Angels Flight Funicular of los Angeles

Sener, in partnership with ACS Infrastructure, has been involved with the evaluation testing, concept engineering design, validation and safety certification for the revitalization of the Angels Flight Funicular in Downtown Los Angeles.

Sener and ACS will also operate the line during the next 30 years, as appointed by Angels Flight Foundation.

This project utilises a public-private partnership contract scheme (P3), both in terms of financing and operation, one of the first of its kind executed in Los Angeles.

The work carried out covered the addition of essential safety features, including validation of a new braking system and modifications to the software control system. The vehicles were also subjected to a complete renovation, rigorous functional and safety testing, and modified entrance doors were added in order to provide passengers with increased security.

Angels Flight provides an essential and welcome connection between the burgeoning business district at the top of Bunker Hill and the historic Central Market and Los Angeles Metro Network.

Technical characteristics

Two cable hauled vehicles

The length of the guideway is 298 ft. (90 m)

The gradient of the guideway is a constant 34 %

The vertical height gain is 96 ft. (29.2 m)

Challenges

A six-month timeline on a project in full public view.

Careful coordination with local, state and federal government regulatory agencies

to adhere to rules required for transit systems and registered national historic landmarks.

The first P3 transit project in Los Angeles

Important safety modifications

including the addition of a walkway alongside the track, taller passenger access doors on the vehicle and a new safety rope carrier brake.

The Angels Flight originally opened in 1901 in the Bunker Hill area of Los Angeles. Following a derailment in September 2013, it was closed by the California Public Utilities Commission pending implementation of certain improvements and modifications.

Following more than one year’s evaluation of the existing system and subsequent engineering works carried out by Sener and ACS Infrastructure, the California Public Utilities Commission gave formal authorization for the system to re-open at the end of August 2017.

The “world’s shortest railway” has been the star of many Hollywood films and television series over the years, and its absence from the Los Angeles cityscape was lamented by many residents and visitors alike. Angels Flight ranks as seventh out of two hundred and thirty-nine historic places listed in the American National Register of Historic Places which are located in Los Angeles.