Malcesine-Monte Baldo Funicular Ends After 40 Years, New Lift Opens
Countdown for the Malcesine-Monte Baldo funicular. After forty years of service, the last ride on the 1760-meter Tratto Spino section is scheduled for tomorrow at 6 pm, before the extensive closure of the funicular structure. Three hundred days of oblivion, the time needed for Holzl company from Lana in South Tyrol to construct the new lift system that will connect the town of Malcesine to the slopes of Baldo in just under eleven minutes (three minutes less than the current funicular). It will cover four kilometers and 325 meters at a maximum speed of 10 meters per second.
The work, delivered in July 2002, will allow the municipality of the upper lake to have the world’s first funicular with rotating cabins. Tomorrow afternoon, a simple ceremony will take place to bid farewell to the old system, thanking those who contributed to the success of the funicular during this long period of activity.
Controversies about communication and end of the system
The closure has sparked some discussion or rather observation. Criticism has been directed at the inadequate dissemination by the relevant authorities of the system’s cessation of activity. “Only a few days ago, some posters and flyers were issued by the same Consorzio informing customers of the funicular’s closure from September 3 to July next year,” writes Vittorio Dapretto, a councilor of Istituzione Malcesine Più, in a letter sent to the mayor Giuseppe Lombardi and the local economic sectors. “Furthermore, many owners of accommodation facilities have deliberately not informed their guests about the suspension of service. I doubt they will be pleased. Instead of using the reconditioning of the funicular, which is much more beautiful, as a propaganda argument, we achieved the opposite effect.”
“It’s undeniable that the closure of the system will cause some problems, but it is not true that we have not provided proper information,” responds the mayor. Everyone in town knows that the work will start on Monday. If some hoteliers have chosen not to warn their clients, this is certainly not our concern. We have done our best to advertise the funicular’s closure.”
Objectives and features of the new system
Among the goals of the new system (costing over 40 billion Italian lire) are an increase in passenger capacity, to 600 per hour, tripling the current capacity, as well as the removal of architectural barriers and the improvement of spaces. The lower station will be equipped with an underground parking lot for over 200 cars and will house new administrative offices and facilities capable of meeting all user needs.
At San Michele, the intermediate base, traction machinery and employee comfort structures (canteen, showers, lockers) will be concentrated, while the upper station will be modernized with the addition of a reception module to host hundreds of people in case of sudden bad weather, and to offer multimedia informational setups.
The lift system will be constantly monitored and managed by four different computers overseeing all safety functions. The most important mechanical parts, including the main ropes, will be doubled, with one functioning as a reserve for the other, while generators will supply electricity in case of a grid failure.
