Table Mountain Aerial Cableway

The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway is a state of the art cable car transportation system offering visitors a five-minute ride to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of Cape Town's most popular tourist attractions with approximately 900,000 people a year using the Cableway. In February 2016, the Cableway welcomed its 25 millionth visitor.The upper cable station in on the westernmost end of the Table Mountain plateau, at an elevation of 1067m. The upper cable station offers views over Cape Town, Table Bay and Robben Island to the north, and the Atlantic seaboard to the west and south. Amenities at the upper station include free guided walking tours, an audio tour, meals and internet access.HistoryBy the 1870s, Capetonians had proposed a railway to the top of Table Mountain, but plans were halted by the Anglo-Boer War. The City Council began investigating the options again in 1912, but this was in turn halted by the First World War. Despite initial cost estimates of GB£100,000 (equivalent to £38,800,000 in 2011 pounds) to build the cableway the city's population was supportive of the project and in a referendum overwhelmingly voted in support of the project.A Norwegian engineer, Trygve Stromsoe, presented plans for a cableway in 1926, and construction began soon after with the formation of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC). Construction of was completed in 1929 at a cost of GB£60,000 (equivalent to £11,400,000 in 2011 pounds) and the cableway was opened on October 4, 1929, by the Mayor of Cape Town AJS Lewis. The cableway has been upgraded three times since then. Sir David Graaff, a leading industrialist, former mayor of Cape Town and government minister, also invested heavily in the project.