Ropeways in Nepal

8/17/2019 Ropeways in Nepal

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Gravity Ropeway: Could be a reliable source of

transport the goods and services in Hills and

Mountainous region of Nepal

6th International Symposium “Networks forMobility”, September 27/28, 2012

Centre of Transportation Research

UNIVERSITY of STUTTGART

Presented at

By

Er. Shambhu Dev Baral

Nepal


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Presentation outlines

Introduction Historical Background of Ropeway

Ropeways in ancient times

Ropeways history in Nepal

Present Ropeway Situation

Facts about hilly and mountain transportation Gravity Ropeway

Why Gravity Ropeway in Nepal ?

Terminologies Gravity Ropeway

Features of Gravity ropeway

Technological Limitations Finance

Impact Observed

Recommendation


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Brief Introduction about Nepal

Boundaries: East, South, West: India

North: TIBET (China) Area: 147,181 sq. km

Shape: Roughly rectangular

Length: 888 km. (East to West)

Width: Non uniform,

mean width of l93

kmsAltitude: 70 to 8848 m (The Everest)

0.03 % of the world land

0.3 % of Asia

The nearest seaport is Kolkata in India

which is 1120 kms. away from

Kathmandu, the capital of the country


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Population: 26.9 millions (2008)Cast/Ethnic Group: More than 60

Languages : 103

Population Growth Rate: 2.25%.

Rural Population: 86%

Urban Population Growth Rate: 6.09%GDP: US $ 470

Rivers and rivulets - more 6000

Brief Introduction about Nepal…..

Hill and Mountain cover – 83%


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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ROPEWAY

Ropeways in ancient times

• Ropeways have been in used more than 2,000 years ago (speculated

since 250 BC)• Comes from the Asian rugged countries like China, India and Japan

• Human used rope to cross ravines, rivers and river-gorges, initially

transferring themselves by hand over hand, with the body suspended

• In 1536 gold transported in South America

• In 1616 illustrated concept of bi-cable ropeway

• In 1644 successful bi-cable was operated by the Dutchman Wybe

Adam

• In 1650 to 1850, there was no significance progress made

• In 1908, DC motor introduced in Grindlewald, Switzerland

• In 1928 to1929 cabin design had been improved

• End of the nineteenth century, aerial ropeway powered by humans

(sometimes using a windlass or a tread wheel), by animals (mostly

worked by horses or mules), by waterwheels and/or by gravity.

• 20th century aerial ropeways were built for passenger


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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ROPEWAY Contin….

Ropeways history in Nepal• First ropeway in Nepal was constructed in 1924 (carry stones

from the quarry from Halchowk to Lainchour (4 km) for the

construction of Rana palaces)

• Second ropeway (22 km) was constructed in 1927 (from Dhorsing

(Bhimphedi) to Matatirtha (Kathmandu) Later in 1947, it was

extended to Teku (+6.5 km))

• Third ropeway replacing the second started to operate from

Hetauda to Kathmandu (45 km) in 1964 to transport cement

(Hetauda to Kathmandu)

• Practical Action initiated to study and construct ropeways in1994 onward. (Ghandruk to Syauli Bazaar (4 km), Barpak –

Rangrung (2.5 km))

• Government and the private sector had constructed several

ropeways for hydropower stations at the end of 2000.


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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ROPEWAY Contin….

Ropeways history in NepalContin…..

• in 1998 the first commercially cable

car established by the private sector,

(with approximate span of 3 km)connecting Prithivi Highway at

Kurintar with Manakamana Temple)

• In 2001, Practical Action and ICIMOD

successfully demonstrated gravitygoods ropeway technology in Marpha

of Mustang District to transport

Apple.


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Present Ropeway Situation:

• Electricity driven ropeway are more than 5;

mostly used in hydropower and cementfactories

• Manakamana cable car is only for commercial

use for public sector

• 21 gravity ropeways

• more than 3,000 trail bridges

• more than 150 Wire Bridges (Tuins)


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FACTS ABOUT HILLY AND MOUNTAINS

TRANSPORTATION

• Difficult terrain because of steeps and unstable mountains

•Construction of road in each settlement is nearly impossible• All-weather road in all parts of country is an illusive dream

• Several scattered settlements from top to bottom of the hills

and mountains life is difficult for families who live in

• Getting crops to market and import goods can be

exhausting and dangerous;

• Limited air transport, no regular flights, irregularity due tobad weather as well as expensive to travel by air

• High accident rates in air as well as in road transport

• Road and railway construction are expensive and difficult to

construct; number of crossing and curve are high

• No reliable road transport, mostly with gravel and earthenroads (fair weather roads)

• Road access is only 71 districts out of 75 districts

headquarters; access to village development committees

are far behind

• Numbers of accidents are high due to bad road condition,use of old vehicles and drivers negligence


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FACTS ABOUT HILLY AND MOUNTAINS

TRANSPORTATION Conti…

• Frequently occurs landslide in monsoon season• Trail and Track are the main transportation

• Limited number of crossings across the rivers,

gorges therefore travel time is more

• In hilly region horses, mules, and donkeys are

used for transport of both goods and humanbeings

• In high mountain regions especially goats and

yaks are used for transport

• Porters are also used for carrying goods in many

parts of the country

• Human and animals are the main means of

transportation.

