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ORGANIZZAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE TRASPORTI A FUNE INTERNATIONALE ORGANISATION FÜR DAS SEILBAHNWESEN ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DES TRANSPORTS A CÂBLES INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR TRANSPORTATION BY ROPE ORGANISACION INTERNACIONAL DE TRANSPORTES POR CABLE

2nd Half-year 2001 The same issue has been published: in German French and Italian

Summary page President’s preface Comments of the Secretary General Activities of the Management Committee and of the Executive Committee O.I.T.A.F. International Conference on Transportation by Rope in Innsbruck in 2005 General Meeting of O.I.T.A.F. in 2002 O.I.T.A.F. seminar in Bolzano O.I.T.A.F survey on members’ satisfaction Recommendation for the Design and Construction of Double Monocable Aerial Ropeways with due regard to their specific features INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION Safety of funiculars leading through a tunnel ITTAB (International Meeting of Technical Supervisory Authorities) CEN standards OIPEEC International Technical Exhibition CHINA SKI TECH 2001 And seminar on “Ski resort planning & management” in Peking, November 6 to 8, 2001 PRESENTATION OF A WORKING GROUP Working group on Non public ropeways : Material handling ropeways and cable cranes ACTIVITIES OF O.I.T.A.F. COMMITTEES Committee n° 1 Technique of ropeways and technical recommendations Committee n° 2 Characteristics and inspection of ropes Committee n° 3 Electrical equipment and components of ropeway installations Committee n° 4 Legal, administrative, economic and statistical matters Working group of committee 4 Discussion forum on environment Working group n° 6 Optimisation of ropeway and ski-tow operation FUTURE EVENTS O.I.T.A.F. ON INTERNET

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O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS 2/2001 President’s preface Dear members of O.I.T.A.F. and friends The activity of our organisation in the last six months of 2001 was entirely marked by in-novation and new trends, intense activity of our committees and efforts made to develop and improve the organisation’s contacts throughout the world and worldwide activi-ties. Cooperation with China is improving and get-ting more intense and I was personally able to see during my visit to the China Ski Tech in Peking on 6.11.2001 that both the supervi-sory authorities and ropeway operators have a great interest and wish to cultivate the ex-change of information with O.I.T.A.F. We have also succeeded in our efforts to improve contacts with other friends in East European ropeway countries and hence I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to thank our friends in Poland who have accepted the burden of the organisation of a meeting and have thus offered us the chance to hold the first ever hold meeting of the Management Committee in their country. We also suc-ceeded in improving contacts with NACS, and the president of NACS, George Boyden and so I do believe that it should be possible to improve the nature, frequency and sub-stance of our contacts, possibly within the framework of a joint meeting in the fall 2002. The seminar O.I.T.A.F. have organized this autumn in Bolzano on future developments of the ropeway technology has been a great success. By the way, this is an opportunity to an-nounce that the organisation of the next seminar which is to address issues related to legal provisions on liability and specific eco-nomic issues has been entrusted to commit-tee n° 4 and is scheduled to take place in au-tumn 2002 in Innsbruck. In this issue of the OITAF-NEWS you will also findour General Secretary’s detailed report on the innovative changes, in particular the positive outcome of the committees’ activity, as well as the new issues to be tackled by committee n° 1. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to thank all of you most heartily for trust and loyalty you have shown and your active re-

sponse to our questionnaire. I wish to ad-dress my particular thanks to the chairmen of our committees and to our Secretary General Ing. Heinrich Brugger for his untiring com-mitment (by the way I may say that all the comments on the new layout of O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS people have made so far are positive). I wish all members of our organisation a happy and successful year 2002.

