results of the feasibility study by the Wuppertal public utilities and the preliminary study by the Schweiger engineering office were published, the citizens' initiatives Seilbahnfreies Wuppertal and Pro Seilbahn were founded.

Advocates

At the beginning of July 2015, the Wuppertal City Marketing Association actively spoke out in favor of further pursuing the project and described the project as a "forward-looking, positive signal". The cable car would increase the attractiveness of the city and underline “the noticeable departure in Wuppertal”. Former Mayor Peter Jung and his successor Andreas Mucke see great opportunities in the project for the city and the affected districts, which would be further enhanced as a result. The project also met with approval from the university's employees and students, as well as the students at the school center, thanks to the faster connection to the city center. According to the Westdeutscher Zeitung, the number of supporters at the information events that took place until June 2015 was greater than that of the critics. The citizens' initiative Pro Seilbahn Wuppertal , founded in July, bundles further support . The Bergische Universität expects a cable car to bring enormous benefits for Wuppertal.

critic

The initiative Seilbahnfreies Wuppertal critically questions the meaning of the project and focuses on seven central topics:

Residents' privacy

The representatives of the initiative criticize the "curtailment" of the fundamental right to privacy , as the gondolas would sometimes run at a distance of only twelve meters above the residential buildings and operate for 16 hours a day.

Millions in debt through tax waste

It is criticized that the studies relied too much on empirical values ​​with regard to the calculation of possible costs. In addition, many costs are not listed, such as planning and infrastructure costs for parking spaces for cable car passengers or compensation payments, so that significant additional costs are expected.

Devaluation of the areas below the route

The devaluation of the affected areas by the erection of pillars up to 70 meters high is criticized. In addition, natural areas would have to be cleared and the quality of life of the residents would be reduced.

Planned cancellation of buses

According to the representatives, the lines 613, 615, 625, 635 and 645 discussed for the purpose of shortening the frequency go to 33 stops in the area of ​​the cable car route, which is also covered by two CityExpress lines. In addition, demand would fall sharply during holidays or lecture-free periods.

Another major construction site

Above all, the space required by the project is criticized; The supports alone would have to carry a weight of 275 t with suspension and pulling ropes as well as gondolas and passengers and required the construction of an area of ​​around 400 square meters. For the valley station, part of the main train station building would have to be demolished and the railway line built over, and part of Max-Horkheimer-Straße would have to be built over for the middle station.

Destruction of nature for construction traffic and railway lines

According to the initiative, forest sections would have to be cleared for at least two of the six pillars, and the construction and operation of the construction roads would endanger and drive away numerous animals, including bats, deer and foxes.

Hahnerberg as P + R for the city center

Plans are being criticized according to which the traffic situation in the city center is to be calmed down by operating the cable car with extensive parking spaces in the area of ​​the mountain station. A multi-storey car park or an underground car park would also have to be built for this. It is also feared that the cable car will mainly be used as an “outlet express” for the factory outlet center planned at the main train station .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Cable car 2025: route
  2. ↑ a b c Cable Car 2025: Project Cable Car
  3. ↑ a b c Cable Car 2025: Technology
  4. ↑ cf. Line map Wuppertal on vrr.de, status 2019 (PDF; 5.7 MB)
  5. ↑ WSW bus timetables , accessed on July 24, 2015
  6. ↑ a b c d e Preliminary study on feasibility , Ingenieurbüro Schweiger from May 17, 2015, p. 38 (PDF; 7.9 MB)
  7. ↑ a b Wuppertal 2025 Strategy Report , City of Wuppertal in November 2014, p. 20 (PDF; 260 kB)
  8. ↑ a b c cable car is possible , wsw-online.de from May 7, 2015, accessed on July 23, 2015
  9. ↑ a b c Homepage of the citizens' initiative Seilbahnfreies Wuppertal
  10. ↑ New citizens' initiative mobilizes against the cable car ( memento from July 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), in Westdeutsche Zeitung from June 16, 2015
  11. ↑ a b Citizens' initiative Pro Seilbahn for Wuppertal founded , in Westdeutsche Zeitung of July 23, 2013
  12. ↑ Test drive does not convince everyone , in Westdeutsche Zeitung from July 20, 2015
  13. ↑ http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/panorama/wuppertaler-seilbahn-bau-weiter-in-der-schwebe-aid-1.6940721
  14. ↑ Andreas Boller: Cable car in Wuppertal possible again: Bahn wants to sell buildings to WSW . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung of July 6, 2018.
  15. ^ Wuppertal main station. The train moves. Wuppertaler Rundschau from July 7, 2018.
  16. ↑ Cable car decision: Council vote probably not until February 2019 . In: Cronenberg Week of November 27, 2018.
  17. ↑ Wuppertaler Rundschau: Vote: Cable car: project of the century or a superfluous millionaire grave? Retrieved May 6, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Westdeutsche Zeitung: Wuppertal residents cast their votes on the cable car project by postal vote. Retrieved May 6, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Citizens 'vote - Citizens' vote 2019 in the city of Wuppertal - overall result. Retrieved May 27, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Route , accessed on July 24, 2015 (PDF; 5 MB)
  21. ↑ Forward- looking, positive signal , in Wuppertaler Rundschau on July 8, 2015
  22. ↑ Jung for cable car and FOC , in Wuppertaler Rundschau from June 24, 2015
  23. ^ OB candidate Mucke: "Life in the southern part of the city must blossom" , in Cronenberger Woche on July 21, 2015
  24. ↑ David Fleschen: The cable car divides Wuppertal , in Die Stadtzeitung , July 2015, p. 3
  25. ↑ "Common sense precedes obstinacy" ( Memento from July 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), in Westdeutsche Zeitung from June 17, 2015
  26. ↑ website / the citizens' initiative Pro Seilbahn Wuppertal
  27. ^ A cable car for Wuppertal: Conversation with parliamentary groups at the Bergische Universität. June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017 .