Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
Encyclopedia
| Table Mountain Aerial Cableway | |
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| City | Cape Town Cape Town Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality... |
| Country | South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... |
| Operated by | |
| Type | bi-cable aerial tramway Aerial tramway An aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion... |
| Vertical distance | 765 metres (2,509.8 ft) |
| Horizontal distance | |
| Duration of one-way trip | |
| Maximum speed | |
| Number of cars | 2 |
| Passenger capacity | |
| Daily round trips (passengers) | |
| Began service | 4 October 1928 |
| Tramway manufacturer | |
| Official website | www.tablemountain.net |
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway is a cableway to the top of Table Mountain
Table Mountain
Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa, and is featured in the flag of Cape Town and other local government insignia. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top...
in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is one of Cape Town's most popular tourist attractions with approximately 800,000 people a year using the cableway. On the 29 December 2004 the cableway passed its 16 millionth visitor.
The lower cable station is at an altitude of 302 m on Tafelberg Road near Kloof Nek. The upper cable station in on the westernmost end of the Table Mountain plateau, at an altitude of 1067 m. The upper cable station offers views over Cape Town, Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
and Robben Island
Robben Island
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km². It is flat and only a...
to the north, and the Atlantic seaboard to the west and south.
History
By the 1870s, Capetonians had proposed a railway to the top of Table Mountain, but plans were halted by the Anglo-Boer WarSecond Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. The City Council began investigating the options again in 1912, but this was in turn halted by the First World War. Despite initial cost estimates of GB£
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
100,000 (equivalent to £38,800,000 in 2011 pounds) to build the cableway the city's population was supportive of the project and in a referendum overwhelmingly voted in support of the project.
A Norwegian engineer, Trygve Stromsoe, presented plans for a cableway in 1926, and construction began soon after with the formation of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC). Construction of was completed in 1929 at a cost of GB£60,000 (equivalent to £11,400,000 in 2011 pounds) and the cableway was opened on October 4, 1929 by the Mayor of Cape Town
Mayor of Cape Town
The Mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. In the past, the position of Mayor has varied between that of an executive mayor actively governing the city and that...
AJS Lewis. The cableway has been upgraded three times since then. Sir David Graaff
Sir David Graaff, 1st Baronet
Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, 1st Baronet was a South African cold storage magnate and politician. Graaff revolutionized the cold storage industry in Africa. He founded the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company in 1899, and aggressively ran it until he left to serve in government. ...
, a leading industrialist, former mayor of Cape Town and government minister, also invested heavily in the project.
In 1993, the son of one of the founders sold the TMACC and the new owners took charge of upgrading the cableway. In 1997, the cableway was reopened after extensive renovations, and new cars were introduced.