THE
MASSAWA-ASMARA CABLEWAY (71.8 km; 75 with the Moncullo
trunk; 2326 m ascent) greatly contributes to speeding the distribution
of goods from the port to the Eritrean highland. This great work, the largest
cableway in the world, was begun in 1935 and completed in 1937 by the Ceretti
and Tanfani Company under the direction of the Office of Public Works of
the Government of Eritrea. The cableway has three cables, two 30-mm diameter
bearing cables and one 22-mm drawing cable, and 1620 trucks, each with
a useful capacity of 300 kg, traveling at 2.5 m per second (9 km per hour).
The capacity is therefore 30 (sic) tons per day in each direction, equal
to that of 30 trains, with a much lower cost. The fares to the public are
6 Lire from Massawa to Asmara and 2 Lire from Asmara to Massawa. During
construction, various technical difficulties had to be overcome; one of
the spans is 900 m long and the support pylons sometimes reach 30 m in
height. The total weight of metal and mechanical materials employed was
approx. 3900 tons; the ground preparations and wall works required 1500
cubic meters of concrete and the excavation of 10,500 cubic meters of earth
and 34,000 cubic meters of rock. – The line departs Massawa in two trunks
(one from the Campo di Marte (Mars Field) station, the other,
3.2 km away, from the Munition Dump near Moncullo) which meet (6.2
km from Campo di Marte) at the Zaga station, elev. 55 m. Km 15 Dogali,
elev. 125 m; km 23.7 Mai Atal, elev. 194 m; km 31 Digdigta,
elev. 443 m; km 38 Sabarguma, elev. 609 m; km 45.2 Ghinda,
elev. 908 m; km 50 Embatcalla, elev. 1361 m; km 57.2 Nefasit,
elev. 1680 m, a shunting station for unloading goods headed to Decamere;
management headquarters, with workshops and warehouses, is located here.
Km 62.5 Golei, elev. 1906 m; km 71.8 Asmara (Godaif)
elev. 2340, the final station, with large warehouses, at the Southern edge
of the city on the Asmara road – at the crossroad for Decamere and Adi
Ugri. The cableway is powered by 8 driving stations with 150 hp Tosi diesels;
the line is undergoing electrification.
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