Funicular is a word we don’t hear often. But ANSI has a standard ANSI B77.2-2020 for funicular safety.
The former CEO of Olympus America, Sid Braginsky would often start his presentations asking us to define a particular word. I owe him great deal and this technique always got my attention. No matter how ordinary the word was, I always found the task of defining a common word more difficult than expected. But it always got me thinking and I really enjoyed the challenge.
Chances are you’ll know what a funicular is if you live in the mountains or visit them. I’ll admit that I had heard the word often enough but had to look it up anyway. Type into the Google search box “define: funiculars” and you’ll see not only the definition, but also a list of funicular railways organized by place along with photos of funiculars. Google is great for this kind of query.
I am often amazed to find there are standards for practically everything. Type nearly any word into the keyword search at webstore.ansi.org and you’ll see what I mean. What happens when you search for funicular standards? Yes there are standards for funiculars.