The Bom Jesus funicular is a funicular

Funicular

A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

 located in Bom Jesus do Monte

Bom Jesus do Monte

thumb|250px|Stairway and church of Bom Jesus do Monte.Bom Jesus do Monte is a Portuguese sanctuary in Tenões, surroundings of the city of Braga, in northern Portugal. Its name means Good Jesus of the Mount....

, city of Braga

Braga

Braga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

.

The funicular was built in 1882 by Niklaus Riggenbach

Niklaus Riggenbach

Niklaus Riggenbach was the inventor of the Riggenbach rack system and the counter-pressure brake. He was also an engineer and locomotive builder....

 and is the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

.

It is the oldest funicular in the world moving by water

Water

Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 counterbalancing

Counterweight

A counterweight is an equivalent counterbalancing weight that balances a load.-Uses:A counterweight is often used in traction lifts , cranes and funfair rides...

, loading water into the car at the top of the hill, which weighs it down so it sinks to the bottom, at the same time drawing the lighter, drained car up the hill, where the process starts all over again.

The funicular track is 274 metres long and descends 116 metres, giving an average gradient of around 42%.

Technical parameters

• Length
  Length
  In geometric measurements, length most commonly refers to the longest dimension of an object.In certain contexts, the term "length" is reserved for a certain dimension of an object along which the length is measured. For example it is possible to cut a length of a wire which is shorter than wire...
  
  : 274 metres
• Height
  Height
  Height is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is. For example "The height of the building is 50 m" or "The height of the airplane is 10,000 m"...
  
  : 116 metres
• Steepness: 42 %
• Journey time: 2.4 to 4 minutes
• Cars: 2
• Capacity: 38 passengers per car
• Track gauge
  Rail gauge
  Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
  
  : 1.435 metres
  Standard gauge
  The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
  
  
• Traction
  Traction (engineering)
  Traction refers to the maximum frictional force that can be produced between surfaces without slipping.The units of traction are those of force, or if expressed as a coefficient of traction a ratio.-Traction:...
  
  : Water ballast