Ropeway Engineering Calculators & Tools
Free, practical calculators for cable cars, gondolas, and funiculars — estimate cable sag, work out ridership throughput, time a ride, convert an incline, balance a funicular’s two cars, and size a rope for a span.
Cable Span Sag Calculator
Estimate midspan sag, support tension, and cable length from a span, weight per meter, and horizontal tension, using the standard parabolic shallow-sag approximation.
Cable Car Capacity & Throughput Calculator
Work out headway, cars per hour, and riders per hour from cabin capacity, car spacing, line speed, and an expected load factor.
Ascent Time Calculator
Turn a line distance and line speed into a ride time, with an optional allowance for station dwell time.
Grade & Gradient Calculator
Convert a rise-and-run incline into percent grade, angle from horizontal, slope length, and the '1 in X' ratio used on funicular spec sheets.
Funicular Counterweight & Haul Ratio Calculator
See how a funicular's two cars balance each other on an incline — gravity pull, rolling friction, and the net haul force the drive must supply.
Rope Length for a Span Calculator
Estimate the actual length of cable needed to span a gap with a given amount of sag.