Gulmarg Gondola

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Gulmarg ski area, cabin of the gondola right in front of the trees

The Gulmarg Gondola is a gondola lift that runs from the valley station on the edge of the Gulmarg Valley at an altitude of 2,699 m via the Kongdoor middle station at the tree line at an altitude of 3,099 m to the mountain station at an altitude of 3,980 m, which is at a height below 4,320 m Mt. Apharwat stands saddle.

description

The first section of the gondola lift is 2400 m long and has a height difference of 400 m, the second section is 2688 m long with a height difference of 881 m. In total, the gondola lift overcomes a height of 1281 m over a length of 5088 m. The middle station building serves as a mountain station for the first and at the same time as a valley station for the second section, but the two sections are separated from each other so that passengers have to change trains. When designing the track, however, it was assumed that only some of the passengers wanted to take the second section to the top. There is a restaurant in the middle station.

In the first section there are 72 cabins, in the second section 36 cabins from Sigma , which are clamped to the 40.5 mm thick hauling rope with detachable double clamps. The cabins have space for six people, three of whom sit back to back in the middle of the cabin. The cabins therefore each have two doors. In addition, there is an open basket that is used to supply the stations. The driving speed is 8 m / s in the first and 9 m / s in the second section (28.8 km / h and 32.4 km / h, respectively). In line with Indian traffic on the left, the cabs on the left also go up. The delivery rate is 1500 or 600 people per hour.

The gondola lift has 19 cable car supports in the first section and 18 in the second.

The electric drive for both stations is located in the middle station; accordingly, the hydraulic cable tensioning is located in the valley and mountain stations. The parking garages for the gondolas in the first section are located in the valley station and for those in the second section in the middle station. There is also a switch that can be used to push the cabins from the garage into the lower section (and vice versa).

history

The government of Jammu and Kashmir decided in the 1980s to develop the Gulmar Valley for tourism and therefore founded the Jammu and Kashmir State Cable Car Corporation Ltd. as the builder and operator of the gondola lift. Their planning was completed in mid-1989. Pomagalski was commissioned with the cable car technology , the construction work and supports were to be carried out by the local company AGE Construction . However, soon after construction began, work had to be stopped because of the unrest in the Kashmir Valley. It was not until 1997 that the work was resumed under the protection of the Indian army, so that phase I , i.e. the first section, was carried out on January 27, 1998 by Dr. Farooq Abdullah , Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was inaugurated. The Kargil War and the ensuing clashes between India and Pakistan prevented further work until the 2003 armistice. The resumed work suffered not only from the extreme climatic conditions, but also from a premature onset of winter. Nevertheless, the work was completed on March 15, 2005 and the gondola lift was officially opened on May 28, 2005 by Mohammad Syed , Chief Minister. According to the plaque on the cable car, it is the highest gondola lift in the world with a height of 13,400 ft (4,084 m).

Seven people were killed in the crash of a gondola on June 25, 2017. The cause was probably a tree that was uprooted as a result of strong winds and toppled onto the rope. As a result, a cabin fell 30 meters into the depth.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ All height and length information is taken from the documentation in Remontées mécaniques , other sources provide different information, especially about the height of the mountain station and Mt. Apharwat.
  2. ↑ Memorial plaque at the valley station, pictured at Remontées mécaniques
  3. ↑ The TelefériQo in Quito , Ecuador opened on July 2, 2005, a good month after the Gulmarg Gondola, so that the Gulmarg Gondola was the highest operating cable car in the world when it opened, regardless of the height differences .
  4. ↑ According to Pomagalski, the mountain station of the TelefériQo in Quito is 3996 m high, according to the local tourist office 4053 m. According to Remontées Mécaniques, the Gulmarg Gondola would be the third highest and, according to the information on the memorial plaque, the second highest operating cable car in the world. Since May 1st , 2008, the Dagu Glacier Gondola has been the highest cable car in the world at 4,843m.
  5. ↑ Seven dead when a gondola crashed at tagesschau.de, accessed on June 26, 2017

Web links

Commons : Gulmarg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 34 ° 2 '43 "  N , 74 ° 23' 3.7"  E