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May 23, 2010
Uncategorized

The Titlis Gondola

Post by admin

The Mount Titlis Gondola. Image by Casual Chin.

The above is one of several cable lines connecting Mount Titlis to the resort town of Engelberg, Switzerland. Built in 1984 by the Von Roll Company, it’s an incredibly common and dated MDG system:

  • It’s slow – 15 km/hr.
  • It’s cornering requires large stations.
  • It doesn’t have great capacity – 1,600 persons per hour.
  • It’s nothing impressive in terms of length – only 2,289 meters.

In other words the Titlis Gondola is completely and utterly common. Except for one thing: As you can see from the picture above, there is a section that passes through a field which is perfectly flat. This field section of the Titlis Gondola comprises almost a third of the total length of the system.

So why am I telling you this?

An argument that’s often used against CPT is that it is appropriate for alpine installations only. The technology can’t work in flat areas, the argument goes. The Titlis Gondola is demonstrable proof against that argument. The height of the towers through this field are also low enough to qualify this system for low profile status.

Yes, CPT is spreading quickly, but the reality of the situation is this: Most examples of what the technology can do still exist only in ski resorts. People interested in this topic need to reconcile that within their own heads.

More importantly, I think: The cable industry, advocates and promoters of the technology have to learn to extrapolate and translate ski resort installations into urban systems.

Given how many skiers there are in the world, this shouldn’t be too difficult.

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