Skitube Alpine Railway - Technical Details

Technical Details

The majority of the railway is underground, comprising the Bilston and Blue Cow tunnels, 3.3 km (2.1 mi) and 2.6 km (1.6 mi) long respectively. The depth of the tunnels varies from between 4 and 550 m (13 and 1,800 ft), and their diameter between 5 and 5.5 m (16 and 18 ft). 30 kg/m second hand rail from State Rail was used to build the line, and two electrical substations are fed with 33 kV power, and output 1.5 kV DC for the overhead wiring.

Each of the carriages, which typically make up a 4, 3 or 2-carriage train, is 16.8 m (55.1 ft) long and 3.8 m (12.5 ft) wide, and can carry 225 passengers. This provides for the movement of around 4,500 people per hour. Eleven passenger cars in total were acquired, 4 motor cars, 4 driving trailers and 3 non driving trailers. The motor cars each have four 301 kW traction motors, making them the most powerful rack railway vehicles in the world. The braking system is mixed regenerative and rheostatic. The train is capable of 40 km/h (25 mph), however this is limited during the downhill journey to 21 km/h (13 mph).
Two 'S' open wagons were acquired from the NSW State Rail Authority for freight traffic, and have been cut down to flat wagons.

The rack system Skitube operates on the Lamella System, which was developed by the Von Roll company.