How it works? | | Rail lift

Last week, we told you about how a cable car works, today we are talking about another type of cable car - rail. Vehicles that carry passengers or cargo on them are called cable cars. For the first time the use of the funicular as a passenger transport was proposed in 1825, and after almost 30 years the idea was realized simultaneously in the Italian city of Genoa and the Austrian Sommerge. Today in the world there are about 400 railroad cable cars. Most of them are located in the US and Switzerland. How does a railroad cable car work? This is in today's issue!

There are two main types of funiculars: one-car and two-car. The principle of operation of the first of them is quite simple: the engine located on top of the cable car alternately raises and lowers the car with a rope. On some roads, the operator controls the movement by using a mechanical grip. The grip compresses the rope, which moves in a special groove beneath the surface. In order to stop the car, it is enough for the operator to release the grip. The rope continues to move unceasingly.

The most common type of funicular with two non-motor wagons. They are rigidly connected by a rope, thrown over a pulley. The pulley itself and the motor that rotates it are also located on the upper station of the funicular. The engine drives the rope laid between the supporting rails, at the ends of which the wagons are fixed. Thus, they always move and stop at the same time, and move apart exactly in the middle of the line. Such a scheme is the most economical: the energy is spent not on lifting and lowering cars, but in fact on moving the difference in the weight of two differently loaded carriages, as well as overcoming frictional forces and braking. It should be noted that the movement of the rope moving the cars is reversible. Its direction changes whenever the car or wagons reach the end of the line.

If a two-car cable car has only one pair of rails, then in the middle of the route a two-track section is made, so that the counter cars can disperse. Wagons on such roads have different wheels on opposite sides. On the wheels of the left side there is a rim with a double ridge, and on the right side there is a smooth rim. When approaching the journey, wheels with a double crest cause the car to always go to the left track.

If a rope bursts on the rope way or its tension is weakened, the spring that presses the rail with wedges on both sides automatically triggers. This in the event of an accident prevents the possibility of uncontrolled rolling of the car from the mountain.

The cableway tracks are usually made fairly short - usually several hundred meters - with a steep gradient reaching 35 degrees. The slope of the cable car is usually constant, but sometimes it varies slightly in different areas. The cable cars are designed individually for each route, taking into account its steepness. In this case, the funicular lines never form a network, do not branch out and do not intersect.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/eto-interesno/kak-eto-rabotaet-relsovaya-kanatnaya-doroga.html.