Cableways Impact Assessment Study - Final Report - saferail.nl

IA Study Concerning the Revision of the Cableways Directive
Box 2.1: Costs Involved in The Installation of the Cairngorm Funicular
Cairngorm Funicular Railway, Scotland (UK)
In 2001 a funicular was installed in the Cairngorms, UK to replace a chairlift installation. The
funicular is in operation throughout the year; transporting skiers and snowboarders in winter, as well
as tourists during the summer months (SAC, 2012). Options considered when assessing how (and if)
to replace the existing chairlift and their associated prices in 1992 are shown below (Audit Scotland,
2009).
Do Nothing (but improve the buildings to a standard similar to the other options): £4.4m
Replacement Chairlift: £9.7m
Mono-Cable Gondola: £11.6m
Dual-Cable Gondola: £13.0m
Funicular: £12.2m
The funicular was constructed by Doppelmayr (prior to its merger with Garaventa) and the initial
budget for the funicular was £14.8m. However the final cost was £19.5m of which:
civil engineering and buildings cost: £12.9m;
train and systems cost: £3.5m;
professional fees and miscellaneous cost: £2.5m; and
electricity cost: £0.6m.
Importantly, it is estimated that one third of the cost of the installation was spent on environmental
impact mitigation. For example, due to the potential environmental damage caused by the funicular
some tower founds were dug by hand to avoid damage to peat bogs which are home to rare plants.
Also, rocks with rare lichens and mosses were photographed, numbered, stored and returned to the
same site they were removed from upon conclusion of the installation (Lift- World, 2008).
Box 2.2: Estimated Breakdown of Costs Involved in the Installation of a Monocable
Detachable Gondola
Emirates Air Line, London (UK)
Doppelmayr-Garaventa was recently involved in the construction of a detachable monocable gondola
across the river Thames in London, UK. The gondola measures 1,100 metres and has 34 cabins, each
with the capacity to transport ten people at a time. It is estimated that the gondola will have a
capacity of 2,500 people per hour, per direction (wharf.co.uk, 2011). Current estimates claim that the
total cost of the installation was approximately £60m (€74 million) (of which £45 million (€56
million) was spent on building the installation) making it the world’s most expensive cableway
(BBC, 2011).
According to the website ‘The Gondola Project’ (2011) a recent detachable monocable gondola
(similar to the Thames gondola) measuring 2,400 metres cost €16.5 million. It has been estimated
that the cost of construction can be sub-divided as follows (The Gondola Project, 2011):
€3.8 million: station machinery;
€3.2 million: return with cabins storage, with controls;
€1.8 million: buildings (a basic design);
€4.2 million: line and towers (an estimated 18);
€1.8 million: gondolas; and
€1.7 million: construction (approximately 140 working days).
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