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La Teleferica Massaua-Asmara

Pages: Cover-5, 6-9, 10-13, 14-17, 18-21, 22-25, 26-29, 30-end

Panoramic view of the Nefasit Station.


Currently, eight heavy-oil, diesel engines power the cableway. At a later date, this source of mechanical energy will be the cableway's reserve power plant, while normal operation will be supported by a series of electrical motors.

Studies to electrify the cableway are currently underway.

The line is equipped with a complete Perego selective telephone system linking all the stations, with accessory field equipment that also permits conversations


Protective covering at the crossing of the cableway and the railway. The trestle tower above Nefasit [translator's note: This trestle is about 5 km north of Nefasit--down the valley and downstream of the Nefasit station.]


with the external phone line. A system of audible alarms, operable from any point, can, in case of emergency, command the complete shutdown of the cableway.

Some Data for the Initiated

The bearing cables are 30 mm, high endurance, spiroid type steel.

The drawing cable is also high endurance steel, but it is three-strand with a hemp core. The diameter is 22 mm.


The two sections linking at the Golei station.


The 1,620 cars, of which about 1,540 are in operation, consist of a ball-bearing mounted two-wheel trolley with a gravity device for grasping the drawing cable (our patented "Ideale"), a tippable platform with a waterproof tarpaulin adapted for the transport of various goods, and an iron suspension, which provides an articulated linkage between the trolley and the platform.

Control of movement of the cableway is in each motorized station by an appropriate capstan driven by a diesel engine. The capstan consists of a double-groove pulley with a counter-pulley (mounted on


The cableway on the Sabarguma plain.


a vertical shaft tree) and giving a reduction via two pairs of gears, respectively, conical and cylindrical, driving a fixed and an idler pulley to provide the pulleys an engaged and a neutral link to the engine.

The engines powering the cableway have the following characteristics:

  • Nominal power: 150 horsepower at seven stations; 75 horsepower at the eighth (Zaga station).

  • Four-stroke, single effect diesel engine, without supercharger.

  • Vertical cylinders with an interchangeable sleeve liner; bore 180 mm, stroke 280 mm.

Pages: Cover-5, 6-9, 10-13, 14-17, 18-21, 22-25, 26-29, 30-end

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