Cableways Impact Assessment Study - Final Report - saferail.nl

IA Study Concerning the Revision of the Cableways Directive
However, the criteria used by the Standing Committee to determine whether this
particular installation falls within the Directive’s scope are taken into account below
when considering whether particular types of installations that may serve both leisure
and transport purposes fall within the scope of the Directive (indeed, the Opinion of
the standing Committee refers not only to the Wieli system but also to other similar
products). In particular, the Opinion suggests that when an installation is used solely
for leisure purposes (i.e. to provide amusement rides) it falls outside the scope of the
Directive but when an installation is also intended to transport people (in order to
carry out other activities), it shall comply with the national legislation transposing the
Cableways Directive.
Four notified bodies based in Austria, Germany and Slovakia pointed to cable
supported installations called “Flying Fox” 26 , “Sky-Glider” 27 and other zip-lines.
These installations to a certain extent resemble cableways as suspension is provided
by a cable and gravity provides traction for the rider that is usually attached to the
cable by means of a simple mechanism or a simple multi-person cable car. These
installations appear to be found most often in amusement parks, sports centres and
playgrounds. While riders generally travel from Point A to B, rather than return back
to the starting point, the purpose of the journey appears to be amusement rather than
transport. As such, it is not expected that the Options A2 and A3 would bring such
zip-line installations into the scope of the Cableways Directive.
The Slovenian competent authority and a Czech notified body pointed to the existence
of water skiing lifts. The global market leader in this segment is said to be Rixen
Cableways which holds around 80% of the market and has installed over 200 water
cableways worldwide. 28 However, these installations appear not to have the purpose
of transporting riders between two geographically distinct points but rather towing the
water-skier (this opinion has also been expressed by Rixen Cableways which stated
that this is the uniform interpretation throughout the EU).
A cableways manufacturer and several Member State authorities suggested that
borderline installations include some dry toboggan runs and/or Alpine Coasters. .
There currently appear to be three manufacturers of dry toboggan runs and/or Alpine
Coasters in the EU. These include:
Brandauer GmbH 29 (Austria);
Erbschloe Fun Construct GmbH 30 (Germany); and
Josef Wiegand GmbH & Co. KG 31 (Germany).
26
27
28
29
30
31
See for example http://www.olympiapark.de/de/home/touren-und-sightseeing/gefuehrte-touren/flyingfox/
Sky-Glider is manufactured by Rodlsberger GmbH of Austria. For more information see
http://www.skiareatest.com/erich/rodlsberger/fisser2.pdf
See http://www.rixen-seilbahnen.de/english/products/waterski--wakeboard-cableways-from-the-worldmarket-leader/waterski--wakeboard-cableways.html
See http://www.braso.at
See http://www.funconstruct.de
See http://www.wiegandslide.com/rodelbahnen.html
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