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Chapter 11

AERIAL ROPEWAYS

In areas where labour may be scarce, the terrain difficult and the distance
to be covered long, ropeways have for well over a hundred years proved the
ideal answer for handling minerals at low to medium capacities. This mode of
application continues to be applied on a world wide basis - for example, in
India there are approximately 5 new bi-cable ropeways constructed each year,
with a like requirement for mono-cable ropeways. Often to allow greater
carrying capacity, ropeways are arranged as parallel systems, each being
capable of 600 t/h.

An aerial ropeway may be defined as a transport system in which the transit

material is carried in purpose made cars, suspended from overhead ropes. The
ropes are of a special construction as covered in Chapter 2. The ropes are
carried by trestles, typically fabricated from rolled steel angle sections, see
Fig. 11.1., but may be of timber or concrete construction, as local conditions
dictate. The distance between trestles can be considerable and thus the span
may traverse extremely undulating terrain including otherwise inaccessible
places such as a deep gorge. The advantages of aerial ropeways include:

(a) an independence of adhesion between wheel and rail as in road or rail

transport, and may thus negotiate steep gradients of up to 1 in 2, cf.
1 in 3 for conveyors
1 in 4 for trucks
1 in 30 for locomotives,
(b) an independence of terrain difficulties which possibly enables the
selection of the most suitable (shortest) route, being uninfluenced by gradient
or bridging problems which may beset road or rail transport,
(c) the ability to cross land used by the owner for other purposes, although a
wayleave rental may be required,
(d) the ability to continue operation in fog, rain or snow,
(e) a lower power cost than any alternative system for handling equivalent
quantities over the same route,
(f) the ability to traverse adverse terrain such as mountainous or swampy
country or even dense forests, and
(g) the capacity for ready automation.

For all practical purposes there is no limit to the length of a ropeway