The South Tyrolean ropeway manufacturer Leitner is expanding its product portfolio with an interesting variant: ConnX, a new, intermodal mobility system, will be launched on the market in 2025 once all test series have been completed. The new concept was presented at the international ropeway congress of the OITAF (International Organisation of Transportation by Rope) in Vancouver, Canada, and was very well received by the visitors.
The centrepiece of the new mobility service ConnX for urban areas, designed and patented by Leitner – derived from the English word connect – is a ropeway whose cabin is handed over to an autonomous electric vehicle when it enters the station, which then continues its journey at street level. The system therefore has two main advantages in an urban context: firstly, topographical or structural obstacles can be overcome more easily with a cable car, and secondly, the intermodal “double solution” is an important alternative for all those areas in which a continuous cable car variant cannot be realised for various reasons.
In a few months’ time, the first vehicle should leave the status of a prototype behind and be available to cities as a flexible, innovative service for upcoming decisions on alternative mobility concepts in the area of public transport.
Successful tests in Hungary
“Over the past few months, ConnX has successfully passed all the in-depth tests that we carried out at the ZalaZone Automotive Testing Centre in Hungary,” says Klaus Erharter, Head of R&D at Leitner. “Thanks in part to the successful collaboration with the Slovenian company Elaphe, the market leader in the field of in-wheel engines, we have managed to optimise all processes by testing all the complex functions of our technological solution,” explains Günter Tschinkel, Head of Electrical Engineering at Leitner.
From the first idea to reality
The first prototype, which was born from an innovative idea in Sterzing, was realised in 2021. The vision behind it was to offer a comfortable way of travelling without having to change cabins by combining a cable car and self-propelled electric vehicles. The manufacturer sees great potential in the flexible adaptability to a wide range of urban requirements, including, for example, the ability to easily bypass existing infrastructure barriers such as buildings or monuments. ConnX is not only suitable as a “missing link” between different transport systems or between two cable cars, but also as a “last mile connection” for people and goods.
Low installation costs and short construction times are cited as further advantages of ConnX, which, at speeds of up to 12 metres per second (43 km/h), can maintain transport capacity throughout the entire operating time by driving autonomously in its own lanes without interference or delay from other road users up to gradients of ten percent.
It will be interesting to see whether these expectations are all fulfilled in the first practical applications. Leitner’s engineers can certainly not be accused of lacking the courage to think outside the box in order to find new solutions for different traffic requirements!
All photos: © Leitner