With kind regards Sincerely yours

Horst Kühschelm Comments of the Secretary General The change over from a paper issued in four languages printed one next to the other to four monolingual papers and the reduction in size from the DIN A 3 to the DIN A 4 format has met with positive response and hence we are going to continue to publish O.I.T.A.F-NEWS as monolingual papers in the DIN A 4 format. This issue of the NEWS is slightly late on the usual timing because we wished to inform you on the outcome of the meetings of O.I.T.A.F. committees which had taken place rather late in the year. The issue 1/2002 will be published after the General Meeting of O.I.T.A.F. in Grenoble on April 24, 2002 and the election of the new Management Committee and I do hope many members will attend and contribute to the discussion of the forthcoming General Meet-ing. Likewise to our past issues you will find in the present issue reports on the activities of O.I.T.A.F. and in particular on the activities of the Management Committee, the Executive Committee, O.I.T.A.F committees and work-ing groups. As usual we are also going to find the por-trayal of a committee, i.e. the working group chaired by Ing. Bonini which has been set up by committee n° 1.. In this issue you will also find reports on the following issues and matters.

• The seminar which O.I.T.A.F have organised in Bolzano within the framework of the ALPITEC exhibition on October 12 of this year.

• the outcome of the survey we have carried out to assess our members’

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views on and satisfaction with ser-vices rendered by our organisation.

• a succinct information on the O.I.T.A.F Recommendations for the specific features of double mono-cable aerial ropeways which the Management Committee approved at their last meeting.

• ITTAB (International Meeting of Technical Supervisory Authorities) who have convened for their 51st meeting in Andorra. You will find a short report on the issues they have discussed further down.

• A short report on the last “Round Ta-ble Conference O.I.P.E.E.C have or-ganised in Bethlehem (USA).

• Last meeting of CEN TC 242 in Lon-don on October 224, 25 and 26, 2001 with an up-date on the latest devel-opments of the harmonised European standard on “Safety requirements for passenger transportation by rope”

• Brief update on the latest findings of the international expert commission the Austrian Federal Ministry for In-frastructure and Transports have set up after the accident in Kaprun.

• Report on the meeting of the com-mission for the European Directive for passenger transportation by rope have had with the EU Commission in Brussels.

Activities of the Management Committee and the Executive Committee The Executive Committee convened for a meeting in Bolzano on October 11, while the Management Committee convened for a meeting in Warsaw on November 23, 2001. They addressed the following issues : • Setting up of an organisation committee

for the OITAF International Conference to be held in Innsbruck in 2005

• Contacts with the Chinese members re-

garding the establishment of an Asiatic continental section of O.I.T.A.F. You will certainly know that O.I.TA.F. have accepted to sponsor the first techni-cal exhibition and a seminar on winter sports held in China from November 6 to 11, 2001. O.I.T.A.F was represented by the President Dr. Kühschelm who con-

veyed to the Chinese members our mes-sage of greetings and discussed with them, as well as in particular with the rep-resentatives of the supervisory authori-ties, conditions for the establishment of an Asiatic continental section of O.I.T.A.F. The exchange of vies has shown that both parties are interested in setting up a continental section. To this end it was agreed to take a first step and have draft statutes drawn up and next to see whether other Asiatic countries, such as India, or possibly Australia, New Zealand or any other ropeway country might be in-terested in joining the Asiatic section.

• List of candidates for the election of the

new Management Committee by the General Meeting to be held on April 24, 2002 In the last issue of the O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS we have already announced that the next General Meeting, which according to the rules is held every three years, will take place next year in Grenoble (F) According to our statutes the outgoing management committee has to draw up a list of candi-dates for the election of the new man-agement committee. The list has been approved by the last meeting of the Man-agement Committee in Warsaw and will thus be circulated to all O.I.T.A.F. mem-bers together with the agenda for the General Meeting.

• Approval of the draft Recommendations for the specific features of double mono-cable ropeway submitted by committee n° 1. The Management Committee have given their approval by unanimous vote to the draft submitted by committee n° 1. For additional information on this recommen-dation see further down.

• Revision of “Technical Recommendations for the Construction and Operation of nun public ropeways for passenger transportation and handling of materials” In order to meet a number of requests that have been submitted the Manage-ment Committee decided to reactivate the working group who have drafted and ap-proved in 1996 the O.I.T.A.F. Technical Recommendation for “Non public rope-ways” and request it to revise, update and

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complete it in the light of the latest state of the art and knowledge.

