Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular, Transport system at Ebbw Vale Garden Festival, Wales
The Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular is a railway in southeast Wales that carries visitors 920 meters between festival areas. The line rises 72 meters in elevation with an S-shaped track and a passing loop in the middle, allowing both cars to operate safely together.
The line was built in 1992 specifically for the Garden Festival and marked the first funicular railway in the United Kingdom since 1902. It showed a return to this transport style after nearly 90 years in Britain.
The funicular reflected South Wales' efforts to turn a former steelworks into a gathering place for visitors. The project showed how the valley transformed from an industrial zone into a modern leisure destination.
The system ran two trains with three cars each, carrying 96 passengers per trip. Journeys took about four and a half minutes, making it a quick way to move between the festival areas.
When the upper car descended full of passengers, the system generated electricity that fed back into the festival's power network. This clever setup was an early example of regenerative braking in public transport.
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