2 nd edition 2004 - OITAF

ined and the main decisions that were takenare the following ones :September 27, 2005afternoon: Introductory lecture followed by lectures ontypical development trends of ropeway installationsand lifestyleSeptember 28, 2005whole day: Lectures on visions of the likely future development trendsSeptember 29, 2005morning: Themes left to the free choice of invited lecturersafternoon: ExcursionSeptember 30, 2005morning: Synthesis and closing ceremony of the conferenceMembers of the Management Committee at workThe President, the Secretariat and Mrs. Brink, the intepreterActivity of the General Organisation Committeeof the O.I.T.A.F. International Conferenceon Transportation by Rope 2005 in Innsbruck.The Chairman of the General OrganisationCommittee, Ingo Karl, submitted a progressreport on contacts with the agreed panel oflecturers composed of personalities representingall parts of the world.The Management Committee has confirmedthe choice of four conference themes thathad been suggested at past meetings. Althougha first announcement has alreadybeen made in the last issue of O.I.T.A.F-NEWS, we felt we ought to recall the generaloutline of the conference programme and listonce again the themes that have been chosen.They are as follows :September 26, 2005afternoon: General Assembly of O.I.T.A.F. membersand registrationSeptember 27, 2005morning: Opening ceremony of the conferenceStatistical survey of ropeway installations tobe compiled and submitted to the internationalconferenceIn the last issue of O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS we havealready informed our readers that J. L. Pettex,managing director, Compagnie desAlpes, has accepted to compile a statisticalsurvey of ropeway installations. It was feltthat this issue of the statistical survey oughtto cover a wider range of details and ought inparticular cover also economic data, such asfor instance records of the number of skiers,skiers’ streams, the number of passengers,the number of skiing days etc. and last butno least to survey also conveyors which areno rope driven installation in the true sense ofthe word, but an uphill conveyance systemakin to rope installations. Considering thesteep upward trend and spread of this type ofconveyance systems surveying data showingthe general trend acquires special interestand importance. Another important datumthat ought to be assessed is the use of theinstalled carrying capacity of ropeway installations,with other words to assess the purposefor which ropeway installation are built,installations used only in summer or only inwinter and installations used throughout theyear, or else installations used as means ofurban conveyance (people mover) and theextent to which the purpose oriented capacityis used. You will find enclosed a questionnaireyou are kindly requested to compile,wherever possible with the help of existingassociations of ropeway operators, supervisoryauthorities etc. and send the compiledquestionnaire directly to J. L. Pettex (address:Jean-Louis Pettex, Compagnie des Alpes, 15,rue François Guise, F-73000 Chambéry; tel :++33-479 96 43 93,4

Committee, while attendance to the afternoonsession has been extended to representativesof EFTA countries, EU candidate membersand representative of of ropeway manufacturers,associations and organisations.The following issues have been addressed inthe morning session :a) Information on the first meeting of notifiedbodiesThe main purpose of the first meeting ofnotified bodies, which is to be followed byother meetings held at regular intervals,was to offer notified bodies an opportunityto meet and get to know each other, exchangeinformation and find generalagreement on purely technical issues relatedto the assessment of conformity.So far no agreement could be reach withregard to the nomination of a chairman.Involved parties are however free to submitproposals through the CIRCA Forum.This group’s activities are to be coordinatedby a technical secretariat, but eventhough all involved parties had been invitedto submit proposals mp final decisionhas been taken in this respect.b) Establishment of an ADCO group (administrativecoordination group)Likewise in the case of other directivesthe Commission was aware of the necessityto set up a special group having thetask to discuss problems of applicationthat are not within the direct field of competenceof the Standing Committee. Withother words this group ought to addressissues relating to the safety of ropewayinstallations and components, for instancethe non-conformity of ropeway componentsand market supervision.This group ought to establish contacts ofclose collaboration with ITTAB and by sodoing facilitate an exchange of informationbetween members of national delegations.Hence it would seem that altogetherthree committees would be set to work,i.e.