How do cable cars slow down at stations without affecting the speed of other cable cars?
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Cable cars clamp onto a cable under the road. As the cable car enters the station, the conductor loosens or disconnects the clamp from the cable.
Similar to opening your hand while grabbing a rope, the rope passes by as you stay still.
Cable cars have a special “hand” called a grip that holds onto the moving cable underneath them. The grip can be tightened or loosened by the operator to control the speed of the cable car. When the cable car approaches a station, the operator loosens the grip to slow it down. This is like gently applying the brakes on a bike so you can stop at a stop sign. Other cable cars on the same cable also slow down slightly as they pass through the station, but they don’t come to a complete stop like the one picking up and dropping off passengers.
There are two schemes that I’m familiar with.
One is that the car is equipped with an adjustable ‘grip’ for garbing the cable. if a car wants to slow down it will let to of the cable and then apply brakes
The other is to design the system so all the cars stop at the same time. This is somewhat common in areas with steep inclines, as you can run two cars up/down a hill in opposite directions and allow the weight of the cars to mostly cancel out.
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