100 years ago, South Tyrol was already known far beyond the borders of South Tyrol for those seeking wellbeing, and Merano had long since established itself as a climatic spa town. Mountain villages like Hafling, however, were still only accessible via arduous footpaths and thus excluded from the glamour that the noble spa guests spread in the valley. This changed within a relatively short time, not only in Hafling but in the entire Alpine region, with the construction of cable cars. The Hafling cable car was at the very beginning of an incomparable success story.
A brief history of cableways
To understand why the Hafling cable car plays a central role in the history of cable cars, let's take a look back. The history of lifts in South Tyrol begins in 1903 with the first funicular railway from Caldaro to the Mendelpass in the Etsch Valley. The first aerial cablecar in the world that was approved for public operation and built according to the conventional system (a carrying cable and a hauling cable) was the cableway from Bolzano to Kohlern, which was built in 1908. For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that there have been other cableways in Europe, such as the one in San Sebastian in Spain or the Wetterhorn lift in Switzerland or the one built for the Milan Fair. They all transported people, but they were not built according to today's system. This is exactly where engineer Luis Zuegg comes in, who planned and built the cable car from Meran to Hafling.
What exactly was new about the Hafling cable car?
During World War I, Zuegg had been able to gather technical knowledge as the builder of numerous cable cars. These were used for the first time in the construction of the Hafling cable car for passenger transport. His main invention, the tightening of the ropes, was first confirmed in an experimental way and then officially implemented for the first time with the Hafling cable car. It thus became the benchmark for the development of passenger ropeways: Today, three quarters of all cableways worldwide are still based on the so-called "Bleichert-Zuegg system", and to this day nothing has fundamentally changed in this technology. Zuegg's principle of "simplicity as the ultimate guarantee of safety" has stood the test of time. He revolutionised the construction of double-rope reversible aerial cable cars worldwide: in addition to reducing the safety level of the suspension ropes from 10 to 3.5, the suspension rope brake and telephony were absolute novelties. These three inventions are important for the economic and technical development of ropeways throughout the world. For those who are interested, we have added the technical details of these three innovations at the end of this text 😉
What did Zuegg's pioneering achievement mean?
The pioneering ideas of engineer Luis Zuegg allowed a higher permissible travel speed. Transport safety and the service life of the suspension cables were decisively increased, and larger support widths significantly reduced construction and maintenance costs. Both the operational safety and the economic efficiency of aerial ropeways thus experienced a quantum leap. The model ropeway was not only well received by tourists and locals, but also aroused great interest among experts. Based on the model of the Hafling ropeway, similar cable cars were soon built throughout the Alpine region, including in the neighbouring village of Vöran to Burgstall, which celebrated its 65th anniversary in 2023.
First official ride on 30 October 1923
"After a long time of waiting and hoping" - wrote the daily newspaper Dolomiten on 7 November 1923 - "the new cable car could be put into operation." The concession decree was already signed on 15 October 1923, the operating permit was delivered on 25 October. So nothing stood in the way of the cable car with the largest span in the world going into operation. The city of Merano set up a bus service from the centre to the valley station so that guests could reach their destination in comfort. As early as 30 October, the newspaper “Meraner Zeitung” reported that brisk construction activity was foreseeable on the high plateau of Hafling for the winter, especially ski huts were to be built. Thus the ropeway paved the way for the economic upswing of the plateau, the development of tourism and ultimately the creation of the Merano 2000 ski area.
Special ticket prices for the inhabitants of Hafling
Apart from the technical innovations, the cable car was above all a great relief for the people of Hafling. Before, running errands in the town of Merano was an all-day undertaking, combined with an arduous descent and ascent. Now the almost 1,000 metres in altitude could be covered in no less than eleven minutes, a convenience that the people of Hafling were happy to take advantage of, if it hadn't been for the high ticket prices. A round trip cost 5 lire, which was a fortune compared to the earnings at the time (7-8 lire for a day shift). Here, however, the operator was very accommodating and introduced the Haflinger hour: at 8:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 17:00 the Haflinger could use the cable car at a greatly reduced price.
Special rides for business people of Meran on Saturday evening
For the businessmen of Meran who, since the 1930s, also spent the weekends in winter skiing in their holiday homes in Hafling and Meran 2000, there was a special trip every Saturday evening at 8:30 pm. This meant they could still reach their holiday homes after closing time of their businesses and enjoy Sunday from the early hours of the morning.
With the opening of the cable car, winter sports also found their way into the area. Until then, fun in the snow was reserved for the fittest. The skiers had to walk from Merano to Hafling and - depending on their destination - on to the Naifjoch, from there to the Kesselberg, Mittager or Kuhleiten before they could start the rapid descent. The cable car shortened the arduous ascent considerably, especially since the winter sports enthusiasts could be brought from the mountain station in St. Kathrein to Falzeben on a road.
The road overtakes the cable car
The cable car was the only technical means of transport connecting Hafling/St. Kathrein with Meran/Obermais until a road was built to the Hafling high plateau in the early 1980s. Therefore, it was used by locals, commuters and tourists alike. It was only the access road from Merano to Hafling that diminished the attractiveness of the railway and ultimately led to the closure of the line in 1984. A pity really.
Sources:
https://www.provinz.bz.it/tourismus-mobilitaet/mobilitaet/seilbahnen/geschichte-der-seilbahnen.asp
http://www.tecneum.eu/index.php?option=com_tecneum&task=object&id=301
Various daily newspapers from the digitised holdings of the Provincial Library D. Friedrich Tessmann digital.tessmann.it
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Technical innovations by Ing. Luis Zuegg during the construction of the Merano-Hafling cable car
Reduction of the safety level:
During the First World War, Zuegg was commissioned with the construction of war cableways, of which there were countless at the front lines. (You can still see the remains of these cableways in the Dolomites). Now he had another order to build a material cableway to the area of Monte Rovere on the high plateau of Lavarone. Everything had been planned for construction and assembly, and to engineer Zuegg's horror, he suddenly discovered that the suspension rope supplied was about 200 m too short. The timely completion of the funicular was in question, but utmost haste was required because it was urgently needed for an offensive. Zuegg suggested, bypassing all the legal provisions in force at the time but also the existing rules of technology, to tension the suspension rope more and thus reduce the "rope bags" or sags and so the required rope length is reduced. This proposal was accepted due to the fact that the installation was urgently needed. Over time, Zuegg noticed that this suspension rope had far fewer wire breaks than the suspension ropes of other ropeways. Zuegg then calculated that by tightening the rope more, it was bent much less, which resulted in a longer service life.
Suspension rope brake:
Zuegg's second important invention is the automatic suspension rope brake, which is installed in each running gear of the cabins and is automatically released in the event of a break in the traction rope. These brakes close directly on the suspension rope. In the past, there was a separate brake cable next to the suspension cable, but this could now be dispensed with. The routing of this cable has always been problematic and has greatly complicated the construction and operation of these railways. In Italy and in Germany these brakes are prescribed via the safety analysis. The system saved a lot of lives in ropeway accidents in the last 100 years.
Telephony:
The ropeways used the so-called "Fioretto", an unwieldy long rod, with which the car attendant had to make contact with the telephone cable specially installed along the track, so that he could then transmit the necessary signals, such as for shutting down the system, to the drive station. Zuegg isolated the traction cable from the suspension cable, which was not technically easy at the time, and was thus able to use the traction cable to transmit signals from the cabins to the stations, thus eliminating the telephone cable. This technique is still used on all cable cars today.