this is the best skateboard spot i’ve seen in a long time

simply amazing!

Two words you’ll apparently never hear in an Israeli subway station: “Handicapped accessible”

LOL!
I’m from Haifa.
nearly no-one use the Carmelit. it’s an old fashion subway and actualy don’t bring you to useful places!

I think these are really interesting. Apparently there used to be funicular like vehicles in San Francisco proper as well as on Mt. Tamalpais.

There are at least two in Barcelona, Mount Juic and one leading to an amusement park in the hills. Montmarte in Paris has one, too.

Some great views when riding on them.

very clever! In some ski-stations you can find the same system.

There’s also one in Istanbul, though not as steep - http://www.kebar.com/photos/photo.php?id=580

Ohhh finaly something about Israel
Well there is always wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelit
It’s interesting that i live here and I never drove in that…

There’s something similar in Bergen, Norway too.

http://www.burrard-lucas.com/gallery/norway/bergen/funicular_railway.html

I have travelled in a similar funicular in the Picos de Europa, Asturias, Spain.

There are two carriages, connected to each other by cable looped over driven pulley at the top of the line. The counterweight is therefore earning income!

There is an exciting moment half way up when the descending carriage is coming quite fast towards you, and misses you as you enter a short section of double track.

The funicular has been built by the regional government to encourage easier access by tourists into a spectacular mountainous region called the Picos de Europa.

A visit is highly recommended.

Take the funicular up, and walk back the original access path to the village at the top, which is not for the feint hearted, as it is rocky and cut into the side of very steep hillside, with breathtaking views down into the ravine alongside.

Here you can find a photo:

http://www.llanes.as/guia/pnc/imgs/funi01.jpg

Actually they use them in ski areas around Europe.
For example in France, Les Deux Alpes. If you want to go on the glacier, your first travel with a gondola and after that you have to option to take this kind of transport to go from 3000m to 3500. It’s called a “funiculaire”. It’s pretty scary knowing that you are traveling up a mountain with more than 10 m of glacier above you…

There’s also a few of these in Bergamo, in northern Italy.

There’s a Peak Tram here in Hong Kong. It goes up at quite a steep angle.

There is one in Barcelona, Spain, going to a hill above the town.

At first I could not belive my own eyes. A story about the Carmelit on deputy-dog.com??! Da. I was born in Haifa and lived there until I was about 19. One of my earliest childhood memories, perhaps the first, is about me riding the Carmelit with my mom and my oldest bro when a fire broke somewhere down the tunnel. The driver went out of his cabin with a fire extinguisher and handle it quite well… Anyway great story. It an interesting subway system

There’s a very similar means of transport in Athens, Greece, at the side of the Lycabettus hill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycabettus

This transport system exists in Napoli (Italy) since 1889.
We call it “funiculare”, because it works by “funi” (ropes in English) that pull up and down the carriages.

Moreover, we have a very famous folk song about it, called “Funiculì funiculà”…

You can find here an historical picture about it: http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/gnv/campania/vesuvio/figure/escursioni/funicolare.jpg

the steepest railway of that kind is in switzerland, by the way. it leads up to mount pilatus and has a crazy 48% gradient: http://www.pilatus.ch/content-n38-sE.html

What a terrible soundtrack,how can people listen to that lame crap,the lyrics are retarded.Urban hip-hop sounds stupid,is that the best you could do?

Cool skateboard park. Perfect 4 hawk

the world’s second underground which is tunel between karakoy and istiklal in turkey,istanbul, is like this system.it built in 1800’s. in istanbul there is also one more funicular system between kabatas and taksim

DD!
I was also born in Haifa. I took the Carmelit for the first time in nearly 40 years, when I visited Israel a few months ago…

It might be old-fashioned or whatever some other commenter said, but I just love that kind of innovation in design.

There is a similar vehicle in Wellington, New Zealand.

In Katoomba (outside Sydney, Australia) there is a “scenic railway” that is halfway to being a lift. It was part of a long-ago coal mining operation. Spectacular scenery and the ride is quite an experience.

Awesome skateboarding spot!

As mentioned thus far, the funicular is not unique to Isreal but it is a interesting oddity. Other places that have a funicular (coincendentally they use the same word and pronunce it similarly)is Bogota Colombia and Kiev Ukraine.

Funny thing about your comment “smartest man in the world” is that doing skateboard there is the stupidiest thing you could do… you fall and you get shocked by the ramps… you’re smart dude, reeeeeaaaaal smart!

and there is a small one [that ive traveled on] in barcelona, spain - up from placa espanya to montjuic.

There is a double funicular with passing track near Aviemore, Scotland called the Cairngorm Mountainn Railway. It also has the highest underground station in the world - they have buried the top station to prevent it from spoiling the views from the top of the mountain,

That’s pretty hot

I used to ride one of these all the time in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was cool but kinda boring. Not so snazzy like the folks in Israel got.

There are two funicular systems in Istanbul, Turkey. One of them was built in 19th century (187?) It’s called Tünel-Taksim. 2nd one was built last year: Kabataş-Taksim. In Kabataş station you are 10 mt. under the water. In Taksim station you are 60 mt. higher than water

I was born in Haifa. I took the Carmeleit before. Haifa’s fun. Good pizza, falafel and chummus