• Standing Committee of the EU Commission• Committee of Notified Bodies and• ADCO•The idea to set up an additional workinggroup did not meet the favour of nationaldelegations who are aware of the fact thatdelegates have to attend quite a numberof different international meetings, suchas for instance the meetings of ITTAB(annual international meeting of technicalsupervisory authorities, attended by supervisoryauthorities and boards from allover the world), the annual meetings ofthe EU Standing Committee, as well asmeetings of the O.I.T.A.F. ManagementCommittee and Executive Committee, theannual O.I.T.A.F. seminars and meetingsof 6 O.I.T.A.F committees, the annualmeeting of CEN TC 242 and meetings ofthis committee’s working groups andhence would not be able to attend additionalmeetings for lack of time and adequatecoverage of additional expenses involvedby these additional meetings.c) Application of the EU Directive in EUmember countriesAll EU member countries have in themeantime passed national legislationtransposing the EU Directive, but the applicationof the directive in some marginalareas of the ropeway industry is not uniform.This is the case in particular ofropeway installations intended as meansof transportation used by different industrialactivities. It is believed that the solutionof observed deviations is not a matterthat concerns only one or two involvedparties but must be sought for internationally.So far it has not been possible to defineclearly the extent to which the EU Directiveis applicable to cableway systemsintended as means of transportation forindustrial applications which are also usedas in-work means of transportation of personsconnecting several sections of aplant or industrial and other infrastructurefacilities.Next to representatives of EU member countriesthe afternoon session was also attendedby representatives of EU candidate countriesand representatives of ropeway manufacturers,ropeway associations and organisations.The meeting addressed the following subjects:6

ACTIVITIES OF O.I.T.A.F. WORKCOMMITTEESO.I.T.A.F. WORK COMMITTEE 1 : Ropewayengineering and technical recommendationsChairman : Dipl. Ing. Dr. Peter Sedivy, Bundesministeriumfür Verkehr, Innnovation undTechnologie.The committee has held no meeting in thesecond half of 2004. The meeting which wasto take place on October 21 and 22 has beencalled off because of other priority assignments.That notwithstanding all involved partiescontinued their work on hazards andhazards scenarii and their appropriate formulationWORKING GROUP set up by O.I.T.A.F.COMMITTEE 1 : Non public ropeways. Materialhandling ropeways and cable-cranes.Convenor of the working group : Dr.Ing.Achille Bonni, RomeAt their meeting held in Rome on May 17 and18, 2004 the working group completed theirmission and hence this was to be the workinggroup’s last meeting. The working group haveformally adopted the draft recommendationfor the construction of material handlingropeway, cable cranes and funiculars with theproviso to accommodate additional editorialcomments and proposals. The three languageversions of the draft, Italian, Germanand French will be submitted first to the ExecutiveCommittee for them to examine it,and if approved by the Executive Committee,submitted to one of the forthcoming meetingsof the Management Committee.The working group has decided to produce arecommendation having the following contentand structureForewordChapter I1.1 General provisions1.2 Technical considerations1.3 OperationChapter II – Permanent material handlingropeways2.1 Monocable and bicable material handlingropeways2.2 Cable cranes2.3 Material handling funicularsChapter III – Temporary material handlingropewaysAnnex A TerminologyAnnex B Example of a safety analysisAnnex C An example of operating instructionsThe working group have hence completedtheir mission. We wish to avail ourselves ofthis opportunity to thank Ing. Bonini, the convenorof the working group, for his commitmentand guidance of the working group’s activitiesin the past five years and at 16 meetingsof the working group and are sure thatthe users of this working group’s recommendationswill highly appreciate the quality ofthe document, the merits and commitment ofthe convener and all members of the workinggroup.O.I.T.A.F. WORK COMMITTEE 2 : Characteristicsand inspection of ropesChairman : Laurent Reynaud, STRMTG –Supervisory authority, FranceThe chairman has sent us the following reportMr. Kopanakis was kind enough to organizethe meeting which was held in Zurich on September6 and 7, 2004.The committee addressed amongst othersthe following issues :1. Assessment of splices and poured socketsto EU Directive 2000/9/CE :In February 2004 the committee hadreached a general agreement on thequestion whether splices are to be consideredsafety components or not. Indeedmembers had agreed in saying that accordingto the definition given thereof inthe Directive splices are no safety component.(Cf last issue of O.I.T.A.F.NEWS). However in the meeting held inSeptember several members said thatthey have let themselves be convincedthat splices are definitely a safety componentseen their importance for the safetyof a ropeway installation. Hence the discussionfocused on the question to knowwhether splices should be looked upon assafety components and hence ought tobe CE marked.Even though splices are not a productthat is traded between countries, the experiencemade in 2004 has shown that insome cases the CE mark is quite a convenientsolution as a piece of evidencethat may be referred to to prove to nationalauthorities the conformity of thesplice.11

