Cable Lift

The cable lift is a type of mechanism used on the lift hill of a roller coaster. It was used first used on Millennium Force at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It has since been used on an additional six roller coasters. So far, only Intamin roller coasters have them.

The cable lift utilizes a wire rope/cable loop in place of the traditional chain, which is attached to a short section of chain that engages the train's chain hook. Because a cable is much lighter than a chain, cable lifts are much faster than chain lifts and can be used on much steeper hills - even vertical.

A cable also requires far less maintenance than a chain. Another advantage to park guests is that a cable lift is very quiet, partly because the main drive winch is located directly beneath the top of the lift, a location which will normally be relatively far from guest-accessible areas. The main disadvantage of a cable lift system is that it must return to the bottom of the lift hill after lifting each train, which does not apply to a continuously moving chain lift. This limits the usefulness of the cable lift in applications where the cable must travel a long distance and the interval between train departures is short.

Installations

Name	Park	Manufacturer	Type	Opened	Status
Millennium Force	Cedar Point	Intamin AG	Giga	2000	Operating
Expedition GeForce	Holiday Park	Intamin AG	Sit-Down	2001	Operating
Goliath	Walibi Holland	Intamin AG	Sit-Down	2002	Operating
Thunder Dolphin	Tokyo Dome City	Intamin AG	Hyper	2003	Operating
El Toro	Six Flags Great Adventure	Intamin AG	Wooden	2006	Operating
T Express	Everland	Intamin AG	Wooden	2008	Operating
Intimidator 305	Kings Dominion	Intamin AG	Giga	2010	Operating
Skyrush	Hersheypark	Intamin AG	Sit-Down	2012	Operating