Topping Out Ceremony For The Ochsenkopf Cable Car North Held

In the presence of State Minister Hubert Aiwanger, District President Florian Luderschmid, District Council President Henry Schramm, District Administrator Florian Wiedemann as well as State Parliament members Rainer Ludwig, Tim Pargent and Martin Schöffel and numerous other guests, we were able to visit the shared mountain station of the future two gondola lifts Topping-out ceremony for the North cable car will be celebrated. The highest construction project in Franconia is well on schedule; the opening is scheduled for December 22nd. A year later, the southern cable car should also be completed and handed over to its intended use.

New cable cars boost tourism

The new cable cars are not only necessary for technical reasons, they also meet the requirements of barrier-free tourism all year round. They will not only be able to transport skiers to the Ochsenkopf summit in winter, but also mountain bikers, hikers and those seeking relaxation as well as families with strollers and wheelchair users in the snow-free period.
“I am very pleased that with the new cable cars we will be able to offer a contemporary leisure activity tailored to people’s needs,” says District Administrator Florian Wiedemann.

State Minister Hubert Aiwanger also pointed out the importance of year-round tourism in the region: “Every euro that we invest in modern and comfortable cable cars today pays off. Especially in the low mountain ranges, they are often a deciding factor for holidaymakers when choosing a holiday destination - in summer and winter. That's why when it comes to funding, we specifically focus on the year-round use of the cable car systems. Offers such as the climbing and zipline park, mountain bike trails and summer toboggan runs make the Ochsenkopf attractive for visitors." And he had something else in his luggage - a funding commitment for the procurement of trail maintenance equipment, four track devices and a trail tractor, amounting to a good 595 thousand Euro.

The decision in favor of the new cable cars was made not least because it ensures better and, above all, safer transport for children, especially school classes.

Due to the size of the cabins chosen, Euro pallets can also be transported, which means a reduction in delivery traffic to the summit.

In addition, the new north cable car can transport 1,600 people per hour instead of the previous thousand, while the south cable car's transport capacity increases from 640 to a thousand people.

Nature and water protection

The construction of the cable car is continuously accompanied by water law and nature conservation law. Because the construction is taking place on the existing cable car route, the necessary interventions in nature can be reduced to a minimum. Due to the simultaneous construction of the media channel and the cable car, the interventions are only made once.
The compensation payments determined by the accompanying landscape conservation plan were offset via the Bavarian State Forests' ecopoints account from the “Karches-Torflohe-Weiherlohe” moor renaturation.

Costs and funding

The total cost of the North Cable Car is around 25.63 million euros. The funding rate is 30 percent, which is almost 7.69 million euros. Costs totaling 15.58 million euros are estimated for the southern cable car, also with a funding rate of 30 percent, which is almost 4.67 million euros. This already includes additional funding of around 1.77 million euros for both railways.

Construction time currently on schedule

Those responsible are very satisfied with how the construction work has progressed so far; everything is going according to plan.

The cable car renewal project started on March 27th this year with the demolition of the northern cable car and the corresponding buildings. Foundation work on the route began in mid-April and shell construction work began in mid-May. The foundation stone was laid on July 3rd. Work on assembling the supports followed at the end of July and the cable car stations have been set up since mid-August, with the cable car following at the beginning of October. The buildings are scheduled to be completed in October and November.

Trial operations are scheduled to begin at the end of October, so that the cable car can be handed over as scheduled on December 22, 2023.