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TRANSPORT

Berlin cable car to soar over city

Transport fans have been given an unexpected lift by news that a cable car will be built in time for the international garden show which will be hosted by Berlin in 2017.

Berlin cable car to soar over city
Better than the U-Bahn? Photo: LEITNER ropeways_IGA Berlin 2017

The cable car will take visitors to the garden show in Marzahn in the eastern suburbs of Berlin in 2017. But it will stay operational for at least three years after that and possibly indefinitely.

The novel form of transport will be linked up to the Neuen Grottkauer Straße subway station on the U5 line from where it will ferry passengers to the western entrance of the "Gardens of the World" exhibition.

Passengers will  travel over the 102-metre-high Kienberg hill and on to Marzahn-Hellersdorf,  where more than 2.3 million visitors are expected to attend the garden show.

READ MORE Berlin news here

The €14-million project got the green light after privately-owned Leitner Ropeways said it would foot the whole bill.

The company, which beat off a rival bid from an Austrian firm, has already installed cable cars in Mexico City and in Colombia's second largest city Medellin.  

Leitner Ropeways will not charge directly for the service but will receive €2.30 out of the cost of an entrance ticket, which has not yet been decided.

The project has been broadly welcomed. Berlin transport secretary Christian Gaebler called it a "win-win situation" while International Garden Show CEO Christoph Schmidt said it was a "wonderful result".

The International Garden Show will cover an area of 103 hectares in eastern Berlin. The cost of the event is €33 million, around a third of which is being paid for by the city.

SEE ALSO: Germany's tallest hotel planned for Berlin

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TRANSPORT

Copenhagen Metro lines reopen after two-week closure

Lines M3 and M4 of the Copenhagen Metro are back in service having reopened on Sunday, one day ahead of schedule.

Copenhagen Metro lines reopen after two-week closure

The two lines had been closed so that the Metro can run test operations before opening five new stations on the M4 line this summer.

The tests, which began on February 10th, are now done and the lines were running again as of Sunday evening, a day ahead of the original planned reopening on Monday February 26th.

“We are very pleased to be able to welcome our passengers on to our two lines M3 and M4,” head of operations with the Metro Søren Boysen said.

“The whole test procedure exceeded all expectations and went faster than expected and we can therefore get a head start on our reopening now,” he said.

Time set aside for potential repeat tests was not needed in the event, allowing the test closures to be completed ahead of time.

“Several of our many tests went better than expected and we have therefore not used all the time we needed for extra tests,” Boysen said.

The two lines serve around one million passengers every week, according to the Metro company.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen city government greenlights extension to Metro line

The new stops on the M4 line will be located south of central Copenhagen in the Valby and Sydhavn areas. The will have the names Haveholmen, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen, Mozarts Plads and København Syd (Copenhagen South).

The M3 and M4 lines, the newer sections of the Metro, opened in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

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