Japan May Get High-Speed City Ropeways by 2025

Tired of busy city roads and trains? One company in Japan is working on a way to travel above them all.

Tokyo company Zip Infrastructure is developing a ropeway called Zippar. It uses electricity to move small capsules that could carry up to 12 people each. Unlike other ropeways, the capsules will even be able to make turns and turn off onto different routes.

Stations don't have to be on the ground, either — the company says that stops could be made on the sides of buildings.

Takamasa Suchi, the 23-year-old president of Zip Infrastructure, said that he expects a ropeway with 12-person capsules to be able to carry 3,600 people per hour, with one capsule running every 12 seconds.

Zippar could also be much cheaper than previous ropeways that have been built in Japan. According to the company, it would cost $15 million per kilometer to build, while other ropeways have cost about $100 million per kilometer. For example, the Yokohama Air Cabin that opened in the city of Yokohama in April 2021 cost $120 million per kilometer.

Furthermore, the company says a ropeway could be built five times more quickly than a railway, too.

As well as carrying people, Zip Infrastructure says that Zippar could be used to move goods and even get help to people after a disaster.

The company now has a test version of Zippar for one person in the city of Odawara and is developing a test version for four people. Zip Infrastructure wants to start using ropeways to carry people around Japan's cities by 2025.

Questions

1.How many people will Zippar's capsules be able carry?

2.How much will it cost per-kilometer to build a Zippar system?

3.Will Zippar only be used to carry people?

出处：见配图水印