The Eyüp Gondola, a.k.a. Eyüp–Piyerloti Aerial Cable Car, () is a two-station

gondola The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...

-type line of

aerial lift An aerial lift, also known as a cable car or ropeway, is a means of cable transport in which ''cabins'', ''cars'', ''Gondola lift, gondolas'', or Chairlift, open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more Wire rope, cables. Aeria ...

passenger transport system located in Eyüp district of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Opened on November 30, 2005, the long line serves the Piyerloti Hill from Eyüp at the coast of

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( or ) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara, the waters of the ...

. It is operated under the line number TF2 by

Metro Istanbul Metro İstanbul is a public rail transport operator headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. Established in 1988, the company is responsible for operating most of Istanbul's rail systems, including the Istanbul Metro, Istanbul Tram, funiculars and ae ...

. The fare is paid by the

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...

Istanbulkart Istanbulkart is a contactless smart card for fare payment on public transport in Istanbul, Turkey. It was introduced on March 23, 2009 in addition to the Akbil, an integrated electronic ticket system which was eventually phased out in 2015. The ...

, which is valid for all

public transport in Istanbul Public transport in Istanbul comprises a bus network, various Rail transport, rail systems, funiculars, and sea, maritime services to serve the more than 15 million inhabitants of the city spread over an area of . History Public road transpor ...

Gondola lift system

The line was built by the Italian company

Leitner Ropeways Leitner Ropeways is a business that manufactures and distributes products and equipment for ropeways, snow groomers, urban transportation systems, and wind energy in Italy and internationally. The company was founded in 1888 and was recognized in ...

of Leitner Group. It is a two-station overhead transport system with a single support tower in the middle of the line distance. The pulse-movement gondola (Mono-cable gondola fixed grip pulsed) system runs two sets of two fixed grip cabins in tandem, which are carried and hauled by a single rope. The two cabins slow down when approaching the terminal, and stop upon arrival at the platform. After simultaneous unloading and reloading, the cabins run back. The average line speed is . There are two sets of two unidirectional carriers of type GFR8 each capable of eight passengers. The base station is located on the

coast on an area of . The Eyüp station offers a parking lot for visitors. The return station, situated in front of the Pierre Loti Café, has an area of .

Safety

The safety system of the aerial lift line is automatically activated in case of emergency and stops the ride. Such dangerous cases are strong wind, derailing of the rope, stopping of cabin at incorrect station location and speed over limit. The failure is displayed on the control computer. In the event of a blackout, a

standby generator Standby generators A standby generator is a back-up electrical system that operates automatically.Robert B. Hickey ''Electrical Construction Databook'', McGraw Hill, 2002 , Chapter 14 Within seconds of a utility outage an automatic transfer s ...

ensures the travel of the cabins to the target station at a low speed of . Various technical data regarding the status of the line such as the distance of the cabins from the stations, cabin speed,

DC motor A DC motor is an electrical motor that uses direct current (DC) to produce mechanical force. The most common types rely on magnetic forces produced by currents in the coils. Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal mechanism, either el ...

current and

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...

, positions of the safety switches, failure checklist, active failures and wind speed motor are available to the station operators by computers. The seats in the cabin are foldable to make place for wheelchairs.

Specifications

* Line length: * Number of stations: 2 * Number of cabins: 4 (2 sets of 2 cabins in tandem) * Trip duration: 2.75 minutes * Operational hours: 8:00 - 23:00 (summer season), 8:00 - 22:00 (winter season) * Daily ridership: 4,000 passengers daily * Number of daily trips: 200 * Frequency: 5 minutes during peak hours * Commercial speed: * Maximum load capacity per single cabin (8 persons): 650 kg * Transportation capacity: 576 passengers hourly * Trip duration (including departure from one station and stopping at the other): 165 seconds * Average number of trips per hour: 18

Stations

Piyerloti Hill

The gondola line was built to provide easy access for local and foreign tourists to the Piyerloti Hill by avoiding a walk through the big

Eyüp Cemetery The Eyüp Cemetery (), aka Eyüp Sultan Cemetery, is a historic burial ground located in the Eyüp district, on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the General Directorate of Foundations. One of the oldest and largest Musl ...

on a hillside. At altitude, the Piyerloti Hill is named after the French naval officer, novelist and Orientalist

Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica Ele ...

(1850–1923), who used to visit the site during his time in Istanbul. The historic Rabia Kadın Café on the top of the hill, at which he used to drink

Turkish coffee Turkish coffee is a style of coffee prepared in a '' cezve'' using very finely ground coffee beans without filtering or settling to remove the grounds. Preparation Turkish coffee is very finely ground coffee brewed by boiling. Any coffee bean ...

, was later renamed also after him. Another establishment on the hill, of which name recalls him, is a restaurant named after his novel '' Aziyadé'', which is the name of the main character as an Ottoman woman. There are six historic mansions on the hill, which were restored in 2000 and converted into hotels having 130-bed capacity in 68 rooms in total. There is a coin-operated telescope on the observation deck at the Piyerloti station.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyup Gondola Transport in Istanbul Gondola lifts in Turkey Golden Horn Eyüp 2005 establishments in Turkey Transport infrastructure completed in 2005