Wellington Cable Car is one of New Zealand's only running funicular railway, situated at the end of the Cable Car Lane, off Lambton Quay in the heart of Wellington's central business district. It provides a unique form of public transport from the city to the suburb of Kelburn and the Cable Car summit.
The original Kelburn & Karori Tramway Company formed in 1889, was sold to the Wellington City Council in 1947 and was incorporated into the City’s passenger transport operations. In 1991 with the deregulation of the bus industry, the council sold its bus and trolleybus operations to the Stagecoach Group. The Cable Car and overhead trolley-bus wire network however, remained in Council ownership and Wellington Cable Car Limited was formed as a Council Controlled Organisation.
The Cable Car uses regenerative braking so as the cars slows down, or if there are more passengers going down than up, we generate electricity and export this into the local network. Wellington Cable Car is defined as a distributed generator, by the local lines company. Regenerative braking improves the energy efficiency of the Cable Car and reduces wear on the braking system parts.
Cable Car in the Snow picture taken by Karryn Baudet.
