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Bern – Gondolas are increasingly being seen in Switzerland as a solution to urban traffic problems, and urban cable railway concepts are now being tested in Zurich and Freiburg. The Austrian-Swiss Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is a global market leader in cable railways.

Traffic problems are on the rise in Switzerland, especially in its densely built cities. Gondolas or urban cable railways are increasingly cropping up as an appealing option in the search for resource-conserving solutions for the model transport mix, according to an article on the portal Green Economy Dialogue

According to Christina Spoerry, head of transport strategy for the city of Zurich: “Urban cable railways have suddenly appeared on the agendas of Swiss cities.” The Zurich city council has included four cable railway concepts into its structure plan, and other Swiss cities such as Lausanne, Freiburg and Sitten are looking into similar solutions.

ETH urban planning professor and transport expert Hubert Klumpner believes that cable railway can be seamlessly integrated into a city’s existing mobility ecology to significantly improve its overall infrastructure. The Swiss Association of Cable Railways also sees huge potential in urban cable railways when they are properly integrated into a transport network.

The market leader in cable railways is the Austrian-Swiss Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, which produces 60 per cent of the world’s cable railways. Marketing and sales manager Peter Baumann sees major interest worldwide in urban cable railways: “A modern cable railway must not shy away from comparison with other means of transport.”