Although funicular railways were one of the original means for skiers to get uphill a century ago and earlier, new ones only appear very occasionally because of the high capital costs of construction with cable cars and gondola alternatives usually costing less and able to transport more passengers per hour.
The new Leitner built lift will replace the old Frachey-Alpe Ciarcerio double clairlift in the Monterosa area, which had been operational for the past 30 years and will open during the coming 2009-2010 winter season.
The new lift is publically financed at a cost 12.3 million Euros. It will allow for year round tourist use for all, not just skiers, and is planned it will operate at night for romantic evenings too.
The funicular will be equipped with two carriages that can each carry 110 people with an hourly capacity of 1500 people, travelling at a maximum speed of 8 metres per second. With a team of four staffing the funicular, including two cabmen, it will ascend from Frachey at 1617m to 1981m high Alpe Ciarcerio.
It will travel on a straight track with a length of 797 metres, with no intermediate stops and with a travelling time of about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
"We decided on installing this kind of lift due to the longevity of the lift itself and due to the large variety of people who can use it." Said a company Monterosa spokesperson.
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