All attending rope manufacturers agreedthat the CE mark is an advantage : a CEmarked splice can be placed on the marketand used all over Europe ass a componentfor new as well as for installedropes (shortening of ropes), hence usedwithout restrictions. The other advantageis based on the fact that a splice whichhas been assessed for its conformity canbe produced and tested as a componentwhich is independent of the subsystem“rope” or “rope connection” .Yet theremight also be a serious drawback to thisapproach : if splices used in a new ropewayinstallation are deemed to be asafety component, splices fitted to existingropeway installations (shortening)would also be CE marked, unless considered,in that case, as a spare part that issubject to the special regulation for spareparts, i.e. parts that cannot be used fornew ropeway installations. (Cf. last issueof O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS.).In the end the committee agreed that inthe case of new installations the manufacturerof the installation ought to be leftfree to decided whether in the light of thesafety analysis that has been made forthe installation splices are to be consideredas being safety components or nosafety component.The same is true for poured sockets andmaking of poured sockets.2. Switzerland and the EU DirectiveSwitzerland has not yet passed a lawtransposing the EU Directive. It is howevermost likely that a law to be passed in2005 will establish the necessary conditionsfor the application of the Directive.Till then the Swiss regulations preservetheir validity : products have to conformto specified requirements or provide evidencefor equality.3. Roller Pressure on track ropesEN 12927-2 specifies a transverse rollerforce factor S/Q>60 (soft lining). Thevalue is also applicable to towers, whichis almost impossible to satisfy in the caseof 2S and 3S ropeways. The origin of thisrule is Swiss. In Switzerland, though, therule does not apply to towers.In the French regulation, the same type ofrule applies via the criterion of the permissibledeflection of ropes, which isautomatically satisfied on towers providedthe radius of the saddle satisfies the criterion,which is independent of the S/Q ratioon the tower.Consequently, it would seem that there isa mistake in EN 12927-2 which ought tobe eliminated by adding the precisespecification that the criterion S/Q>60does not apply to towersRegarding the acceptable pressure ofrollers on track ropes, the return of experienceshows that:- for classical values, typically < 15 kN /roller, no rapid deterioration is to beexpected- for a value of 26 kN / roller, there hasbeen rapid deterioration of the trackrope.The acceptable limit is in-between. Thecommittee proposed to look for financialcoverage of in testing programme to becarried out . To this end they agreed tohave a preliminary study made as a firststep to be made in that direction.4. Program of studiesFollowing the survey that has been carriedout, the program of studies of thecommittee has been formalized. Thegoal, the influencing factors and instructionsfor procedures to be followed havebeen verified for every item of the suggestedprogram.1 Rope pressure1.1 Rope pressure: goals• Understanding the mechanisms ofrope deterioration under pressure• Determining a limit value for theacceptable lifetime under pressure.• Identifying influencing factors• Investigation of the special caserepresented by rollers over trackropes:2. Rope lifetime• Better understanding the mechanismsof deterioration of ropes (allmechanisms encountered in realsituations)• Identifying factors influencing / increasinglifetime• Possibly optimizing inspection intervals12

3. Vibrations• Better understanding the creation,propagation and damping of vibrationsof cableways• Identifying factors• Finding solutions to decrease vibrationsand propagation (damping)• Quantifying vibrations acceptablelevels4. Resin socketing• No data carriers (optical fibre,electronic cable etc) can be integratedinto the standard type ofpoured sockets; resin socketingoffers new possibilities• Loading value5 Lubrification and relubrification ofropes• Understanding the mechanisms oflifetime enhancement through lubrificationand relubrification• Quantifying the increase in lifetime• Inadequate lubricants - Identifyingincompatibility sources for ropeways• Providing useful information tonon-specialists• Best practices6. Next MeetingThe committee agreed to hold theirnext meeting in Grenoble (F) onJanuary 27 and 28, 2005.The two discarded closed coil testropes will be opened on January 27.O.I.T.A.F. WORK COMMITTEE 3 – Electricalequipment and components of ropeway