Opening of Toulouse’s urban aerial ropeway system (May 2022)

Toulouse’s urban cable car project dates back to 2012, with the idea for a 3S-type detachable bicable ropeway installation. It was inaugurated on 13 May 2022. This was a major project for the STRMTG Sud-Ouest office (BSO), which was brilliantly carried out with the invaluable support and expertise of the DITC (Department for cableway installations).

Six years of assessment by STRMTG

The BSO, in conjunction with the DITC, had been working on this project for several years. In 2016, the office began examining the first documents for the Safety Definition File. This was followed by the preliminary safety file received in February 2019, the two milestone safety files received in November 2020 and a safety file, which began being assessed in July 2021 (see box).
An initial two-week acceptance phase then took place in January 2022, with a further two weeks in March and April for testing.
It began officially operating on 14 May 2022.

Tisséo Voyageurs is the operator, which subcontracted the operation to Altiservice for the first three years. Maintenance will be provided by Poma and Altiservice for 20 years.
Tisséo Collectivités is the transit authority and Poma is the manufacturer of the aerial ropeway installation.

In future, as is the case for all ropeway installations in mountain areas, STRMTG will oversee inspections of this detachable bicable ropeway after commissioning, with a major inspection in 2022 and every 3 years thereafter.

Challenges of the route

The route connects the Oncopôle sector to Paul Sabatier University in the East, with a stop at Rangueil University Hospital. (See map below).

This route was chosen from the outset to meet several challenges:

• Provide proper accessibility to these fast-growing areas (housing, jobs, large numbers of students, etc.);
• Develop a cross-functional structure for the public transport network;
• Highlight the Garonne valley and the Pech David hillsides;
• Improve access to the university hospital ;
• Create an efficient alternative to personal vehicles on a congested network.

One of the advantages of this cableway system is that the journey will take ten minutes, compared with the thirty minutes currently required on the often gridlocked ring road.

Why an urban ropeway installation was chosen

A 3S ropeway system was chosen for several reasons:

• to adapt to the topography (pass over the Pech-David hill, the Garonne River and a Natura 2000 nature area);
• to fly over a pyrotechnic waste area (height of more than 50 metres);
• and have better wind resistance. "3S technology uses two fixed carrying cables that act as rails, while the third propels the cabins. It limits the number of pylons and offers greater wind resistance, up to 108 km/h," explains Rémi Torres, Poma’s site manager. (excerpt from Le Moniteur magazine, 12 March 2021).

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Characteristics of Toulouse’s urban aerial ropeway system

Three stations were built: an engine at the Paul Sabatier University station, a return station at Oncopôle and an intermediate station at Rangueil University Hospital. The special feature of this intermediate station is that vehicles/cabs only pass through. All cabins are parked at the Paul Sabatier garage.

Photo of Toulouse urban aerial ropeway system, STRMTG

Toulouse’s urban aerial ropeway is a 3S* system, i.e. with three ropes: one hauling rope and two carrying ropes. The hauling rope propels the cabins and circles the installation (single loop). There are two outbound carrying ropes and two inbound carrying ropes for a total of four carrying ropes (on fixed-tension anchor bolts).

Characteristics of this cableway installation

• 3 stations (boarding and disembarking at each station)
• 17-second stop at each station
• Line length = 2.8 km
• 5 pylons on the line
• Pylon heights: from 40 metres to 70 metres
• a total of 15 cabins that make the loop
• Cabins with space for 34 passengers.
• Cabin speed: 7.5 metres/second
• Operating capacity = 1,500 people/hour
• Availability: 5.30 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. with 4.5 hours of maintenance every night.
• To monitor the entire system: 1 driver (UPS station), 2 attendants (CHU and Oncopôle) and 250 cameras.

*“S” stands for “Seile”, which means “rope” in German.

Article produced by the STRMTG communication, documentation and archives division (PCDA) in collaboration with the Sud-Ouest office (BSO).