Funicular dos Guindais
Encyclopedia
.jpg)
Cable railway
A cable railway is a steeply graded railway that uses a cable or rope to haul trains.-Introduction:...
system in Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
.
The original funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
was constructed in 1891 and closed just two years later after a serious accident. However, as part of a larger initiative to improve the transport infrastructure of Porto it was re-modelled and the modern track opened on 19 February 2004. The funicular runs down a steep cliff from Batalha (on the higher ground of central Porto) to the quayside at Ribeira. Originally constructed to facilitate movement of cargo, particularly Port wine
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
, the funicular is now mainly promoted as a tourist attraction.
Although the journey is short at approximately 3 minutes, after emerging from the 90m tunnel at the top passengers are given a panoramic view including the Dom Luís I Bridge
Dom Luís Bridge, Porto
The Luís I Bridge is a metal arch bridge that spans the Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal...
(a bridge designed by Théophile Seyrig, from 1868 until 1879 the partner of Gustav Eiffel), the quaysides of Ribeira and Cais de Gaia, the multitude of port wine lodges and traditional port boats on the Gaia side of the Douro River
Douro
The Douro or Duero is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto...
, and of course the river itself. Once at the bottom, tourists can either walk across the bridge on foot, join a river cruise or enjoy the restaurants and bars of Ribeira. The service is also used by locals and commuters wishing to get from Ribeira and Cais de Gaia to the metro at São Bento without climbing the steep hill on foot, although complaints about Monday closures and poor evening service have limited the interest of some Portuenses.
The funicular track is 281 metres long and descends 61 metres, giving an average gradient of around 20%, although as it makes its way down the steepest part of the cliff the gradient is over 45%. It is one of the world's steepest counter-balanced cable railways having two carriages with a capacity of 25 passengers each on the route.
It runs from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, with services running until midnight on weekends and holidays. It is owned by the Porto Metro
Porto Metro
The Porto Metro , part of the public transport system of Porto, Portugal, is a light-rail network that runs underground in central Porto and above ground into the city's suburbs...
company and accessed using the Andante
Andante ticket
Andante is a public transport ticketing system used in and around Porto, Portugal.It started operation in November 2002 at Metro do Porto stations and is now a cross-network ticket used on the Porto Metro, selected bus and train routes and the Funicular dos Guindais cable railway.Two types of card...
ticket, allowing a trip on the funicular to be combined with a journey on the Porto Metro and selected bus routes.