installationsChairman : Dipl. Ing. Fredy Lang, Federal Officefor Transports, Switzerland.The committee met for their 52 nd meeting inLugano from September 27 to 29, 2004.The meeting addressed the following issues :Transposition of harmonized standardsIt appeared from the exchange of informationthat all countries application of harmonizedstandards is in progress.Signalling and storage of operating disordersand status reportsAll members showed willingness to contributeto the elaboration of recommendations fordata recording systems. The meeting washowever told that it is no longer possible togive the envisaged recommendation thestatus of a document to be annexed to theEN 13243Electrical equipment other than for drive systemsor give it the status of a technical reportseen that the document drafted by this committeeunder the guidance of Italy has notbeen submitted sufficiently in time for theCEN technical committee to examine it attheir last meeting.. Neither is it likely that theworking group will pick up again this subjectin future even though committee 4 haveshown their interest and welcomed the proposalto write recommendations for data recordingdevices.Licensing of aerials for mobile telephonesMembers reported that so far the installationof aerials set up on or in the neighbourhoodof ropeway installations have produced nodisturbance and will supposedly not producedisturbance in the future.Fire prevention and control of ropeway installationsMembers felt they ought to be given an opportunityto take part in and contribute to thediscussions on draft recommendations relatingto fire prevention and control.Application of the EU Directive 2000/9/EC relatingto cableway installations designed tocarry persons.Members have asked to be given ample informationon the application and scope of theEU Directive, i.e. whether it is deemed to beapplicable to the electrical equipment ofropeway installations and in particular to theelectrical equipment of people movers, controlsof ropeway installations, communicationfacilities, lightning protection, lightninggrounding etc. as well as ample informationon certification and CE marking problems ofthe electrical equipment.The committee have agreed to hold their nextmeeting in France from April 12 to 14, 2005.O.I.T.A.F. WORK COMMITTEE 4 – Legal,administrative, economic and statistical mattersChairman : Dr. Horst Kühschelm, Bundesministeriumfür Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie,Austria.The 55th meeting of committee 4 was held inLugano on September 24 and 25, 2004.13

The meeting has addressed the following issues:1. Transposition of the Directive relating tocableway installations designed to carrypersonsThe decision has been taken to have thetransposition of the directive as a permanentitem of the committee’s future meetings.The continuous exchange of informationand views is thought to be essentialand ought provide the pool of informationmembers need to formulate thecommittee’s common position and to defendit in discussion with the EU Commission,as well as to uphold the uniformityand continuity of the committee’s action.The EU Commission has taken a standwith regard to spare parts. Indeed theCommission maintains that spare partneed not be assessed for conformity ifthey are not going to be used in newropeway installations. I.e. only used to replaceidentical components in an existingropeway installation. The same rule holdstrue for safety components.In principle ropeway installations whichafter having been dismantled are assembledagain without being modified on anew site will be regarded as an installationor component which has been placedon the market previously. With otherwords provisions of the EU Directive aredeemed to be applicable only to indispensableadjustments of the infrastructure(longitudinal profile, rope section, spacingof line support structureS and foundations).If however the dismantled installationis moved to another site and hasbeen equipped with new or modifiedsafety components and subsystems it willno longer be regarded as an installationwhich has been placed on the marketheretofore but as a new ropeway installationand hence shall have to be subjectedto the procedures of the EU Directive applicableto new ropeway installations.The final decision of the EU Commissionis however still outstanding.2. Transportation of childrenFollowing to the decision taken by theManagement Committee a special workinggroup has been set up composed ofmembers of the O.I.T.A.F. Committee 4and members of O.I.T.A.F. committee6.The working group was to specify requirementsfor the transportation of children(age and height of children, accompanyingperson, maximum number ofchildren that may be attended by a singleaccompanying person). The workinggroup is chaired by J.L. Pettex, managingdirector of Compagnie des Alpes).It has become apparent from the enquiriesmade by members of the workinggroup in several countries, i.e. France,Switzerland, Austria and South Tyrol thatin none of the surveyed countries the solutionsthat