• Setting up of a working group for the revi-sion of O.I.T.A.F. statutes. As a consequence of the introduction of EURO and other innovations it has be-come necessary to bring a number of rules in line with the new requirements (such as for instance requirements to be met by new means of communication, the requirements of harmonised Euro-pean standards, the deadlines to be met, membership fees, admission of the presi-dents of continental sections as members of the Management Committee etc.). It has been agreed to request the Executive Committee to address this issue. Sug-gested amendments shall have to be submitted to the approval of the General Meeting 2002.

• “Fire protection” to be assigned to com-mittee n° 6 We have already mentioned in the last is-sue of O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS that there was a general belief that an O.I.TA.F. committee ought to address the issue of fire protec-tion of ropeways. Committee n° 6 has now been given the remit to address re-lated problems of operation and organisa-tion and draft recommendations on fire protection. François Gruffaz, member of the Man-agement Committee and Head of the French supervisory authority submitted a report on the outcome of analyses of the fire safety of ropeways leading through a tunnel. The report of has been published and will be implemented in France. It is felt that conclusions drawn in this report would have some bearing on and affect the work on fire protection to be carried out by committee n° 6. Considering the importance of the studies that have been carried out and the inter-est it vests for ropeway operators, manu-facturers and supervisory authorities the Management Committee, having been authorized to do so, decided to have the French document translated into German. The document will be annexed to the next issue of O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS.

• Relationship with OITAF-NACS. Admis-sion of the President of O.I.TA.F.-NACS

with the status of extraordinary member of the Management Committee. In order to improve contacts with OITAF-NACS and that organisation’s senior bod-ies it was felt that the American section ought to be represented in the Manage-ment Committee of OITAF by the sec-tion’s president, Mr. Boyden, or a dele-gate appointed by the president of OI-TAF-NACS. This decision has been car-ried by a unanimous vote of the Man-agement Committee.

• Decisions regarding the composition and the scope of committee n° 2 With due regard to a number of sugges-tions that have been made so far the Management Committee decided to re-structure this important committee (Characteristics and inspection of ropes). Accepting a proposal made by the French supervisory authority the Management Committee decided to entrust to Mr. Laurent Reynaud, engineer who within the framework of STRMTG is responsible for matters related to ropes, the task to convene and coordinate this committee. For additional details see section on the activities of OITAF committee n° 2.

• Organisation of an OITAF seminar in au-tumn 2002 in Innsbruck The Management Committee decided to request committee n° 4 to organise in au-tumn 2002 within the framework of IN-TERALPIN in Innsbruck a seminar on is-sues related to legal liability and econ-omy.

• Approval of the budget estimate 2002 Approval of the budget estimate submit-ted by the Treasurer of OITAF was car-ried by a unanimous vote.

Proceedings of the meeting of the Manage-ment Committee held on November 23, 2001 in Warsaw have been given a special imprint owing to the attendance of senior engineers and representatives of the Polish Ministry of Transports. The Management Committee ap-proved the nomination of Ing. Maciej Duława as member without the right to vote of the Management Committee in lieu of Ing. Krych-niak, who has taken his retirement.

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The Polish delegation that attended the meet-ing of the Management Committee in Warsaw (Ing. Maciej Duława third to the right)

Prof. Hansel (on the left) with assistents

The O.I.T.A.F worldwide International Con-ference on Transportation by Rope 2002 in Innsbruck

The President of O.I.T.A.F. Dr. Horst Kühschelm welcomed the director of the technical supervisory authority of transports of the Polish Ministry, Ing. Jan Urbanowicz, and his assistants and expressed hopes of fruitful cooperation with the Polish authorities, the University in Cracow, ropeway operators and manufacturers. In doing so he also re-called the close cooperation between OITAF and senior representatives of the Polish au-thorities and of the University in Cracow in the seventies.

