Roosevelt Island Tram Modernization Moving Forward - Here's How They Do A Tram Upgrade in Whistler BC

Image of Tram Track Ropes from Fatzer

Ropeways is reporting that:

Fatzer: Ropes for New York

Fatzer was awarded the order for four track ropes and two haulage ropes for the new Roosevelt Island Tramway, to be built by POMAgalski this year. The track ropes will be equipped with integrated fiber optic lines for data transfer (INTEGRA DATA track rope). The tram takes passengers from midtown Manhattan to Roosevelt Island and is not just a public transportation system for the island residents but also a popular tourist attraction.

Here's how the cable ropes were transported and strung for the Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort Gondola in British Columbia, Canada. From You Tube:

After 11 weeks and 18,000 km, four cable spools, each weighing over 90 metric tonnes, have arrived in Whistler.

The spools will form the 4.4 km long span of the Peak 2 Peak gondola, connecting the mountains of Whistler and Blackcomb, making it the longest freespan cable in the world.

You tube Video of Cable Ropes arriving at Whistler Tram

A very interesting Construction blog was kept for Whistler's Peak to Peak Gondalo/ Tram and the NY Times Escapes reports on new Trams at Whistler as well as Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

... At Whistler Blackcomb, in British Columbia, the $42 million (52 million Canadian dollars) Peak 2 Peak gondola stretches 2.7 miles horizontally from one mountainside to the other. Featuring a “three rope” design (a steel haul rope and two track cables), it’s the only gondola of its kind in North America. It can operate in winds of up to about 50 miles an hour, and each of its 28 cabins can hold 28 passengers.

Both lifts came with shocking price tags and enthusiastic Web sites. Both were impressive feats of engineering. Both are red. But while the new Whistler-Blackcomb gondola is spectacular — its cars hang on a cable 1,427 feet above the valley floor, with an unsupported span of nearly two miles between lift towers — some locals questioned its necessity. In Jackson, when the old tram was shut down, people said the mountain had lost its soul.

Based on an 18-month safety analysis, including magnetic resonance tests on the cables, Jackson Hole decided in June 2005 to decommission its nearly 40-year-old tram. “The lift was reaching the end of its useful life,” said Jerry Blann, the ski area’s president. At first, the resort explored other options to replacing the tram. But local skiers were outraged. “Save the Tram” T-shirts were printed and a local bar brewed a Last Tram Ale. “There was a lot of emotion tied up in that old box,” Mr. Blann said....

Back to Roosevelt Island.

The Roosevelt Island Tram is scheduled to go out of service for modernization on July 6, 2009, remaining open for service until just after the July 4 Independence Day Fireworks Celebrations which attract large crowds of non-Roosevelt Island residents. The new dual track Tram System (PDF File) is scheduled to open for service in December 2009. During the period of time that the Tram is out of service, the Roosevelt Island Red Bus will pick up passengers at Motorgate Plaza and deliver them to Queens during morning rush hours and Manhattan during non-rush hours and weekends. Last November, RIOC President Steve Shane reported the following regarding Red Bus Schedule during Tram outage:

Our present thinking is:
Weekdays: 6AM to 9:30AM half hourly to Queens Plaza. 10AM to 3PM hourly to Manhattan, returning on the 1/2 hour, resuming 7PM until 11PM.

Weekends: 8AM to 12PM to Manhattan, departing on the hour, returning on half hour, last from Manhattan at 12:30 AM Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

All depart Gristedes loop, return from 2nd & 60th.

Mr. Shane updates the Red Bus Schedule via 3/4/09 Main Street WIRE RIOC Column:

...Based on most recent NYC Department of Transportation requests, the substitute red bus service during non-rush hours will likely stop on the west side of Second Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets, to loop back on 58th Street either directly or via 57th Street....