have been adopted are fullysatisfactory. In the end, after severalrather difficult meetings the joint workinggroup reached agreement on a solutionwhich all members considered to be quitea satisfactory one.The agreed requirements and transportconditions applicable to children will besubmitted to the final approval of theManagement Committee. Safety beingthe main objective of this exercise, observanceof the specified requirements in allcountries is highly desirable.3. Responsibility and liability of ropeway operatorsand ski-run owners.There was general agreement on the factthat some details of the comparative surveyof national laws relating to the responsibilityand liability of ropeway operatorsand ski-run owners which has beensubmitted to the appraisal of the ManagementCommittee. have to be given acloser view and necessary to draw up alist of references, legal provisions, courtdecisions and publications, as well as totake care of the information Spain hassupplied in the meantime.The committee also believes that the additionalin-depth work ought to be entrustedto a special working group composedof jurists representing all involvedcountries. To this end reference has beenmade to the decision to entrust the task towrite recommendations for the transportationof children to a special working grouphas been a good one seen that the resultof that working group’s work was highlysatisfactory. It has further been agreed todiscuss the future line of action at thecommittee’s next meeting.14

4. Statistical survey of ropeway installations • attraction exerted on passengers andJ.L. Pettex has accepted to survey bothropeway operatorstechnical as well as economic data, suchas for instance data showing for thenumber of passengers.The working group decided to hold their nextmeeting in Barcelona on May 11 and 12.WORKING GROUP on Environment (EnvironmentForum) set up by committee 4Convener of the working group : Techn. RatDipl. Ing. Michael Manhart, Lech am Arlberg.• recommendations relating to uphillconveyance systems in ski areas producedby committee 6Committee 6 request O.I.T.A.F. to makeown influence to bear and try to convincesupervisory authorities of member countriesand members countries of CEN toaddress problems of uphill conveyancesystems2. Recommendations for fire preventionand control during operation andmaintenance of ropeway installationsNo meeting was held in the second half of2004. The committee has decided to draft a revisedversion of the recommendation inO.I.T.A.F. WORK COMMITTEE 6 : Optimizationof ropeway and ski-run operationChairman : Ing. Francis CrouzetIng. Crouzet has sent us the following report :In 2004 committee 6 met three times, i.e. onFebruary 2 and 3 in MunichMay 27 and 28 in AndorraSeptember 27 and 28 in ParisAt these meetings priority has been given tothe revision of the draft recommendation relatingto Chairlift Transportation of Children inorder to accommodate comments that hadbeen raised. The committee also discussedaccidents suffered by passengers during thewinter season 2003/2004. Several membersof committee 6 have also served on the jointworking group who had been assigned thetask to examine in greater detail and depthseveral issues covered by the recommendationon Chairlift Transportation of Children.Report on the activity of the joint workinggroup is to be found further down.The committee decided to hold three meetingsin 2005 i.e.onJanuary 27 and 28 in BerneJune 6 and 7 in Italy (the place of venue to bedecided)September in conjunction with the O.I.T.A.F.International conference.1. Uphill conveyance systems in ski areasConsidering• the number of children who have beenthe victim of mortal accidents in pastyears• growing number of new installations15order to accommodate comments thathave been made by Ing. CHABLOZ, Ing.GRAZIANO, Ing. LANG, Ing. SEDIVY.The committee hence discussed at lengthand carefully all comments. In some instancesthe committee decided to amendthe draft accordingly Other commentswere thought to be unjust or not pertinent.The committee also verified the consistencyof own recommendations with requirementsspecified in prCEN/TR 14819– “Safety requirements for cableway installationsdesigned to carry persons” -Fire prevention and control – Part 2 –Other funiculars and ropeway installationsand in particular the statement made inchapter 1, par. 3 : In order to meet requirementsfor fire prevention and controloperaators are requested to take whatsteps are necessary to organize preventionand control even though they are notspecified in this report”The measures to be taken are actuallythe main subject of the document producedby committee 6 in which the committeeindicates the measures to be takenwithout specifying the details thereof. Thecommittee have also verified the consistencyof own recommendations with requirementsspecified in prEN 1909 “Recoveryand evacuation” and prEN 123397“Operation”The draft which has been revised in accordancewith the above requisites is tobe submitted shortly to the ExecutiveCommittee of O.I.T.A.F.

