Funicular route

Duquesne Incline

Pittsburgh (West Carson Street) → Duquesne Heights · United States

Distance

0.24 km

Fastest time

3 min

Top speed

7 km/h

Operator

Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline

Train

Original 1877 J.G. Brill wooden cars in cherry and oak

Countries

United States

In service since

1877

Page last updated 2026-07-23 · figures are published values, not live data · corrections log

Original 1877 wooden Brill cars still climb the 30-degree grade to Grandview Avenue and Pittsburgh’s postcard skyline overlook.

More funicular routes

• 
  Stoosbahn

  Schwyz (Schlattli) → Stoos · 1.74 km · 4 min

  Stoosbahnen AG · Rotating barrel cabins by Garaventa (2017)

  The world’s steepest funicular: a 110% maximum gradient climbed by barrel cabins that rotate to keep the floor level, 744 m up to car-free Stoos.

• 
  Niesenbahn

  Mülenen → Niesen Kulm · 3.5 km · 28 min

  Niesenbahn AG · Two-section funicular; car change at Schwandegg

  Climbs 1,643 m over 3.5 km up the pyramid of the Niesen — and the service stairway alongside is the longest on earth at 11,674 steps.

• 
  Gelmerbahn

  Handegg → Gelmersee · 1.03 km · 10 min

  Grimselwelt (KWO) · Open-air 24-seat cars of 1926, public rides since 2001

  An open-car ride up a 106% grade — Europe’s steepest funicular until Stoos overtook it in 2017 — built to serve the Gelmersee dam works.

• 
  Funiculaire Sierre–Crans-Montana

  Sierre → Crans-Montana · 4.19 km · 13 min

  SMC · Fully renewed cars, track and drive (2022)

  Switzerland’s longest funicular: 4.2 km and 927 m of climb from the Rhône valley vineyards at Sierre to the Crans-Montana plateau.

More train routes in United States.