The Odesa Funicular () serves the Ukrainian city of

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

. Running alongside the

Potemkin Stairs The Potemkin Stairs, Potemkin Steps (, ), or, officially, Primorsky Stairs are a giant stairway in Odesa, Ukraine. They are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odesa. (hardcov ...

, it connects the

Prymorskyi Boulevard Prymorskyi Boulevard (), also known by its Russian-language name as Primorsky Boulevard () is a street located in the Historic Centre of Odesa, Ukraine. Stretching from Odesa City Hall to Vorontsov Palace, Prymorskyi Boulevard is one of Odesa ...

with the

Port of Odesa The Port of Odesa or Odesa Commercial Seaport (), located near Odesa, is the largest Ukrainian seaport and one of the largest ports in the Black Sea basin, with a total annual traffic capacity of 40 million tonnes (15 million tonnes dry bulk and ...

. Despite what its name suggests, in its modern state the Odesa Funicular is not technically a

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

but rather a ''double inclined lift''. The system was built by the "Skylift" from

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

History

The funicular was designed by the engineer N. I. Pyatnitsky and opened on 8 June 1902. It was equipped with two passenger cabins for 35 persons each delivered from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1969 the original system was replaced by a cascade of

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a Electric motor, motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the st ...

s, which had to be closed in 1997. Then in 1998 the city council decided to restore the service, this time in the form of an inclined elevator. Construction started in the same year but was delayed until 2005, and the ropeway was reopened on 2 September 2005. Service was interrupted for much of 2016 for repairs to the Potemkin Stairs.. '' The Odesa Times'', 2016-09-27

Route

Located in the old town, the central city district, the line starts at the Primorsky Boulevard (''Primorsky Bulvar''), in which lies the upper station, close to the Opera Theater. The line and ends at Prymorska Street (''Prymorska vulytsia''), by the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coastline. The lower station, Morsky Port, is in front of the city port and is next to the port's railway station. Originally built with a single track and a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

in the middle, it now has two

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

tracks and runs for alongside the

and Stambulsky Park. Each car has capacity for 12 passengers and the journey takes 3.5 minutes.

Gallery

Украина, Одесса - Потемкинская лестница 10 (cropped).jpg, The lower station and the Potemkin Stairs Украина, Одесса - Потемкинская лестница 13.jpg, The upper station Odessa funicular.JPG, The port seen from the funicular Одесса. Фуникулёр..JPG, View of a car Potjomkin Funicular 2.JPG, View of a car

Literature

*Nicolas Iljine, Bel Kaufman, Oleg Gubar: ''Odesa Memories''.

University of Washington Press The University of Washington Press is an American academic publishing house. The organization is a division of the University of Washington, based in Seattle. Although the division functions autonomously, it has worked to assist the university' ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, 2004 -

References

External links

*
Odesa City Guide: Odesa Funicular

Odesa Funicular of narrow.parovoz.com
{{Urban public transport networks and systems in Ukraine Funicular railways in Ukraine

Funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...