Ngong Ping 360
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| Ngong Ping 360 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese: | 昂平360 | |
| Mandarin | ||
| Hanyu Pinyin: | Ángpíng Sānliùlíng | |
| Cantonese | ||
| IPA: | [ŋɔŋ11 pʰɪŋ11 sɑm53 ləʊk22 lɪŋ11] | |
| Jyutping: | Ngong4 Ping4 Saam1 Luk6 Ling4 | |
Ngong Ping 360 is a tourism project in Lantau Island, Hong Kong, China, consists of the Ngong Ping Skyrail cable car system and Ngong Ping Village. It is owned by the MTR Corporation, built and operated by Skyrail-ITM. The project was previously known as Tung Chung Cable Car Project before branded as such in April 2005.
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[edit] Overview
[edit] Ngong Ping Skyrail
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Ngong Ping Skyrail is a 5.7km long cable car system linking between Tung Chung (where it connects the MTR Tung Chung station) and Ngong Ping (where the Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha are located). Between the two terminals at Tung Chung and Ngong Ping, the cable cars run across the southern shore of the Hong Kong International Airport island and the Nei Lak Shan, with eight towers including the stations.
The Skyrail was originally scheduled to open on 24 June 2006. However, due to the incident on June 17, 2006, (see the Incident section for details), Skyrail-ITM announced to postpone the opening day to fix the technical problems. After 2 months of improvement works and repair for the damages made by Typhoon Prapiroon in August 2006, Ngong Ping 360 resumed a trial-run of 7 days from 30 August 2006. It was opened on 18 September 2006. However, there have already been several reports of technical problems, some of them caused by strong winds.
[edit] Ngong Ping Village
The Ngong Ping Village is built next to the Skyrail Ngong Ping Terminal, occupies a 15,000 square metre site and has been designed to mirror and uphold the cultural and spiritual veracity of the Ngong Ping area. Traditional Chinese architectural designs are a feature of the Ngong Ping Village, which contains an assortment of shopping and dining experiences, on top of a number of key attractions counting Walking With Buddha, the Monkey's Tale Theatre and the Ngong Ping Tea House.
[edit] Stations
The cable car journey offers an 20 to 25 minute aerial alternative to the current one-hour journey by Tung Chung Road, allowing visitors to glide across Tung Chung Bay and up to Lantau Island towards Ngong Ping Plateau.
The Cableway starts at the Tung Chung Terminal, runs across Tung Chung Bay to an Angle Station on Airport Island, where it turns through some 60 degree before returning across Tung Chung Bay. It then runs up the North Lantau Country Park to another angle station near Nei Lak Shan, before finally descending to the Ngong Ping Terminal.
During the 20 to 25 minute journey, travellers can have panoramic views over the North Lantau Country Park, the South China sea, Hong Kong International Airport, the Tung Chung valley, Ngong Ping Plateau and surrounding terrain and waterways. As visitors approach Ngong Ping, they can have views of "The Big Buddha" and the Po Lin Monastery.
| Livery and Name | District | Connections | Opened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ngong Ping 360 Skyrail . | |||
| Tung Chung | Islands | Tung Chung Station for Tung Chung Line | - |
| Ngong Ping | - | - | |
[edit] Selection and design of Ngong Ping Skyrail
The Corporation has adopted a continuous circulating bi-cable aerial ropeway system for the Project, which features a superb level of travelling comfort, safety and reliability. Between the Tung Chung and Ngong Ping Terminals, the 5.7 km cableway changes direction twice at the two Angle Stations, one on the south shore of Chek Lap Kok; the other west of Nei Lak Shan within the Lantau North Country Park. The cable car cabin has a modern design with seating for ten and standing room for another seven.
A lot of emphasis was placed during the design development stage on harmonising the cable car development with the surrounding environment. As a result, all the terminals and angle stations are designed with unique character to blend in with the ambience. The themed village has been designed to reflect and maintain the cultural and spiritual integrity of the Ngong Ping area, and to complement the existing attractions in the area and the cable car ride.
The cableway and the cable cars come from the Leitner Group. A continuous circulating bi-cable aerial ropeway system, where the track cable acts as a rail in the sky and the haul cable pulls the cable cars, allows long spans between towers, a smooth and comfortable ride for a large number of passengers. The system has been selected for its superior ride quality and high standards of safety and reliability and is the first to be installed in Hong Kong.
The cableway is supported by 8 towers. The cable car cabin has a modern design with seating for 10 and standing room for another 7. It also incorporates assertive features to meet the needs of disabled passengers, including elderly and wheelchair users. The system has a capacity of 3,500 people per hour in each direction.
[edit] Construction history
Construction of the Cable Car Project started at the beginning of 2004. The cableway has 8 towers, 5 of them located within the country park. The Project was completed and started running as of April 24, 2006.
[edit] Incident
- On 17 June 2006, during the trial-run with the maximum running of 109 cable cars, a cable car arriving Ngong Ping station had a slight collision with a late departing cable car. The entire system was automatically halted by the safety system. 500 people in the cars were trapped for three hours. A further 600 visitors were trapped at the Ngong Ping station. After the incident, all trial-runs were cancelled, and the commencement date of the system was postponed.
[edit] See also