The Executive Committee first, and then the Management Committee discussed at length this issue. Both meetings were attended by Dr. Georg Lamp, director of the Innsbruck Conference Center. Agreement was reached on the following steps : Organisation Committee : At their meeting in Warsaw the Management Committee approved the following composi-tion of the Organisation Committee :

Members of the Executive and of the Man-agement Committee : Jim Fletcher, Jean Charles Simiand, Francesc Culleré, Peter Feuz, Sandro Lazzari, Ingo Karl, Horst Kühschelm and Heinrich Brugger

The other members the Management Com-mittee appointed are Dr. Georg Lamp (Direc-tor of the Innsbruck Conference Center), Mi-chael Seeber (Leitner, Vipiteno) and Michael Doppelmayr (Doppelmayr, Wolfurt). It was also agreed to set up a committee hav-ing their headquarters in Innsbruck chaired by the Director of the Innsbruck Conference Center, with Dr. Kühschelm and Ing. Brugger representing the Management Committee plus other members to be appointed.

Ing. Jan Urbanowicz with the President of O.I.T.A.F. Dr. Horst Kühschelm and the Vice-president of O.I.T.A.F. Jean Charles Simiand. Choice of the main theme of the Conference The two committees have discussed at length

the main theme of the conference and adopted in the end the following provisional title

The Polish host has also organized a social evening and also invited Professor Józef Hansel and his assistants working at the Technical University of Cracow, ropeway op-erators from Zakopane, Czorsztyn, Krynica and Szczyrk, as well as manufacturers of ropeways and ski-tows. Many representatives of the technical supervisory authority of the Polish Ministry of Transports have contributed to the lively discussion that took place.

“The future of ropeways - Vision of new solutions to be put at the

service of men” It has further been agreed to send out a first invitation to some 5000 personalities and rep-resentatives of ropeway companies, opera-tors and supervisory authorities before the

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end of 2001 or in the first days of 2002. The O.I.T.A.F. Secretariat has already drawn up a list of addresses comprising some 4000 names of operators, supervisory authorities and personalities likely to be interested to at-tend. We would like to avail ourselves of this opportunity to thank the associations of op-erators and the supervisory authorities who have sent us addresses.

O.I.T.A.F. General Meeting 2002 At their meeting held in Bolzano on May 25, 2001 the Management Committee have de-cided to call a General Meeting to be held on April 25, 2002 in Grenoble in conjunction with SAM.

The President of O.I.T.A.F., Dr. Horst Kühschelm, opened the seminar.

According to the provisions in the statutes O.I.TA.F have to call a General Meeting every three years. The acting Management Committee has already drawn up a list of candidate members of the new Management Committee to be elected during this General Meeting and hence expected to succeed to the outgoing Management Committee.

The seminar has been a great success. 230 persons attended the lectures, all of which were of a very high standard, both in terms of content and in terms of presentation. Lectures may be loaded down from the O.I.T.A.F. homepage (www.oitaf.org) under “Lectures delivered at O.I.T.A.F. seminars”.

The same meeting will have to appoint the members of the new body of auditors.

The new Management Committee will then choose from amongst own members the fu-ture president, the two vice-presidents and the members of the executive committee and appoint the Secretary General of O.I.T.A.F. The General Meeting offers all members the opportunity to meet and lay down the general lines of the organisation’s future policy and strategy. The invitation and the agenda of the meeting will be circulated to all members in due time. You are kindly requested to reserve April 24 for the General Meeting and I do hope that many members will choose to attend the Meeting.

The lecturers with in their midst Dipl. Ing. Dr. Pe-

ter Sedivy, chairman of the seminar. O.I.T.A.F. seminar in Bolzano We would like to express our thanks to all lec-

turers and to the moderator of the meeting, the chairman of committee n° I for their will-ingness to lecture and their commitment.

In the last issue of O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS we in-formed our readers that O.I.T.A.F were about to organise a seminar to be held in Bolzano within the framework of ALPITEC on October 12, 2001 on the following theme :

Survey of the degree of satisfaction of O.I.T.A.F. members.

