New Cable-Car for London: "Emirates Air Line"

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Sam
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Found on a city planning and architechture forum I frequent, seems like this one has slipped through our fingers!
BBC News wrote:Thames cable car given go-ahead

The cable car will connect Greenwich and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers-an-hour.

It was designed to cut journey times between the O2 arena and the ExCel exhibition centre - both of which will host Olympic events.

Newham Council approved plans on 18 January. Proposals will now be put before the Greater London Authority.

The London Development Agency is contributing £1.21m to the cost of the project, which in December was estimated at a possible £40m.

The cable car was originally projected to cost £25m.

Greenwich council planning committee approved plans for the cable car on Thursday.

Council plans state the car will extend 1,100 metres over the River Thames from North Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Victoria Dock, 54.1 metres above water.

A Transport for London statement said: "The cable car is an exciting new proposal that would help address the need for more river crossings east of Tower Bridge.

"It will also provide a unique addition to the capital's transport network and offer spectacular views of London's iconic skyline."
Early concept design:
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New concept design:
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Cars:
Image

I really love this idea. I love the idea of bringing a variety of different structures to a cityscape. London is already fantastic for that. There's many capital cities in the world where you can only point out one or two truly recognisable landmarks, such as Kuala Lumpar with the Petronas Towers.

I think the London skyline is an absolute feast for the eyes, with interesting buildings such as the Gherkin as well as unusual forms and structures, such as the Dome, the London Eye, the BT Tower and now this. Anything to add to London's diverse and wacky transport infrastructure is good news to me. <!-- s:) -->:)<!-- s:) -->
Last edited by Sam on Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
AdamJ

What a fantastic idea. Any idea if it's going to be Merlin owned, or am I reading the stuff wrong? Regardless, it is a bloody good idea and saves building another bridge!
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Sam
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There is absolutely no indication at this time that it will be Merlin owned. :)
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Tom G
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Looks brilliant but would be more thrilling with an old school ski lift style design and your legs dangling below...
DiogoJ42

It's not supposed to be a thrill ride though, is it? It's for transportation across the river. ;)
Anonymous

Hang on, so who is actually paying for this? Also... whos projecting figures here... estimated £25m is an actual £40m? Someone needs the sack.
DiogoJ42

I'll tell you who's paying for it... ME! Us Londoners are paying for it through our council tax... *grumbles off to moan about something else* :evil:
Anonymous

So it's the government / tax payer? No private investment from bankers?

Great, another 40mill you can add to that 1.1trillion of debt :/

Me = Getting out of this country.
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Sam
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[quote=""BrettS""]So it's the government / tax payer? No private investment from bankers?

Great, another 40mill you can add to that 1.1trillion of debt :/[/quote]
Now let's think about this.

London Eye
Cost: £70 million.
Profit: £25 million a year.

So the entire thing pays for itself every three years. And all the money goes to Merlin.

The cable car will hopefully raise a similar amount of money, due to foreign tourists, and its actual use for transport will raise even more. Even if it only makes half the profits of the Eye, it will easily pay itself off within 10 years, and make a massive profit for the taxpayer. Understand? ;)

[quote=""BrettS""]Me = Getting out of this country.[/quote]
No you won't.
DiogoJ42

Well, if it pays for itself, will they refund us taxpayers? :P

By the way, please don't think I am against this project. It looks brilliant. I'm just being a miserable old fart ;)
Anonymous

[quote=""Sam""][quote=""BrettS""]So it's the government / tax payer? No private investment from bankers?

Great, another 40mill you can add to that 1.1trillion of debt :/[/quote]
Now let's think about this.

London Eye
Cost: £70 million.
Profit: £25 million a year.

So the entire thing pays for itself every three years. And all the money goes to Merlin.

