"It flew inside a drop the feather and celluloid shell of the first pigeon." Federico Garcia Lorca
Developing accessible, efficient, safe and sustainable public transportation networks is one of the greatest challenges in Latin American cities.
The cable car, an attractive urban mobility option in Latin America
Published 29.06.23
10 mins read
In LatAm, the average commuting time from home to work takes more than an hour, with the cities of Bogota (83 mins.), Buenos Aires (76 mins.) and the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico (71 mins.) being the ones with the longest average commuting time, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). At the same time, the commission emphasizes that despite the fact that this region is one of the most urbanized in the world, only 43% of the urban population has convenient access to public transportation (2020). This figure is below the world average (51.6%) and far below the pattern of European and North American countries, where the rate is 90.6%.)
Alongside traditional urban transit modes such as metros, streetcars or BRTs, cable cars have multiplied in the region. Symbol of peaceful, safe and sustainable mobility, this type of transport has become an attractive urban mobility option for municipal governments. For example, La Paz (Bolivia) has the most extensive urban cable network in the world, with 10 lines, more than 30 kilometers long and an average of 160 thousand passengers per day (World Bank, 2021).
And this is because although each project must evaluate the relevance of the different modes of transport for its particular case, in terms of costs and capacity, cables usually have many points in favor, due to (I) energy savings, (II) savings in CAPEX and OPEX, (III) their integration with the rest of the transport system.
They are sustainable
Locally, the carbon footprint is reduced since direct emissions are zero, as the ropeways run on electricity. Overall emissions depend, of course, on how the host country produces the energy.
In the construction phase, emissions gains are also significant because cement is by far the largest generator of greenhouse gases in mass transit projects. However, when implemented in its area of relevance, TPC allows overcoming obstacles that would often only be possible with the construction of heavy infrastructure (bridge, tunnel or dedicated right-of-way) for any land mode.
Such is the case of the project for the first cable car in the Ile-de-France region, the "Cable A", which will connect the southern suburbs of Paris to the metro (line 8 in Creteil) from 2025, thus avoiding obstacles such as the ring road, high-speed train crossings, streetcars, etc.
In this project Egis is in charge of project management, engineering, as well as turnkey supply of the electrical works related to the transport system. Being part of the consortium that will integrate the stations and the cable car in the urban environment (layout of 5 stations, positioning But beyond the avoided crossing structures, the nature of the TPC requires little cement compared to other modes. With additional work on station construction materials, their use can be minimized (pylon foundations), thus reducing the impact on land use.of cables), design of cabins, reduction of noise pollution (through Egis subsidiary ACOUSTB), universal accessibility and reliability of the technology.
They are less costly for local governments
In construction (CAPEX), explains Bruno P. "most of the TPC costs are due to the stations (electromechanical system and station building). It is less infrastructure and passing structures than other modes of transport".
In operation (OPEX), the advantage of the TPC is that it uses few personnel (regardless of the number of cabins circulating and the capacity offered) and consumes little energy compared to overland means of transport of equivalent capacity.
They are easily integrated into the rest of the urban transport system
Like any mode, cable has its limitations, however, "it usually responds to a large number of urban mobility problems. We can see it working as a feeder to existing capacity networks: for example in 2021, Mexico City inaugurated the longest urban cable line in the world (10.5km), with the objective of connecting areas of high marginalization and population density in the Iztapalapa mayor's office, to the CDMX metro system. such as La Paz in Bolivia" (Mounir Chaouche - Turnkey Director at Egis).
In addition, it is a mode of transport that can be as close as possible to the users and to other modes of transport (overland or subway), limiting as much as possible the load breaks (elevators, escalators) and therefore the length of the routes. Mounir also insists on the importance of a detailed analysis of the topography of the site, and the proper consideration of the elevation constraints imposed by the cable technology to ensure its successful integration with other modes.
In conclusion, cable cars usually have a high level of social acceptability because:
- They contribute to favor a better social integration in the city, as was the case of 2 projects in which Egis was involved, doing the prefeasibility studies and the preliminary design of the cable in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil thanks to which the social link was restored by connecting the favelas with the subway, and designing the cable in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in the same way Egis was in charge of the management of its interfaces. This project improved the connection of low-income areas.
- They are a high-capacity, reliable, fast and safe means of transport. With more than 30 references and 100km of cable transport lines, we can confirm that CPTs can be built quickly and easily incorporated into the urban landscape.
Autoras.
Perrine ChauliacBusiness Development, Mexico and Central America, Egis Group
Laure-Helene FilholManager Chile