“People flow differs from what was expected in the planning”: Flims’ world’s first mountain railway grapples with problems

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The world’s first mountain railway with autonomous gondolas on demand in Flims GR caused significant problems in its first week of operation. The train stopped many times. Additionally, according to the operator, the system could not operate at maximum speed.

The Weisse Arena Group opened the world’s first Flemxpress to the public in the Graubüsü resort of Flims on the Saturday before Christmas. The prototype gondola serves two sections: Flims-Foppa and Foppa-Startgels. The 120-passenger ten-passenger gondola operates only on request. Because the gondola is not transported empty, energy consumption is reduced by an estimated 50 percent and material wear is significantly reduced.

Railways initially expected difficulties, but these can sometimes be greater than expected. “In the last few days it was discovered that the flow of people was different from what was expected during planning,” Weisse Arena Group said in a statement to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Saturday in response to a request.

The Foppa mid-station was said to be more desirable than admitted. This causes traffic congestion there. Therefore, the speed of the train needs to be reduced for a short time. The system cannot be operated at maximum speed.

Only “fine tuning” required

Guests who are not familiar with the area will have difficulty finding direction. After waiting at the right door and boarding, the railway continued. “The staff’s instructions are more complex than expected.” Guests can enter their destination in the voting columns. Targets are reflected on the doors.

Railways have already made adjustments. But guests still need to expect outages. The new system, called Ropetaxi (German: Seiltaxi), still needs some “fine-tuning”. Railway managers apologized to guests for the waiting times.

The system from the cable car manufacturer Bartholet in Flums SG was approved by the Federal Transport Office on 15 December. The new railway is expected to consist of a total of five sections by the end of 2024 and will replace three existing railways. Flemxpress will one day also go to Cassonsgrat in Sardona, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the Grisons government, the investments amount to around 80 million francs.

Source :Blick