The cable car will hopefully raise a similar amount of money, due to foreign tourists, and its actual use for transport will raise even more. Even if it only makes half the profits of the Eye, it will easily pay itself off within 10 years, and make a massive profit for the taxpayer. Understand? ;)

[quote=""BrettS""]Me = Getting out of this country.[/quote]
No you won't.[/quote]

As I'm aware, tax payers won't be earning from any such projects... So where were in a huge debt crisis now. The idea is to wait 10+ years before it turns a single £1. As if it does pay for it's self, it then has to turn profit. Probably be countless tech faults within those years and maintenance costs, which it'll also have to cover. Along with everything else. Not to mention staffing costs and security... no doubt it'll become a high terror threat.

Where we should be expanding tram systems around the country and making our current transport system better... they plan to put this stupid cable car in London. So now do you understand?

Who says I'm not getting out of this country? You have no idea... so don't act as if you do.
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Tom G
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[quote=""DiogoJ42""]It's not supposed to be a thrill ride though, is it? It's for transportation across the river. ;)[/quote]

I'm aware of that but it'd still be more exciting and do the same job...I'm not seriously pining for it to be built like that, though. :mrgreen:
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Sam
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[quote=""DiogoJ42""]Well, if it pays for itself, will they refund us taxpayers? :P[/quote]
Well the money presumably would be put back in the public purse, and paid back to the taxpayer through public services.

Clearly another major Thames crossing will be needed in the next few decades between Tower Bridge and the Dartford Crossing. Hopefully the tourist money from this could subsidise a new bridge or tunnel in a few years time, and then you'd have both a practical crossing and a tourist attraction!

[quote=""BrettS""]As I'm aware, tax payers won't be earning from any such projects... So where were in a huge debt crisis now. The idea is to wait 10+ years before it turns a single £1. As if it does pay for it's self, it then has to turn profit. Probably be countless tech faults within those years and maintenance costs, which it'll also have to cover. Along with everything else. Not to mention staffing costs and security... no doubt it'll become a high terror threat.

Where we should be expanding tram systems around the country and making our current transport system better... they plan to put this stupid cable car in London. So now do you understand?

Who says I'm not getting out of this country? You have no idea... so don't act as if you do.[/quote]
No, tax payers don't "earn" from the project. The profit made from the project will be invested in public services for the taxpayer, and pay for future transport projects. That's how Keynesian economics works.

It doesn't even have to turn a profit. As long as it pays for itself and doesn't make a loss, then even if it makes no profit, it's still generally a positive thing to have, practically and aesthetically in a city. It'll be another weapon in London's tourist arsenal of world class visitor attractions, museums and galleries.

You could use the argument about terrorism and maintenance and staffing for any development of this kind, including the Eye. Many Cable Cars have been built before, they're not really that technically difficult.

Where are you planning on going? :P
monsterdan5

So is this 100% confirmed? Or just a concept?
evil cod

I always thought this was part of the Olympic project? It was originally announced along side it.
Big Dave

Any more stats on this? They say they have now had a contract with a manufacture, so any news who this will be? And oh yeah, its now estimated to cost around £50.5million!
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Spike
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Looks pretty and it's all very well and good but I bet it looks ugly in the final product not to mention 40-50million to be wasted on cutting journey times for lazy gits and will no doubt cost are fortune to ride. :roll:
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MY HAND IS A DOLPHIN!!! >:O
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Sam
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[quote=""Spike""]Looks pretty and it's all very well and good but I bet it looks ugly in the final product not to mention 40-50million to be wasted on cutting journey times for lazy gits and will no doubt cost are fortune to ride. :roll:[/quote]
I think this is meant to be more of a tourist attraction than an actual viable method of day-to-day public transport. It's clearly not designed as a method of efficient public transport, complaining that it's not that would be like complaining that a elevator could take you to the same height much quicker and cheaper than the London Eye. :P

Anyway I'm dragging up this topic because I'm a bloody nerd and I think it's cool.

Here's the first construction photo from a few weeks ago:

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Here's a virtual trip on the new Cable Car.

And here's the walk from the nearest Tube to the Cable Car station.

I think it looks absolutely awesome. Another cool fun thing for London to be proud of. Big public engineering projects for the win. :D
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LordOfDarkness
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Pretty sure it will be Poma making them... God help us
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seanyboyuk
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Wonder how much it will cost for a single ride? £5?
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