funicular

A funicular is an inclined railway on which two permanently coupled cars travel up and down a steep slope on rails, hauled by a cable that runs over a pulley at the upper end of the track. The ascending and descending cars counterbalance each other, so the drive only has to overcome the difference in load and the friction of the system.

Funiculars run on rails on or near the ground. This distinguishes them from a suspended cableway, whose cars hang from cables above the ground, and from an inclined elevator, which moves a single cabin without a counterbalancing partner. Passengers board and alight at a funicular station at each end of the line.

In North America, funiculars are commonly known as inclines or incline railways; well-known examples are the Duquesne Incline and the Monongahela Incline in Pittsburgh.