• On an average four hours walk to reach road

head (some remote place it takes 8 to 10 days to

reach road head)


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http://www.appropedia.org/File:Aerial_ropeways_Nepal.jpg


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GRAVITY ROPEWAY

• Gravitational force is most reliable, spontaneous and

never ending source of energy and it's free

• Gravity ropeway operates under the principle ofgravitational force without the use of external power

How it operates:• Gravity ropeway is like a pulley system

• It consists of two trolleys, rolling over two separate

supporting steel wire ropes (support cable or track rope)suspended from two separate towers.

• Two trolleys are connected to a single looped wire rope

called control wire or hauling rope in between two support

cables or track rope

•Control wire ties around a cast iron flywheel at eachextremity with bearing and bracket

• A hand brake is integrated with flywheel to control the

landing speed of the trolley at the bottom-station.

• Loaded trolley at the up-station is pulled downward by the

force of gravity, the other trolley at the bottom-station is

pulled up automatically by means of control cable.


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C

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Working Principle of Gravity Ropeway


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Why Gravity Ropeway in Nepal

• Construction cost of roads and other

means of transportation network is high,tedious and time consuming due to the

topography and weak geological condition

• Impossible to connect each and every

scattered settlement by road, rail and airtransportation network

• No sufficient electricity (nearly 16 hours

load shedding in winter) and fossil fuel is

scarce as well as expensive to operate

power driven means of transportation

• Gravity ropeway is inexpensive and

transportation cost become low

0

50

100

150

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 N R s . p e r L i t e r

Figure 5: Oil Price in Nepal

Petrol(NRs/L)Diesel(NRs/L)Kerosene Open (NRs/L)


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Why Gravity Ropeway in Nepal Conti……

• Appropriate Technology in hills and mountains regions

(Even in extreme topography and weak geological

condition)• Being a simple technology, it is easy to operation and

maintenance

• Gravity Ropeway improves accessibility of poor people

living in the remote areas and enhances their livingstandards

• Supports social justice to those people who lives in remote

hills and mountainous areas; don't have any means of

transportation• Technology depends on gravitational force which is never

ending source of energy. Being the hilly and mountainous

country, it has a lot of potential to develop. Therefore, the

gravity ropeway is a viable both alternative as well as

complementary mode of transport.


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Features of Gravity ropeway

A) Cost effectiveness: Construction and installation cost of gravity ropeway is

lesser than other conventional means of transport (gravity ropeway is Rs.

1.4 million whereas per kilometer construction cost of a four meter wide

earthen road in the hills is approximately Rs. 3 million)

B) Time saving: - Goods can be transported through gravity ropeway within few

minutes; a kilometer distance in less than 5 minutes.

C) Short route: Road or railways, winding of the alignment is unavoidable in

order to attain a comfortable gradient for vehicle movement. But, gravityropeway, as the rope suspended in the air, alignment is straight and short .

D) Energy efficient: This technology runs utilizing gravitational force; don't

require any external power or fuel.

E) Environment friendly: Negligible impact on surrounding environment; neithercause noise nor air pollution, not disturb existing ecology, does not require

heavy cuts and fills as in case of building motorable roads and rails. It would

be the best project for developing CDM. As per existing Environment

Regulation of Nepal, the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)/

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for gravity ropeway installation isnot required.


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Features of Gravity ropeway Conti…….

F) Simple technology: Doesn't require any sophisticated equipment

therefore does not require external experts to build. Local people can

easily handle this technology.

G) Nominal operation and maintenance cost: Does not require any fuel,

high skilled manpower. Likely, it requires minimum maintenance work

which does not cost much.

H) Employment: two locals get full-time employments as an operators and

two more get part-time job as a helpers. Creates indirect employment inagriculture sector and cottage industries.

i) Low transportation cost: as low construction, operation and maintenance

cost; transportation cost is very low as compare to other means of

transportation (as low as NRs.1 to 1.50/kg).

j) Community involvement: Whole community involved to build this project

right from the project formulation to every stage of construction. Villagers

formulate users committee; mobilize community, local/central government

and donors resources to complete the project.

M j T i l i


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Major Terminologies

Support Cable or Track Ropes: Use to support Trolley;

Trolley slides on support cable "to and fro”; attached in

two different towers at the top and bottom stations;

usually larger than that of the haulage rope.

Supporting Tower: Steel or concrete structure placed at

upper and bottom station to support the support cable to

absorb the possible thrust.

Control Cable or Haulage Ropes: Provides the traction

force and hauls carriages on the track rope which

oscillate back and forth in between to flywheel at the topand bottom.

