In May this year, the contract was awarded to a consortium formed of French cable car manufacturer POMA, engineering company EGIS and architects Groupe-6. The order includes installation of the cable car for 55 million euros and maintenance of the track for 10 million euros for six years. As the “capital of the French Alps”, Grenoble is gaining a 3.7-kilometre-long cable car from them with six stations.

Within 15 minutes, the single-cable circulating track, simply named T1, crosses roads (A480 and N481), a railway, rivers (Isère and Drac) and other obstacles. T1 stands for the name of every local transport service line, so it shows how the ropeway is fully integrated in the network. Therefore, it will be connected with three tram lines as well as the bus network. The cable car therefore crosses obstacles at the same time as strengthening existing transport networks.

The cable car is regarded as the only relevant mobility solution for the development of a district that will have more than 6,000 new residents and more than 5,000 new jobs in the next ten years. With business centres and residential construction programmes, the largescale urban development project will mean the cable car could potentially record 80,000 journeys per day by 2030.

The cable car stations are very compact, require only little space and are structured in a 360° design. They consist of glass, metal, timber cladding and green roofs, and are blended sensitively into the landscape. Comfortable and quiet gondolas as well as CO2-free operation make the cable car an environmentally friendly mode of transport, which can also be used by disabled people or cyclists. Moreover, T1 will reduce road traffic – at a significantly lower cost per kilometre than the tram.

The cable car is also favoured for its reliability on journey time and travelling above traffic jams. Operation has to stop only in the rare case of strong winds. As such, the cable car is an exclusive route, which additionally offers spectacular views of the city and the mountains and is therefore also of interest to tourists.