Reunion’s first cable car is put into service in Saint-Denis de la Réunion on March 15, 2022 (AFP / Richard BOUHET)
The first cable car in Reunion, and in the Indian Ocean, was put into service on Tuesday in Sainp-Denis in order to alleviate the frequent and dense traffic jams in this French island with its tormented relief.
The 2.7 km line will be “the starting point of a modal shift”, and will encourage users to agree “to abandon their car for the cable car”, hoped MP Philippe Naillet during the inauguration of the project. launched in 2015 by the intermunicipal community of northern Reunion (Cinor – bringing together the municipalities of Saint-Denis, Sainte-Marie and Sainte-Suzanne).
With this metro cable called “Papang” – the Creole name for the Maillard harrier, the only endemic bird of prey in Réunion – the idea is to relieve road traffic congestion by serving a loop between the Chaudron, a high-density district of Saint-Denis population, and the Bois de Nèfles, a residential area located halfway up the town.
Successive every 34 seconds, the 46 cabins can transport 1,200 people per hour and per direction, assures the Poma company which operates the cable car.
The service will be provided from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and the ticket will cost 1 euro, the same price as the bus.
Five stations are served, including a high school and the university campus, on a route comprising 270 meters of elevation.
Reunion’s first cable car put into service on March 15, 2022 in Saint-Denis de la Réunion (AFP / Richard BOUHET)
On Tuesday, opinions were divided among the public present at the inauguration. Thus Jean-Raymond Morel, father of a family, estimated that “there is far too much wind in Reunion” and said he did not want to “fall with the cabin or break down up there”. A student considered on the contrary that the cable car was going to make it possible to “save time”.
Started in 2019, the project cost 54 million euros, including 16 paid by European funds. The rest of the envelope was financed in particular by the French Development Agency (12 million) and the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (10 million).
Associated with two local partners, including Sodiparc, governing the Citalis bus network, the French group Poma, world leader in cable transport, designed the cable car.
La Cinor has already launched a second cable car project to serve Bellepierre and the Mountain, two districts located on the heights of Saint-Denis. Commissioning is scheduled for 2023.
© 2022 AFP
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