Pulley or Flywheel: Provide traction force to control

cable; Placed at each end of gravity ropeway

Trolley or Carrier: Made up of the steel to carry the

goods; Size and shape varies according to the nature ofthe loads to carry

Station or Platform: Placed at each end of gravity

ropeway line and consists of flywheel, landing platform,

space for storage of materials and a shed to shield them

Hand brake: Wooden brake shoe is fitted at the bottomstation to control the velocity of moving trolley


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http://www.appropedia.org/File:Aerial_ropeways_Nepal_brakingsystem.jpg


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Limitations observed in Nepalese contextSpan: Span is limited to 1500-meter. When the span exceeds 1500 meter,

the rope tension due to its self weight becomes huge as the rope issuspended between two points only.

Slope: Can only operate between 15 to 40 degree slope; best slope within

a range of 20 to 30 degree but Nepalese Hills and Mountains are more

steep.

Upward moving load: Capacity of upward moving load is very limited;

thumb rule for upward moving load should be three times as lighter (40 kg)

as the downward moving (120 kg)

Loading ratio: Loading ratio should be maintained in such a way that the

trolleys approach to respective stations with minimum speed but doesn'tstop in between. Actual loading ratio should be carefully evaluated after the

operation of the gravity ropeway and should be maintained.


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FINANCE BY: 60 to 65 percent external support to purchase

mechanical parts, skilled labour, cement, steel and

other constructional materials which are not available

at the site

donors and INGOs

local and central government 35 to 40 percent local communities' contribution for

unskilled labour, land, and local constructional

materials

Operation and maintenance costs are met by usercharges.

The major cost component is for the imported steel

cables about around £7000 for 1400m cable and

mechanical parts.


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IMPACT OBSERVED

Although the detailed study has not been done to evaluate the impact of

the gravity ropeway, but general impacts observed during the

consultation with the beneficiaries are as follows:

• Income of villager has increased some villager claim more than 3

times.• Drudgery to transport goods has been reduced substantially

• Transportation costs saved around 85%

• Direct and indirect employment has been increased

• More time has been saved; saved time has been utilized for

productive income generative activities and more time for familycare

• Marketing capability has increased to get better prices.

.


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Key success factors

Participation

Transparency

Accountability

Rule of law

Appropriate technology

It co ld take t o O l l ti


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It could take two

people over three

hours to carry a

120kg load of apples

1.3 km down a steep

mountain path – andthat’s just the first

part of the gruelling

journey to market.

Now, with a gravity

ropeway, the apples

take less than five

minutes to cover the

same distance.

Depending solely on

gravitational force –

and using no external

power – gravity

ropeways are simple,

inexpensive to

operate, and

environmentally

friendly.www.practicalaction.org

Quote from

Dharma

“It takes two hours

to get down the

mountain trail tothe main road, and

during the

monsoon,

accidents are

frequent (due to

landslides). Now

we have the gravity

ropeway, the time

saved means I can

earn three times as

much from selling

my vegetables.

With that extra

money I can afford

to buy farm and

animals, too.”

www.practicalaction.org

Hira from Bishaltar

in Nepal

Before the gravity

ropeway was

constructed, Hirawould have to pay

a porter to carry

his tomatoes

down the

mountain-side at acost of 100 rupees

per load. Now, a

much heavier load

can be

transported using

the ropeway at a

cost of just 15

rupees – seven

times cheaper

than hiring a

porter.www.practicalaction.org

One calculation

showed that a

ropeway only 1

mile (1,630

meters) long with

a difference in

altitude of 0.4

miles (645

meters) would

require a railway

of 15 miles (24km) to reach the

same point.

Ropeways were

also generally half

as expensive tooperate when

compared to

cartage by mules,

horses, and oxen.

www.lowtechmagazine.com

RECOMMENDATION


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RECOMMENDATION

• The technology is in primitive stage in Nepal. Therefore more research and

development is necessary to improve this technology.

• Involvement of the local community, private sector, technical institutes,

research institutes, local government, and central government is necessaryfor the promotion of gravity ropeway in a synergy way.

• Develop national policy and recognized this technology as reliable means

of rural transport system in hilly and mountain regions.

• Introduce Insurance policy

• Provision for emergency treatment and first aid training to local operations

and helper

• Length and carrying capacity has to increase and modify the technology to

transport people as well

• If possible electrical energy can be recovered to charge the battery or otherproductive use from flywheel speed.

• Integrate with other livelihoods and transport related programmes –

complimenting roads, bridges, markets etc

• Wider dissemination of technology all over the country

• More participation from the development partners is needed.


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Short Clip on Gravity Ropeway


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EXPLORE RENEWABLE ENERGY AS MUCH AS WE CAN

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI would like to thank the scientific committee as

well as Centre of Transportation Research,University of Stuttgart for selecting my paper for

the presentation and giving me this opportunity.

Similarly, I would like to thank German Research

Funding Organization (DFG) for their financial

support to participate in this programme.

I would like to thank Ms. Rainer Schützle,

Manager, Centre of Transportation Research of

University of Stuttgart for her regular support

from the beginning to end of this 6th InternationalSymposium. Centre of Transportation Research

of University of Stuttgart

Ropeways in Nepal

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