Castle Hill Cableway Heidenheim | Feasibility Study

Project description

For several years, cableway installations to the castle hill in Heidenheim have been discussed due to the existing topographical characteristics of the area. For this reason, the city of Heidenheim awarded a contract for a cableway feasibility study to examine suitable cableway routes between the central bus hub in the city center via the castle hill to the “Reutenen” residential area. The gondola is intended to supplement the existing public transport service, which is handled by buses, and make it more comfortable, environmentally friendly and climate friendly. It should also help to relieve traffic congestion on the castle hill, especially during major events (soccer matches, productions at the Opera Festival and the Natural Theater, events at the Congress Centrum).

The city of Heidenheim already initiated a preliminary study that included a rough passenger potential analysis and possible routes. On the basis of these fundamentals, findings and results, a feasibility study has to be prepared, which on the one hand verifies or concretizes the results of the preliminary examination and on the other hand supplements them with the traffic planning, cableway planning, economic and implementation assessment. Furthermore, the idea of a cableway up the castle hill by means of an inclined elevator solution will also be investigated.

A cableway connection central bus hub – castle hill – residential area “Reutenen” is easy to implement from a technical standpoint. However, a simplified cost-benefit analysis carried out in accordance with the procedural instructions for a standardized assessment to estimate the socio-economic benefits and eligibility for funding shows that the project is not profitable at all, even under optimistic assumptions, and therefore cannot be classified as eligible for funding under the Municipal Transport Financing Act of the German Transportation Ministry.

Service description

The following contents of the study have been provided by zatran:

• Optimization and development of different alignment variants and station locations
• Evaluation and selection of suitable cableway technology
• Calculation of the system data for the different alignment variants
• Evaluation of the alignment variants incl. determination of a preferred variant
• Utilization of land by the cableway line
• Description and examination of alternative means of transport with qualitative comparison to the cableway
• Presentation of the legal framework for cableways
• Investigation of project-specific conflict potentials and general obstacles for the realization of urban cableways
• Static rope line calculation incl. preparation of site plan and longitudinal section
• Participation in the creation of 3D-visualizations
• Calculation of investments and operating costs for the preferred variant
• Life cycle cost analysis for the depreciation period of the cableway
• Realization schedule for possible project implementation

Legal notice: The renderings above have been created by Drees & Sommer in cooperation with zatran. The renderings are protected by copyright: © City of Heidenheim (all rights reserved).

Back to project overview