Unterwasser & Iltios Funicular To Be Manufactured By Calag Carrosserie Langenthal AG
While a replacement train will run between Unterwasser and Iltios in summer 2024, the new cars for the funicular will be manufactured with a lot of manual work in Langenthal, Bern, at Calag Carrosserie Langenthal AG . The two cars are specially made, which incorporate the traditional design language and color and combine it with today's guest needs.
There they are, the two cars of the new funicular between Unterwasser and Iltios. They are certainly not finished yet, but the shell already gives an idea of the shape of the new cars. The two cars are being built with a lot of knowledge and careful manual work at Calag Gangloff in Langenthal, Bern. The ten-person cabin construction team is busy building the new cable car cars for several months and is building the cars on behalf of Steurer Seilbahnen AG .
The frame of the new cars was constructed to measure and according to the Toggenburg Bergbahnen's specifications for stations and routes. Since the cars are one-off pieces, most of the structure is made by hand. The individual steel and aluminum parts are largely assembled by hand in a lightweight construction.
To ensure the necessary stability, the connections between the load-bearing elements of the chassis and the cabin frame are riveted and partially welded. The sheet metal of the carriages, on the other hand, is mostly glued. This has the advantage that no rivets are visible on the finished carriages and the material remains flexible in order to adapt to temperature differences. The funicular carriages travel all year round between Unterwasser (910 m above sea level) and the Iltios (1320 m above sea level) and are exposed to rapidly changing temperatures. These temperature and pressure differences lead to minimal but not negligible expansion and contraction of the material. If the sheet metal were welded, cracks could appear in the frame after a short time. The special adhesive, on the other hand, has a high tolerance and can withstand these movements.
The space between the interior and exterior sheet metal is used for wiring the electrical components such as the passenger doors. The appropriate cable ducts are laid during the shell construction phase. The cavities are then filled with insulation material so that the cars maintain a comfortable interior temperature for passengers even in the depths of winter.
Currently, the two cars are still in the shell stage, but they will soon be painted and given the typical red, like the cabin of the cable car or the gondolas of the Stöfeli cable car.
New design in traditional garb
Even though a funicular railway was retained, the design of the carriages is not romanticized. Rather, as was the case for the 2023 cable car cabins, a way is being sought to underline the special nature of this mode of transport and to offer guests maximum comfort. At the same time, however, the relationship to the previous cabins or carriages is retained.
The windows of the funicular cars will be deeper to make it easier to observe the landscape and the animals along the way. The doors will be wider to welcome as many guests as possible without barriers. Additional seats will be created. Only the red color will remain, as an icon of Swiss mountain tourism.
After the shell construction phase, the two cars will now be painted. Soon the cars will no longer just be red on the plans, but also in the hall in Langenthal.
