Lärchwandschrägaufzug by Kaprun High above the talstation for the cable cars which take visitors up from Kaprun to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, lies one of many lakes in this part of Austria, the Stansee Wasserfallboden, which have been created to provide power. The underground pipeline for this lake is above the end of the public road at Kesselfall Alpenhaus, and transport up the mountainside, for building materials, then goods and latterly sightseers, has been by funicular. But this is no ordinary funicular. Built before the dam and pipeline, in 1952, by Tauernkraftwerke AG, the line is 820 metres long, climbing at an angle of up to 81% from the talstation to the Bergstation, which is at an altitude of 1,640 metres. What really sets this apart, however, is the size. The gauge is 8.2 metres, and the vehicle is nearly 10 metres wide, and about 3.5 metres deep, large enough to drive a motor vehicle on and off. The single staff member looks after up to 185 passengers at a time, standing on an open platform as it moves up the mountainside at a maximum 3 metres / second. Journey time is 6 minutes. St the Bergstation there is little except a road to the dam across the end of the lake, the Bärrine, and to the works, Krw. Limbergsperre. Surprisingly, queues can form, briefly, at busy times. The nearest railway station is Fürth-Kaprun Hst., on the Pinzgaubahn, and Post Bus service 660 runs from Zell am See Bhf via Fürth-Kaprun to the end of the road, from where there is a walk to the Talstation. Vehicles use a single-track road tunnel to reach the talstation. The power station, Glockner-Kaprun, contributed to the 3 billion kWh produced annually by Tauernkraftwerke AG. The company amalgamated with Österreiche Donaukraftwerke AG in 1999 to form Verbund-Austrian Hydro Power AG. Not surprisingly given the altitude, the funicular is only open to the public in the summer months, when coach excursions operate from a number of resorts in Salzburgerland. The ARG photo archive does not contain any pictures of this funicular, but the owning company Verbund have made available a number of pictures. Aerial photographs are made available by the Salzburgerland Government Office.

http://www.aeiou.at : http://www.cable-car.de/schraegaufzug-laerchwand.htm : http://www.verbund.at/

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updated 1st May 2006
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