Post by nickchu

New Plans for Namsan Cable Car. Image from Korea Times.

• No More Inebriated Ropeway Operators (Switzerland)

From our “Don’t Try This At Home” file, perhaps one of the strangest pieces of ropeway news you might ever hear. It appears that drinking and operating a cable car in Switzerland was once somewhat legal. Well that was until Wednesday this week. Under the old rules, a loophole enabled operators under the influence to escape criminal prosecution.

• Mt. Seorak Cable Car Approved (Korea)

The controversial cable car plan for Mt Seorak was approved last week when 12 out of 20 committee voted in favour of the ropeway. The approved cable car at 3.5km is considerably smaller than the previous proposals which stood at 4.5-4.6km in length. Environmental groups have already announced their plans to take the state to court.

• Plans for Second Cable Car in Namsan (Seoul, Korea)

Staying in Korea, a new cable car has been proposed for Seoul’s Namsan Mountain. The peak is currently served by the existing 605m long Namsan Cable Car, which opened in 1962 and is the country’s first commercial cable car. The new plans call for a 888m long, 10-passenger gondola system with a connection between North Seoul Tower (top station) and Chungmuro subway stop (bottom station). If built, project proponents estimate the cable car will serve 10,000 passengers per day.