Cities, SI-Urban
The VDV conference of the Cable Car Working Group in Baden-Baden
The Working Group for Standseil- and Bergbahnen is organized within the Association of German Transport Companies. The annual conference primarily targets operators of funiculars and cable cars in Germany and Luxembourg. Among the guests were the technical operations managers of the Nerobergbahn from Wiesbaden (Hesse), the Oberweißbacher Bergbahn (Thuringia), the Drahtseilbahn Erdmannsdorf–Augustusburg (Saxony), the Turmbergbahn from Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg), and the Funiculaire Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg (Luxembourg), among others.
©Cable Car World GmbH: View from the mountain station of the Merkur Mountain Railway overlooking Baden-Baden
The Baden-Baden Municipal Utilities guided the diverse conference program as the host. In addition to internal matters and annual reports from the attending cable car operators, five technical presentations were held. The speakers Ralph Geiger (Baden-Baden Municipal Utilities), Roger Steffen (Frey), Niklaus Moser (Garaventa), Christoph Rittersberger (Transdev), and Dominik Berndt (Cable Car World) provided insights into the modernization of the Merkur Mountain Railway in Baden-Baden, the new energy storage system ESFOR, current cable car and funicular projects, private operation of cable cars, and the international congress trade fair for mobility at the plus-one level with cable cars, “Cable Car World.”
The conference was rounded off by a city tour in an electric bus and an excursion to the refurbished Merkur Mountain Railway, which has been transporting passengers to Baden-Baden’s namesake local mountain since 1913. During an extensive technical tour, participants had the opportunity to witness the renewal processes up close and gain insights for their own facilities. The next conference will take place in the first week of July 2024 at a location to be determined.
