Metrocable is a
gondola lift
A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate suppo ...
system implemented by the City Council of
Medellín
Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
,
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
, with the purpose of providing a transportation service that complements the
Medellín Metro
The Medellín Metro (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Metro de Medellín'') is a rapid transit system that crosses the Metropolitan Area of Medellín from North to South and from Centre to West. It first opened for service on 30 November 1995. As one ...
. It was designed to reach some of the city's
informal settlements on the steep hills that mark its topography. It is largely considered to be the first urban cable propelled transit system in South America.
The transportation infrastructure is already established and has been in service since 2004.
The system consists of a network of 16 pre-existing gondolas.
There were plans in the city for some decades before its inception for some form of transportation that took account of the difficult topography of the region. These ideas date back to the use of cable-car technology for exporting coffee (
Manizales - Mariquita Cableway) starting in the 1930s between the city of
Manizales
Manizales () is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the Caldas Department, Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
Currently, the city is the main center for the production of Colombian coffee and an importa ...
, to the south of Medellín, and the
Cauca River
The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangué in Bolívar Department, an ...
below. In its modern incarnation, it was the result of a joint effort between the city's elected mayor, Luis Pérez Gutiérrez, and the Metro Company. For some, the initial conception of this system was indirectly inspired by the
Caracas Aerial Tramway (also known as the Mount Avila Gondola) which was designed primarily to carry passengers to a luxury hotel in the 1950s.
Line K of the Metrocable connecting the
Medellín River
The Medellín River (), called Porce River () during most of its course, is a river that flows through the Colombian city of Medellín and its metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban a ...
valley to the steep hills in Comunas (districts) 1 and 2, was the first system in the world dedicated to public transport, with a fixed service schedule. Since starting operations in 2004, it carries 30,000 people daily and is operationally integrated into the rest of Medellín's mass transit system (
SITVA), which includes the overground Metro,
bus rapid transit system (BRT) and a tramway line (opened in 2016).
As of 2021, the Medellín Metrocable system has six lines, namely Line H, Line K, Line J, Line L (Cable Arvi), Line M, and Line P. Overall, the system has been received with enthusiasm by the locals, who are mainly low-income users and are prepared to queue for up to 45 minutes at peak times to use it. There is a rapidly growing number of similar systems in cities in Latin America (
Metrocable (Caracas),
Mi Teleférico (La Paz),
Manizales
Manizales () is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the Caldas Department, Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
Currently, the city is the main center for the production of Colombian coffee and an importa ...
,
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...
,
TransMiCable (
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
),
Mexicable near Mexico City, among others) and elsewhere.
Description
Medellín is located in the
Aburrá Valley
Aburrá Valley (in Spanish ''Valle de Aburrá''), is the natural river basin of the Medellín River and one of the most populous valleys of Colombia in its Andean Region with near 4 million inhabitants in its biggest urban agglomeration: The M ...
and is surrounded by hills. Many of those hills are home to
underdeveloped barrios (asentamientos informales), which due to their location cannot be reached by Medellín's biggest mass transportation system Metro. Many of these barrios are in fact located in very steep grounds to the extent that not even a regular bus system could be either useful or commercially profitable. Before the implementation of the Metrocable Line K, residents of the Santo Domingo Savio barrio spent upwards of 2 hours commuting to work each way.
The Metrocable system is a branch of Medellín's metro and it is managed by the corporation Metro of Medellín. The system uses Monocable Detachable Gondola technology which consists of cable cars connected to a fixed cable through means of a detachable grip. The haulage cable is pulled by large wheels allowing the cabins to move at an average speed of .
The system was built by the French company
Poma
Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, peo ...
.
Routes
Villa Sierra station, the eastern terminus of the H Line.
, six Metrocable lines have been opened -Line H, Line J, Line K, Line L, Line M, and Line P.
Line K
Line K was the initial line that was built and was first opened in 2004. It has a length of 2.07km and contains the following four stations: Acevedo, Andalucia, Popular, and Santo Domingo. Construction costs are estimated at $26 million USD.
On the morning of June 26, 2024 a cable car became stuck, causing a collision between 2 cars where a car fell from 6 meters with 10 passengers. Only minor injuries were sustained, and 90 passengers were stuck waiting to be safely rescued.
Line J
Soon after officials saw the enormous success of Line K, plans to proceed with another line - Line J - was immediately on the table. It officially opened in 2008. Similar to Line K, it also has four stations: San Javier, Juan XXIII, Vallejuelos and La Aurora. The entire length of Line J runs along 2.7km of cable.
Line L
Line L does not serve communal areas, rather, it is a tourist-oriented line which is connected to
Arví Park and is part of a social project to bring retreats and nature to the masses. Passengers must pay an extra fare - 12,500 Colombian Pesos ($2.50 USD approx.) one way to ride this line.
It is connected to Line K's terminus station - Santo Domingo. It is also expected that this new line will help promote and develop tourism in the rural areas around Lake Guarne. It takes 15 minutes to ascend to El Tambo and there are no intermediate stations.
Line H
Line H was opened in 2016. It has a length of 1.4 km and includes three stations: Oriente, Las Torres and Villa Sierra. The demand is estimated at 1,800 passengers per hour (compared with 3,000 for Line K). In Oriente station, it connects to the
Ayacucho Tram line, which in turns is connected to Line A of the overground metro system.
Line M
Line M was opened in 2019. It has a length of 1.05 km and includes three stations: Miraflores, El Pinal and Trece de Noviembre. It has a capacity of 2,500 passengers per hour and in Miraflores station, it connects to the
Ayacucho Tram line, which in turns is connected to Line A of the overground metro system.
Line P
Line P was inaugurated Jun 10 2021. It extends west from Acevedo station into districts 5 and 6 (Castilla, Doce de Octubre) arriving at the ecopark "Cerro El Picacho". It has 4 stations, "El Progreso", "Doce de Octubre", "
SENA", and "Acevedo", the last one being the point of connection to Line A of the Metro system and Line K.
Public transit
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 ...
s are not often used as a mass transportation system, although they can be used as such. However, they are becoming more popular with examples which include the
Metrocable system in
Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, the
Mexicable system in
Ecatepec,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, the
Mi Teleférico system in
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
,
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
, the
Teleférico do Alemão in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
(currently closed), and, in the United States, the
Roosevelt Island Tramway
The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Roosevelt Island to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The tramway is the first commuter aerial tramway in the U.S., having opened on May 1 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and the
Portland Aerial Tram in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
.
While gondolas used as transit offer many advantages such as the ability of build on terrain that precludes other surface transportations, cost-effectiveness, low emissions and energy efficiency, one of the disadvantages of gondolas is the risk of power outages. In case of a hazard or an emergency it is not possible to exit the cabins. However, Medellín Metro is ameliorating this problem by providing a communication system in every vehicle should an emergency occur.
Studies have suggested strong correlations between the intervention of the Metrocables and dramatic reductions in crime associated with the areas where Medellín Metrocable has been introduced.
See also
*
Medellín Metro
The Medellín Metro (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Metro de Medellín'') is a rapid transit system that crosses the Metropolitan Area of Medellín from North to South and from Centre to West. It first opened for service on 30 November 1995. As one ...
*
Metrocable (Caracas)
*
Aerovia (Guayaquil)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metrocable (Medellin)
Aerial tramways in Colombia
Vertical transport devices
Medellín
Transport infrastructure completed in 2004
2004 establishments in Colombia