EXTENT TO WHICH CONSTRUCTION OF ROPEWAYS IS AFFECTED BY PRESENT-

DAY TECHNICAL LIMITS

At the beginning of this year the Secretariat has circulated a questionnaire consisting of 13 questions to all O.I.T.A.F. members and received a 20 % response to this action. The main purpose of this action was an assess-

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ment of members’ views on actions under-taken by O.I.T.A.F. and the degree of their satisfaction. Among the questions listed there were also questions regarding other issues, for instance participation in various O.I.T.A.F bodies and committees (Management Com-mittee, study committee etc), questions re-garding what additional actions members would wish O.I.T.A.F. to start or to improve, for instance improve the organisation of seminars and conferences, questions regard-ing issues that needed to be given first prior-ity in O.I.T.A.F. seminars etc. What were the results of this action ? An analysis of the reasons that have induced members to apply for membership and of their expectations has shown that the possi-bility to exchange information and have ac-cess to a general all-round information and improved possibilities of communication via Internet are the main reasons that have moti-vated O.I.T.A.F. members. It should be pointed out that members ascribe greater im-portance to the exchange of information in the committees and lesser importance to the production of O.I.T.A.F. recommendations. But actually the difference between the two views is rather small. As to the question “Have your expectations been met ?”, the rate of positive answers was as high as 77 %, while in 14 % of the an-swers received members expressed their dis-satisfaction. It should however be noted that the reasons of dissatisfaction are related to issues that are outside the sphere of action of O.I.T.A.F. Information found in O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS or INTERNET was deemed to be satisfactory by 90 % of the answers given to this question. In some 45 % to 50 % of their answers mem-bers said they would like to be more involved in activities undertaken by O.I.T.A.F. Organisation of seminars and of international conferences is deemed to be satisfactory in 87 % of replies. In their replies to the question what additional services they would wish to be offered by O.I.T.A.F. members suggested what im-provements they felt would be desirable, such as for instance better use of the sources of information O.I.T.A.F. have created, the O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS and the O.I.T.A.F. Home-page, by adding reports on accidents and disorders. Members also feel it to be desir-able to continue to collect statistical data on ropeways, to set up small working groups,

discussion groups or ad hoc groups, to get a regular update of results, even partial results of the work done by O.I.T.A.F. committees and have more experts attending national meetings. As a whole it may be said that O.I.T.AF. and its present organisation and structure have been given a good mark. O.I.T.A.F. has become a symbol of quality. The results of the survey will no doubt inc further action and development of our organi-sation’s activities ; we weill not let the sug-gestions and comments that have been made fall into oblivion. Recommendations for the specifica fea-tures of double monocable aerial rope-ways At their meeting held in Warsaw on Novem-ber 23, 2001 the Management Committee approved the draft recommendation for the specific features of double monocable aerial ropeways. These recommendations have been drafted by committee n° 1 with Dipl. Ing. Dr. Peter Sedivy as responsibe convenor and are meant as a complement to existing stan-dards. We would like to avail ourselves of this opportunity to express our thanks to all mem-bers of committee n° 1 and in particular their chairman Peter Sedivy for their commitment. The introduction to the recommendation reads as follows and does not require addi-tional explanation. Present document recommends technical requirements that have been specified with due regard to the specific features of double monocable aerial ropeways. Due considera-tion has been given to the specific features of existing double monocable aerial ropeways and the experience so far made in actual service. The requirements laid down in the recommendations shall have to be met with at least the same level of safety even if the details of the design are altered. The interac-tion of the parallel ropes that carry the carrier affects the geometry of the system and as a consequence, determines a shift of loads and change of the line profile and gauge. Summary

1. Scope 2. Effect of wind in service 3. Rope line and length of rope span 4. Lateral clearance 5. Track gauge

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6. Safety distance at the exit of the sta-tion conveyor

