Klosters-Davos Replaces Cable On Gotschna Cable Car
Damage to the cable on the Gotschna cable car in the Klosters-Davos ski area required the spontaneous and flexible deployment of a team to replace the 44-ton cable.
The Gotschna is one of the local mountains of the Swiss destination Davos-Klosters. The Gotschnabahn has been running up the Gotschnagrat in two sections since 1950. The Gotschna cable car is regularly serviced by Inauen Schätti.
Instead of the planned task of replacing the tension cables in the first section in early summer, moving all the cables and overhauling the cabin and its running gear by dismantling and reassembling them, an alarm was received in March: Due to serious damage to one of the four supporting cables, the cable car had to be shut down immediately.
The investigation revealed that a new railway-specific suspension cable had to be installed, which normally takes several months.
The new support cable is 2180 m long and weighs 44 tonnes. The old cable was connected to the new cable with a king socket. Piece by piece, five fitters pulled the new cable up to the Gotschnaboden using special machines. The work was time-consuming. The car drove back and forth 28 times over several days until the cable reached the mountain station - around 500 metres above the valley.
The new rope was pulled over a large pulley, the so-called bollard, at the mountain station and fixed there. For this last pull, the fitters used a pulley with a pulling force of 90 tons. The bollard now has
200 meters of reserve rope. The Gotschnabahn was able to be put into operation on schedule for the summer season.
The rope changes for the second section are planned for this year.
