The concept of funicular Trolley is very common in many of the international mountain resorts and villages of Switzerland, Russia and many other places. This will cover entire Saptashrungi Hills in the picturesque north end of Western Ghats to the temple atop which is approximately up the 1,400 meters tall. This trolley will be having a 330 feet elevation that will facilitate all the pilgrims reaching the top of the hill within a time span of just three minutes, which is approximately 1-2 hours climb as of now.
The initial fee for the ticket has been decided to be Rs 80 for adults. And for the senior citizens, physically handicapped, and children below the age of 12 years, it would be only Rs 40. Since the temple gathers a crowd of four million pilgrims every year, therefore the expected revenue of this trolley is expected accordingly. However, the construction of this modern Funicular Trolley has been a new as well as a challenging experience for entire Maharashtra government, as this appears to be a unique concept having no precedent in India.
The passengers will have a mesmerizing riding experience, as the trolley will be travelling through a beautiful view of the lush green forests. It will be completely surrounded by the amazing hills that are specifically known for rockfalls and landslides. So, in order to ensure the complete security aspects, the Govt. has tested the Funicular Trolley many times for several months prior launching it for the public operations.
A special railway track of 1.20-meter width has been specifically designated to run this trolley. It has also been accompanied by an eight-meters "passing loop" that will allow two trolleys to travel in the opposite directions in a safe and secure way without any interruption.
This funicular trolley has a capacity to carrying 60 passengers in one go. Despite having the steep angles throughout the journey, the associated Indian, as well as international engineers have ensured that the passengers will have a comfortable ride.
As per the statistics, the temple caters an average of approximately 5,000 daily pilgrims that appears to be 7,500 on weekends. In order to accommodate this much of footfall, the temple authorities are planning to construct a new parking lot that will be having a capacity to accommodate more than 200 vehicles along with a market, eateries and many other facilities and amenities.
As the Saptashrungi Funicular Trolley is reaching its final stage of implementation, the state government is already receiving the demands for similar projects for many of the hilltops including Jejuri Temple, Pune, and Panhala in Kolhapur.
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