Aleksotas Funicular Railway
Encyclopedia
Aleksotas Funicular Railway is a funicular railway located in Aleksotas
Aleksotas
Aleksotas is an elderate in the southern section of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, bordering the left bank of the Neman River . Its population in 2006 was 21,694....

 elderate of Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. The funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

 constructed on the right bank of the Neman River
Neman River
Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

  was officially opened on 6 December 1935. The track of the Aleksotas funicular remained unchanged. It is a monorail with a separation in the centre of the track for carriages to pass. Special automatic brakes were installed in carriages not to let them run down in case of cable damage. The length of funicular is 142 metres, gradient
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....

 - 29.5 degrees. Authentic traction equipment, including the genuine pre-war wagon, wooden seats, and stop platforms of the funicular are still used.

The funicular climbs from the end of the Vytautas the Great Bridge
Vytautas the Great Bridge
Vytautas the Great Bridge, also known as Aleksotas Bridge before 1930 and from 1940 until 23 February 2008, crosses the Nemunas River to connect Aleksotas and Old Town in Kaunas, Lithuania. Its length exceeds 256 meters, and its width is of 16 meters. The means of payment for the building of the...

 to the Aleksotas hill from where the panorama of the Old Town
Centras (Kaunas)
Centras is an elderate in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, based on two neighbourhoods of Kaunas - the Old City and the New City. It lies at the confluence of two major Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris....

of Kaunas can be experienced. It was included into the Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Republic of Lithuania in 1996.
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