The World's Shortest Railway

[robertpaulsen]

While my wife and I were in downtown Los Angeles recently, we visited the Angel's Flight railway. The railway is the shortest (315 feet or 96.01 meters) but the most traveled funicular per mile than any other in the world.

It's a long walk to get up there, but the view just got prettier the higher we climbed!

[hunter]

5. Most engineering problems per mile too...

It's modern history is simply insane.

It was rebuilt by Yan Lifts, which also built ski lifts. The company's simple chairlifts were reliable and easy to maintain, but the company's charismatic founder took on more complex projects, beyond his company's expertise (like Angel's Flight), promising fast and cheap, and the results were deadly. The 2001 Angel's flight accident wasn't the only Yan Lift failure.

Repairs were made and additional safety equipment was installed and Angel's Flight reopened in 2010.

Then, from wikipedia:

On September 5, 2013, one car derailed near the middle of the guideway. One passenger was on board the derailed car, and five passengers were on board the other car. There were no injuries. Passengers had to be rescued from the cars by firefighters. The brake safety system had been bypassed with a wooden stick.



It's sad. Funiculars are a very mature technology and there are many experienced engineering firms who could have built it right, and managers who wouldn't have bypassed safety systems.


(P.S. Thanks for the video.)

[trackfan]

9. I rode the original right before it was dismantled in the late 60s.

I think it cost 5¢.