The Tibidabo Funicular was the first to be built in Spain. Works began in June 1900 and it was inaugurated in October 1901. It became Tibidabo's first great attraction and, as a result of its success, all the machinery was changed in 1922 to increase the speed and capacity of the vehicles, reaching 140 passengers per trip.
In 1958, the bodies of the original wooden wagons were replaced by new metal sheet ones. It was not until 2008 that the machinery was renovated, doubling its capacity. These last vehicles were in operation until 2019, when they were retired awaiting the Cuca de Llum, the new funicular of the amusement park, which will be inaugurated this year, celebrating its 120th anniversary.
The first unit of the Cuca de Llum arrived this Thursday in Barcelona, coming from Veyrins (France), where it has been built by Leitner Ropeways, an Italian company specialized in the manufacture of cable transport systems. Two large trucks transported it from there with a special gondola for transporting railway material. The placement of the wagons on the tracks that go up Collserola to Tibidabo was carried out with a large 220-ton crane, an operation that lasted a total of eight hours. It will be repeated again next March 18, when the second vehicle of the new funicular arrives.
During the next few weeks, preliminary work will be carried out for its commissioning, such as verification of all components and test trips with various types of speed and load conditions. Since the removal of the previous funicular's wagons in 2019, remodeling works have been carried out on the facilities to adapt to the new one. The kick-off is scheduled for the second half of the year. It will be then when the appearance of the Cuca de Llum will be known, which arrived today wrapped to maintain anticipation.
The Cuca de Llum has been conceived as another attraction of Tibidabo, covered with large windows that will offer a panoramic view of the landscape that goes from Doctor Andreu square to the entrance of the park. Conceived in a pre-covid era, it includes electronic tablets to play and discover the history of Tibidabo or how a funicular is built.
The design of the new funicular has been carried out by architect Josep Miàs, from the Barcelona studio MiAS Architects. This firm is also responsible for the new Buri-Buri of Tibidabo and the square that welcomes visitors to the amusement park and its furniture, with parasols that look like daisies.
Likewise, the new funicular triples the capacity of the previous one and will be able to carry up to almost 300 people on each trip. It also increases speed, going from four meters per second to ten meters per second, and reduces the duration of the journey, which will be only three minutes when it previously took seven. With this new vehicle, it is expected to reduce private vehicle displacements by 14.8%.