Nizhny Novgorod Cableway, Urban gondola lift in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
The Nizhny Novgorod Cableway is an urban gondola lift in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, that links both banks of the Volga between the city center and the town of Bor. The installation follows a straight line over the river and carries the cabins above residential neighborhoods, industrial zones, and open water.
The French firm Poma presented the project on 21 December 2007, and construction began on 20 January 2010. The cableway opened to passengers on 9 February 2012. In September 2011 a Ka-32T helicopter was used to install the haul rope, with sections of the Volga closed for three hours over several days.
Locals call the cableway "kanatka", from the Russian word for ropeway. It was built mainly as commuter transport between Nizhny Novgorod and Bor, but the 13-minute crossing over the Volga made it a popular outing. The first test passengers were 16 officials led by Governor Valery Shantsev, after sandbags meant for the test could not be delivered in time.
The ride takes about twelve minutes and offers open views of the river and both shores throughout the journey. Traveling on a sunny day or just before sunset often provides the clearest visibility.
The span between the two 82-metre masts over the Volga measures 861 metres, the longest unsupported crossing over water in Europe. The cableway's ten towers stand 40 to 80 metres tall and together hold 560 tonnes of steelwork, much of it made at Energomash in 2009.
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