Wasserauen – Ebenalp cable car
Coordinates: 47 ° 17 '11.5 " N , 9 ° 25' 43.3" E ; CH1903: 750,533 / 239202
The Wasserauen – Ebenalp cable car is a mountain railway operated by the Wasserauen – Ebenalp AG cable car in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in eastern Switzerland. It leads from Wasserauen at 867 m to Ebenalp at 1590 m above sea level. M.
The length of the carriageway is 1,514 meters. The journey takes about 6 minutes. The train can carry 40 people in one cabin. The driving speed is 6 meters per second. The valley station is a few minutes' walk from the Wasserauen train station, the terminus of the narrow-gauge Appenzeller Bahn . In 2017 the cable car carried 250,000 passengers. On peak days, 2,500 passengers used the cable car. The cable car was built in 1955. With the exception of business interruptions due to maintenance work in April and November, the cable car is operated all year round. Operation must be stopped in strong winds.
history
The idea of connecting the Ebenalp with a cable car goes back to Emil Hildebrand-Rusch . In 1938 he applied for a license to build a suspension railway from Wasserauen to Ebenalp. In the application, he also requested an elevator to connect the Wildkirchli caves with the Ebenalp above. There were considerable objections from nature conservationists, especially against the elevator. The granting of a concession was refused in 1940 by the then responsible Federal Postal and Railway Department .
After the war, in 1951, two applications for cable car concessions were submitted in Appenzell Innerrhoden. One for the construction of a funicular to the Ebenalp and one for a cable car from Brülisau to the Hohe Kasten, today's Brülisau – Hoher Kasten cable car . Since the Post and Railway Department feared ruinous competition between the two cable car companies, it was only willing to grant a concession. Since the Wasserauen – Ebenalp cable car had granted the concession earlier than the competition in Brülisau, it was awarded the contract in 1953. In 1954 the "Luftseilbahn Wasserauen – Ebenalp AG" was founded with a capital of CHF 675,000. In the same year construction work began and the cable car was inaugurated on July 16, 1955.
Business was good from the start. After only 2½ months, the planned number of promotions had been exceeded. In the following years ski lifts were built. In winter 1961 the Gartenwald – Ebenalp ski lift, in winter 1966 the Gartenalp-Klus ski lift and in winter 1970 the Schwende – Horn ski lift. The owner of the ski lifts, the Schnee-Horn cooperative, procured a snow- making system in 2011 . The activities of the ski lifts were merged with those of the cable car company in 2014. Due to the renewal of the concession, the technical equipment was comprehensively renewed in 2011. Among other things, a replacement cabin was procured.
