A new cable car is under construction on to the Zugspitze, Germany's glaciated highest peak and highest ski area.
The lift will be built by Doppelmayr on behalf of the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn lift company over the next two summers and is scheduled to open in December 2017, replacing the previous lift which opened 54 years earlier in 1963. The overall project, including new terminal buildings, has a €50m budget.
The new Zugspitze cable car will be of the same standard cable car type as its predecessor and the base and upper stations will be in the same locations but, as well as having a greater uplift capacity with 120 people per cabin, and a faster speed, there are several big changes in the new lift's design which will set three world record.
Firstly, the lift will incorporate the world's highest mountain cable car support tower at 127 metres; second the greatest lift will have the greatest altitude difference yet at 1,945 metres over one section and third the lift will cross the world's longest free span between towers, a distance of 3,213 metres or about two miles.
Work on the new lift has already seen the installation of Germany's highest construction crane at 2,950 metres above sea level and the installation of a special cableway for transporting building materials to the top terminal. By the end of this year, rock removal, anchoring and concrete work at the summit station will have been completed. The old cable car will continue to run until next spring, then in summer and autumn next year guests can still use the funicular railway to access the peak until the new lift begins operations.
The 2017 construction schedule includes dismantling the existing entrance building, completion of the mountain terminal, construction of the cable car support tower as well as demolishing the old support towers and old valley terminal. Highlights of this construction phase also include the transport and installation of four cables, each weighing around 145 tons, as well as putting this state of the art ropeway technology into operation.
The new base terminal will be fully accessible and disabled friendly with cable car access and exit on one single level. A sliding platform (adjustable central platform) will facilitate a more comfortable and efficient entry and exit of the base terminal.
The new mountain terminal will still have three visitor levels, offering access to the glacier cable car but will also be accessible in future from the Münchner Haus and Tiroler Zugspitzbahn. There will also be fully glazed platforms offering spectacular panoramic views whilst getting in and out of the cable car. zugspitze.de