How many cables does a cable car have?

The cables are over an inch in diameter, with six steel strands of 19 wires each wrapped around a core of sisal rope. Each cable car has a mechanical grip (two on the double-end California cars) which latches onto the cable, much like a huge pair of pliers.



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California Line (Red) It's the least busy of the three. It's also full of thrills as it climbs the steep hill from California and Market to the top of Nob Hill, then runs back downhill to Van Ness.

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The car will then slowly move forward, and a further, and stronger, pull locks the grip to the cable and brings the car up to its cruising (and maximum) speed, of 9.5 mph. To stop the car, the grip lever is thrown forward to disengage the grip, and the hand brake lever pulled on.

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After an average of 30 years, cable cars reach the end of their life, although some components such as cables have to be discarded considerably earlier. In some cases, legal requirements demand the removal of installations after just twenty years, so it is a good thing that cable cars have multiple lives.

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Cable cars average about an accident a month and routinely rank among the most accident-prone mass transportation modes in the country per vehicle mile traveled annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Over the last 10 years, city officials have reported 126 accidents injuring 151 people.

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The car travels along the cable on rollers, pulled by a separate cable that does move. At the bottom station the hauling cable is routed around a large motor-driven drum, equipped with a brake. To slow down, the motor stops driving the drum, or in an emergency, the brake is applied.

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Cavalese is located in the Dolomite Mountains, about 20 miles northeast of Trento, Italy. In 1976, 42 people there, including 15 children, lost their lives when the cable holding up their ski-lift car snapped.

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Cable cars are one of the safest modes of transport in existence. According to a survey, there are 0.35 incidents per billion kilometres. In itself, this figure is already not high, but if you consider only gondola railways used exclusively in cities, then the figure is significantly lower.

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Cable cars average about an accident a month and routinely rank among the most accident-prone mass transportation modes in the country per vehicle mile traveled annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Over the last 10 years, city officials have reported 126 accidents injuring 151 people.

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