Jubil

There’s not much room in the valley
station of the Chur-Känzeli aerial
tramway. It’s impossible for two
cabins to stand next to one another.
That’s why the construction engineers
at Bartholet Maschinenbau
AG were forced to resort to an unconventional
solution: The distance
between the track and hauling ropes
gradually increases to 10 metres up
to the stanchion, then decreases
again afterwards to 5 metres. It
wasn’t an easy task because traction
works in a straight line whereas
the cable guidance requires a slight
angle. The problem was solved with
additional reinforcements and redirections.
Even more unconventional
is the duct for the optical waveguide
which is important for data transfer.
Normally, an additional cable is
installed for this. But because the
Chur-Känzeli aerial tramway goes
across residential areas in places,
the design of this rope would have
had to be extremely strong for safety
reasons. The planning engineers
therefore decided to integrate the
glass-fibre cable in the track rope.
The separation of fibre optic cable
and track rope at the two stations
was particularly difficult from a technical
perspective. With this solution,
Bartholet Maschinenbau AG created
a genuine innovation, and the cable
connection sleeves required a spe-
Technical data - 45-passenger ropeway system Chur Känzeli
Year of construction 2006
System aerial tramway with 45-person cabins,
unaccompanied
Length of course 1098 metres
Track rope diameter 34 millimetres
Hauling rope diameter 30 millimetres
Cable length 6,600 metres
Cable weight 37 tonnes
Max. speed of gondolas 36 km/h
Power requirement Main drive 300 kW, auxiliary drive
(diesel engine) 75 kW
Passenger capacity
per hour 600 persons
Rescue system Rescue ropeway with cable winch
Carriers 16 rollers
Stanchion Height 40 metres, inclination 16 degrees (°)
Control systems Main control in the mountain station; unit
with safety PLC Siemens and 40 sensors,
switches, emergency drive control; valley
station control cabinet with PLC Siemens S7
and 15 sensors, switches, control unit and
mechanical components, CE-certified.
cial construction that first had to be
approved by the authorities.
Without an emergency brake
The stipulation by the operating
company of ensuring unaccompanied
operation necessitated a cabin
drive with which guests were unable
to trigger an arbitrary stop along the
route. Such a stop would normally
be made by emergency brakes on
the drive. The constructing engineer
found the solution in a drive without
emergency brakes. All safety requirements
were compensated by the rope
guide, brakes and adaptations of the
hauling rope diameter.
Specifications
entirely met
“We were already very satisfied
with the work of Bartholet
Maschinenbau AG back in
1998 during the construction
of a 4-person gondola lift.
That is why we decided to use
the company again and it met
all of our targets as a turnkey
contractor for the renovation
of the aerial tramway. There
were many issues regarding
construction law that needed
to be solved and I was able to
cooperate with the company
very well on these in my role
as a lawyer.”
Wolfgang A. Wunderlich, President
of the Board of Directors
of Chur-Dreibündenstein
mountain railways
Ropeways
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