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

Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:32 pm

I'm actually quite looking forward to this being completed, depending on the pricing of it at least! It depends on whether they price it more like a tourist attraction or more like a public transport system. I'd have hoped the latter given that TfL are in charge and you can even pay for it using Oyster. I'm heading down to London tomorrow actually so I might go and have a nosey at the site depending on how much time I've got to kill!

Big Dave · Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:37 pm

They say POMA on them but the manufacture is NOT POMA. Look inside and you will see that the gondola manufacture is not POMA.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:41 pm

If you look inside, you'll see that the gondola's are manufactured by Sigma (the company printed on the manufacturing plate), who is a subsidiary of Poma, and who are in direct competition with CWA, a subsidiary of Doppelmayr

Big Dave · Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:44 pm

Dopplemayr use the same gondolas on their cable car systems. I knew it was not made by POMA themselves but an subcontractor of some sort.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:46 pm

It's a subsidiary, so more closely part of the parent company than a subcontractor would be.

It's weird that Doppelmayr use them, given that they appear to have their own subsidiary who manufacture gondolas.

Big Dave · Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:56 pm

Gangloff seem to make Dopplemayrs larger cabins. CWA was brought by Dopplemayr and CWA did make diamond shaped cabins similar to those at Alton Towers. So it is possible that Dopplemayr actually use the CWA cabins and not those by Sigma. Strange how they are both identical in design, right down to the air vents.

Big Dave · Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:57 pm

Sigma diamond cabins:

CWA Omega IV cabins:

On a side note, Alton Towers need some of these!!!

Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:14 pm

It was Poma that came to repair the gondolas, I was talking to a really nice old guy who was part of the original Skyride construction team in the 80's. What Poma did during the actual construction I don't really know.

Longy · Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:22 pm

Looks really promising.

I'll go down and film a POV when it opens if you want!
Should be fun!

Alton need those gondolas though, along with the women if possible... :P

Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:12 pm

Dave, give it up. This has gone on for a page now, the gondolas at Towers are clearly Poma or a subsidiary of Poma.

Big Dave · Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:23 pm

Im not saying that they are aren't made by Sigma. I'm just stating that on the inside it does not say Poma and that Dopplemayr use almost identical "cabins".

Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:58 pm

Big Dave wrote: I'm just stating that on the inside it does not say Poma

No you weren't, you were saying very specifically that they were "NOT POMA". Not just that it doesn't say Poma inside.

Big Dave · Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:21 pm

...and they are not made by POMA they are made by Sigma which it is believed that Sigma are a subsidiary (although it does not say this on their website) of POMA.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:36 pm

AWTSW90 wrote: It was Poma that came to repair the gondolas, I was talking to a really nice old guy who was part of the original Skyride construction team in the 80's. What Poma did during the actual construction I don't really know.

Intriguing.

Did he say anything interesting about the Skyride's construction?

Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:14 pm

Well if you look in the main op cabin in Forbidden Valley you can see that all the computer cabinates are marked up as Poma, though I guess it is possible that they were by another company owned by them as with the new gondolas :P

Actually, reading their site they claim that they upgraded the electricals during the retrofitting of the Diamond Line model cabins, so it could be possible they too were originally by another company...

Sigma's site seems to suggest that they just produce the vehicles for such systems (They also did the London Eye pods apparently) so I wonder if Poma produce the system itself, then just add Sigma gondolas these days.

I for one though am intrigued to see this project when it's completed. It looks set to be very interesting!

Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:50 pm

Poma only upgraded the electricals at the Dark Forest station, the other two stations are still very primitive. Actually I'm not sure the upgraded system even has the Poma stamp, the only label I remember seeing is Samsung who presumably make the touch screen.

CoasterCrazyChris wrote:
AWTSW90 wrote: It was Poma that came to repair the gondolas, I was talking to a really nice old guy who was part of the original Skyride construction team in the 80's. What Poma did during the actual construction I don't really know.
Intriguing.

Did he say anything interesting about the Skyride's construction?

No, he actually didn't speak much English (Or chose not to :P) I did feel honoured to be in his prescence though, he had been in the industry for some time!

Big Dave wrote: ...and they are not made by POMA they are made by Sigma which it is believed that Sigma are a subsidiary (although it does not say this on their website) of POMA.

Sigma ARE a subsidary of Poma, and from what I gathered it's not even run separately, they are one and the same company. I presume Sigma is used as it would make them more approachable by rival companies looking to purchase gondolas? The guys who came to fix Towers' gondolas were Poma anyway.

Sun Mar 11, 2012 1:32 pm

update

Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:32 pm

update!

Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:34 pm

Based on these photos, that bit of London looks incredibly boring. The buildings are all so bland! Shame there's a lovely transport system between two places nobody would want to travel between.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:39 am

I think the main reason for the location is that it links two of the venues for the olympics (the O2 Arena and the ExCel centre). I suspect the view will be much better from on board though.