World`s largest wheel prepares to spin in Beijing

China is building a 208m-high Ferris wheel — more than 50% taller than the 135m-high London Eye. The Great Beijing Wheel, which due to start spinning in time for next year`s Olympic Games, is being designed by the same multinational team which developed the London wheel, with the drives and automation contract going once more to Bosch Rexroth.

The 198m-diameter Beijing wheel will rotate three times an hour, with each of its 48 capsules carrying 40 passengers. Like the London attraction, the 2,800-tonne wheel will be turned by 32 tyres running along its rim, powered by an almost maintenance-free hydraulic power system.

Unlike the London wheel, passengers will be able to board from both sides of the Beijing attraction. They will climb aboard from platforms moving at the same speed as the turning wheel. The automation system for the boarding stations is also being supplied by Rexroth.

The company building the Beijing Wheel, the Great Wheel Corporation, is looking at around 20 similar projects around the world.