Monorackbahn is a small

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

manufactured by the

Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers for ski areas, urban transport, amusement parks, and material handling systems. As of 2019, the group have produced over 15,000 installations in 96 countri ...

. Its style is derived from industrial monorails used in 1960s

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

. There are more than 650 Monorackbahn systems installed across

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

The idea for the development of the Monorackbahn started in the 1960's and came from Japan in the form of

slope car A is a small automated monorail, or a fusion between monorail, people mover, and rack railway. It is a brand name of . Since this mode of transportation is relatively unknown, it lacks widely accepted generic name, other than the simple "monorai ...

s which were used on

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

s. The original manufacturer Yoneyama Industry named them "Monorack" (モノラック, Monorakku) by 1966. The first models were primarily used for transporting bags of fruit in the beginning. Graventa designed similar systems for usage in vineyards in the 1960s which could also carry workers. It did pick up the brand name Monorack by 1976. The main difference between the Japanese and European systems was the type of rail being used for tracks with the Japanese systems using 4 cm and the European systems using 6 cm square tubing. The cooperation between Nikkari in Japan and Habegger in Switzerland started in 1975, so the Monorack tractors are mostly identical.Note: Nikkari adopted the name in 1973 while Habegger was sold to Van Roll in 1981. Graventa bought the rope business from Van Roll in 1996 including the Monorack systems. The Graventa system is designed for loads up to and 100 % (45°)

slopes In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is use ...

. In the newest system (as of 2021) an 48 Volt Li ion battery pack is used with a 6 kW motor. The base size of 3.6 kWh allows for 60 min of operation. Connector pads for the charging stations can be attached to the rail so that recharging starts automatically at the end points. The system is so prevalent in vineyards along the Rhine that it is also named ''Vinayard rail'' (German '). This is ambiguous as

Feldbahn A , or , is the German term for a narrow-gauge field railway, usually not open to the public, which in its simplest form provides for the transportation of agricultural, forestry () and industrial raw materials such as wood, peat, stone, earth an ...

system are also used for agricultural transportation including vineyards. Apart from usage in vineyards, Monorackbahn systems are also found at complex construction sites in Europe.

Types

File:Monoracktrasse bei Mundelsheim.jpg, Monorackbahn alignment in a vinayard near Mundelsheim File:Monorack.JPG, Diesel powered car of Monorackbahn in a vineyard near

Kobern-Gondorf Kobern-Gondorf is a municipality in the Mayen-Koblenz, district of Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Rhein-Mosel. Above the village are the two castles of Niederburg, Kobern, Nieder ...

File:Fahrzeug einer elektrischen Monorackbahn.jpg, Electrical people mover based on a Monorackbahn

References

External Links

* https://www.doppelmayr.com/de/systeme/monorack/ - home site at the Manufacturer * * https://www.vinitorum-quaterni.de/index.php?lang=de&page=monorack for a new vineyard {{commons category, Monorack systems Monorails in Germany Vertical transport devices