3. Recommendation relating to chairlifttransportation of children less than1,20 m in heightHaving taken note of and examined thedraft produced by the joint working groupat their last meeting committee 6 havemoved the decision to adopt the draft.JOINT WORKING GROUP ON TRASS-PORTATION OF CHILDRENConvener of the working group : Jean LouisPettex, managing director of Compagnie desAlpesAt their last meeting held on September 72004 the joint working group finalized theirdraft and decided to submit it to the examinationand appraisal of work committee 6.The working group have thus completed theirmission. We wish to avail ourselves of thisopportunity to address our heartiest thanks tothe convener of the working group, JeanLouis Pettex and all members of the workinggroup for their commitment to a work that hastaken more than a year to be completed andthe excellent results they have achieved.FUTURE EVENTSMeetings of O.I.T.A.F. bodies(agreed dates)Management CommitteeExecutive Committee13.05.05 in Barcelona (E)20.01.05 in Zürich (CH)OrganIsation Committee9 th International O.I.T.A.F.Conference19.01.05 in InnsbruckCommittee n° 1Committee n° 2Committee n° 3Committee n° 4Working groupEnvironment ForumCommittee n° 6O.I.T.A.F. in INTERNET08-09.03.05 Bolzano27-28.01.05 in Grenoble12-14 04.05 in France12.05.05 Barcelona (E)yet to be decided27-28.01.05 in Berne06-07.06 005 in ItalyRetrieval of files, a facility offered only toO.I.T.A.F. memberO.I.T.A.F. members can now visit and loaddown O.I.T.A.F. Technical Recommendationsand papers produced by O.I.T.A.F. committeesin past years. Have a try at it. You maynow visit anytime the last issue of O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS. All you need to do is to enter thepassword which has been posted to you.General informationAccess to the German, English, French, Italianor Spanish version of the O.I.T.A.F. websitemay be obtained by entering the addresshttp://www.oitaf.org.. The website provides thefollowing information•••••••••••What is O.I.T.A.F. all about ?Structure of O.I.T.A.F.O.I.T.A.F. statuteActivities of O.I.T.A.F.NEWS and other information aboutO.I.T.A.F.O.I.T.A.F.-NEWSO.I.T.A.F. bodies and their membersO.I.T.A.F. committeesTechnical Recommendations, papers andstatistical surveys produced by O.I.T.A.F.Lectures delivered to O.I.T.A.F. seminarsO.I.T.A.F. seminarsFor further informarion send e-mail to the followingaddress Publisher’s imprintO.I.T.A.F. SecretariatPalazzo Provinciale 3B,via Crispi, 10I-39100 BOLZANOFor further informarion send e-mail to the followingaddress Publisher’s imprintO.I.T.A.F. SecretariatI-39100 BOLZANO, Palazzo Provinciale 3B,via Crispi, 10Tel. ++39-0471-414600 Fax ++39-0471-414616E-mail : H.Brugger@provinz.bz.it orinfo@oitaf.orgText and photography, if no otherwise specified,written or taken by the Secretary Generalof O.I.T.A.F.O.I.T.A.F. members can now visit and loaddown O.I.T.A.F. Technical Recommendaationssand papers produced by O.I.T.A.F.16