2023-08-04 18:31:17
Glacier 3000 in Les Diablerets (VD) will be in operation once more from Saturday at 09:00 following fifteen days of closure. The origin of the electrical breakdown of the cable car, which occurred on Thursday July 20 and affected the electrical inverters of the installation, has been resolved.
“During the tests, the engineers connected the motor of the cable car of the second section to the electric transformer of the cable car of the first section. First carried out at minimum speed, the installation was then tested in stages up to its speed normal operation,” Glacier 3000 said in a statement late Friday followingnoon.
No problems appeared during the more than 50 test runs carried out on Thursday and Friday. The problematic transformer was analyzed several times during the incident and is currently still undergoing extensive checks, officials said.
>> Read also: The mysterious breakdown affecting the Glacier 3000 cable car still not resolved
Guaranteed security
“The two cable cars can operate safely with a single transformer, but not simultaneously. Operation will however be done according to the normal summer timetable, with a departure from the Col du Pillon every 20 minutes from 09:00 on Saturday morning”, assures Glacier 3000.
The cables, cabins and pylons were not affected by the breakdown which occurred on Thursday July 20 at the end of the morning. Stuck at the top, 270 tourists had to be evacuated by helicopter, without anyone being injured. The part had been changed and the cable car had been able to restart briefly the next day, before breaking down once more. Since then it hasn’t worked.
Relief from officials
Alex Reed on the RTS Forum program on Friday evening, Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, did not hide his relief on the eve of the Glacier 3000 Run. Around 900 participants are expected at the station on Saturday. Despite a positive outcome, the cause of the electrical transformer problem was not found.
The new system, which is only four years old, “is really updated to detect a breakdown”, explained Bernhard Tschannen at the microphone of Forum. “There, nothing was written” in the black boxes, forcing officials, surrounded by twenty specialists, to “exclude” the faulty transformer. “For the customer, it doesn’t change anything at all” and “all the tests are positive” with the connection “of cable car 1 to transformer 2”, reassured the manager.
In terms of reimbursement, it is first necessary to understand the cause of the breakdown before finding agreements with the partners, explained Bernhard Tschannen. During the summer period, Glacier 3000 welcomes between 500 and 1,500 people daily, and the loss of earnings would amount to more than 500,000 francs, confided the director.
Interview by Esther Coquoz
Web adaptation: mera with ats
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