Fuldaseilbahn Beiseförth, Manual aerial lift in Beiseförth, Germany.
The Fuldaseilbahn Beiseförth was a roughly 50-metre-long, single-track aerial lift for pedestrians and cyclists across the about 40-metre-wide Fulda between Beiseförth (Malsfeld) and Binsförth (Morschen). Its open steel basket held up to four people with their bicycles, and two hand cranks inside the gondola drove it along the wire in about five minutes.
The crossing opened in May 2009, planned and built by the engineering firm Intium of Melsungen together with the company Reisch of Malsfeld. Of the 134,000 euro construction cost, the state of Hesse covered about three quarters. It replaced a detour in which cyclists on the Fuldaradweg R1 had to climb a slope on a busy country road; a foot and cycle bridge would have cost many times more. The lift ran until October 2025, when it was shut down ahead of a planned bridge.
A sign at the site called it a Seilfähre (cable ferry), though it was technically an aerial lift. It linked the two ends of the Hessian R1 cycle route (Fuldaradweg), so cyclists crossed the Fulda here instead of pushing up a busy country road. The steel basket held up to four people with their bicycles.
The cable car operates from April through October during daylight hours. Visitors should expect to power the crossing themselves by hand-cranking the rope across.
The standout feature of this cable car is its hand-cranked propulsion system, which requires passengers to power their own crossing by operating the rope. This method of travel is rarely seen today and turns the journey into a physical experience.
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