Safety / Reliability
HISTORY OF THE DOPPELMAYR/GARAVENTA GROUP
The Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group (“Doppelmayr”) was established in 1892 and has established itself as the world quality and technology leader in ropeway engineering. This leadership is based on a combination of ongoing innovation, the highest standards of workmanship and an absolute commitment to safety. With their years of experience and dedication to customer requirements, Doppelmayr is well recognized for professionalism, reliability and precision in performance.
Doppelmayr has subsidiaries, branches and agents inover thirty countries of the world and to date has built more than 13,300 lifts on five continents.
To date 80% of the high speed chairs and Gondolas on Whistler and Blackcomb have been designed and builtby Doppelmayr.
OTHER 3S LIFTS IN THE WORLD
There are currently four lifts of the proposed design in the world. All have perfect safety records.
- Two in Saas Fee, Switzerland built in 1991 and 1994;
- One in Val d'Isere, France built in 2002; and
- One in Kitzbuhel, Austria opened December 2004.
LIFT OPERATING RELIABILITY
The design, numerous redundancies and secondary systems, developed by Doppelmayr, have all focused on increasing operating reliability. Major elements include:
- High Wind Stability. The cabins will be riding on two cables making the Peak 2 Peak the most wind tolerant lift on Whistler and Blackcomb. It will be designed to operate in winds up to 80km/h winds. The Kitzbuhel lift has been tested at 100km/h with no difficulties.
- Back-up Power. The lift has a back up diesel engine (rim gear) in the event the primary engine fails or there is an electrical power outage.
- Redundant Bearing System. Both bull wheels will have emergency bearings that can be utilized in the event a primary bearing begins to fail.
- Acoustic Sensors. Both Bull Wheels will have a SPM acoustic sensor to monitor the bearings. Potential failures will be recognized before they happen, further reducing the possibility of a bearing system failure.
- Redundant Tire Conveyors. There will be two lines for accelerator and decelerator connected with crank-shafts, two independent electrical motors supplemented by an emergency power generator set in each station in the event of an electrical power failure.
