Famous for its role as Piz Gloria, Blofeld’s mountaintop lair in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the Stechelberg–Mürren–Birg-Schilthorn cable car line has recently undergone a $112 million redevelopment.
Originally built in the 1960s, the multi-stage aerial cableway system in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland was reaching the end of its technical lifespan. The Schilthornbahn 20XX project has increased capacity, from 400 to 800 people an hour, and reduced the travel time from Stechelberg, on the valley floor, to the peak at Schilthorn, by ten minutes. In addition, the first leg of the journey, from Stechelberg to Mürren, has been replaced by a new direct line with a gradient of 159.4%, making it the steepest aerial cable car in the world.
According to Paul van Trigt, Aero-X CEO: “It is so steep the cable car has to exit through the roof of the station.”
Swiss company Aero-X was asked to provide the dual-track Funifor cable car system and electrical control cabinets at all four stations with fire protection systems. The gondolas, which have solar panels and battery storage, are protected with Aero-X extinguishant units.
The station cabinets element of the project features an integrated system of detection and suppression, run by a total of 14 Kentec XT panels which are connected to the management system and supervised from the control room. The cabinets are doubled-up at each station, in order to provide continuity of service in event of failure.
Most of the cabinets have smoke sensors, while others have heat sensors instead. “Some of the cabinets have a relatively high voltage inside,” explained Paul van Trigt. “High voltage can cause electromagnetic fields that can have a detrimental effect on smoke detection.” Each cabinet has fire resistant cable connections, a sounder beacon, and both automatic and manual aerosol extinguishant release capabilities. The two or three extinguishant units per cabinet are connected to the Sigma XT panel via Aero-X’s sequential activator.
The biggest challenge of the project, said Paul van Trigt, was more logistical than technical. “Taking the materials up the mountain to each respective station and install them during the construction phase was difficult, because there was really nothing to use. We had to find other ways!”