7. Tension to shear ratio 8. Additional loads generated by the re-

stricted transverse sway 9. Synchronism of ropes 10. Annex

INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION Safety of funiculars leading through tun-nels. The international expert commission that has been set up by the Austrian Ministry for Infra-structure and Transports after the fire acci-dent in Kaprun composed of highly qualified ropeway and fire protection experts of the Al-pine countries Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy, have completed their remit by the time this issue of the O.I.T.A.F.-NEWS has gone into print. Extracts of the commission’s final report will be circulated to O.I.T.A.F members for information. ITTAB (International Meeting of Technical Supervisory Authorities) The 51st International Meeting of Technical Supervisory Authorities was held in Andorra from September 24 to 26, 2001. 33 represen-tatives of the Technical Ropeway Supervisory Authorities of France, Italy, Andorra, Spain, Japan, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland and ropeway experts attended the meeting. The main objective of these annual meetings is to offer the representatives of the national technical supervisory authorities an opportu-nity to exchange information on and discuss accidents and disorders that have occurred during the year. In Andorra they discussed the events of the year 2000. In addition they serve as a platform for the discussion of specific technical questions. An excursion to the ski area “Pas de la Casa – Grau Roig” and visit of the “Funicamp” ropeway installation organised by the Minis-try for Transports and the mayor of Andorra la Vella were part of the meeting’s pro-gramme. The party organised at the mountain station offered participants another opportu-nity to have a direct exchange of information from expert to expert which is not possible in the meetings. The meeting’s discussion focused also on statistical surveys reported by participating countries. The discussion has shown that in

the year 2000 all represented countries with the USA and Hungary included, had a total of 7 898 aerial ropeways and funiculars and 13 027 ski-tows. The total number of passen-gers carried by aerial ropeways does not in-clude the passengers the in the USA, Japan and Poland. The reports give a total of ap-proximately 1 910 548 000 passengers. The total number of passengers that have been transported uphill with ski-tows does not in-clude data for Germany, the USA, Japan, Po-land and Sweden. In this case the reports give a total of approximately 921 823 000 passengers. The discussion on accidents and disorders has shown that there is no uniform definition of the concepts “accident” and “disorder” be-cause the assessment of the gravity of an in-jury varies from one country to another. Hence a comparison of statistical surveys of accidents drawn up by the various countries is hardly possible. That notwithstanding the meeting discussed the most significant accidents and disorders, the accident in Kaprun having the most prominent place in the discussion. Essentially the discussion has also shown that most accidents and disorders occur while passengers embark or disembark the moving carrier, chair or tow hanger.. The second part of the meeting was reserved for the discussion of technical questions and this time experts had a discussion on a ques-tion raised by a Scandinavian country, i.e. the interruption of chairlift operation in adverse weather conditions implying possibly the need to rescue passengers.. Indeed, the main problem they discussed is the decision to stop the operation of a chairlift sufficiently in time if operational parameters such as temperature, light, danger of ava-lanches and in particular the intensity of the wind no longer permit normal operation and may imply the necessity to rescue passen-gers in the event of an excessive intensity of the wind. It has become apparent from the information given by the attending delegates that the maximum permissible intensity of wind before stoppage of operation varies from one coun-try to another and ranges from a minimum of 12.5 m/s to a maximum of 20 m/s. Prof. Engel, Technical University, Vienna, de-livered a report on the accident of the Kitzsteinhorn funicular in Kaprun which was followed by a discussion of some details most

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of which were details delegates would al-ready know. Prof. Oplatka submitted an analysis of all questions and issues that have been dis-cussed by the supervisory authorities ever since their first meeting. Technical issues that have been dealt with sum up to a very long list. The last item of the meeting’s agenda was a report on the outcome of a round robin test calculation of ropes according to the CEN standard. Six experts in rope calculation have made available the results of their calculation. The comparison of their results has thrown light upon a number of minor and major es-sential differences. The results were dis-cussed in a meeting of all experts held in Bol-zano last October. Experts felt they should continue their discussions with a view to de-vising a unique method of calculation. How-ever, the discussion in Andorra has shown that the first thing to be done is a verification of the programmes Prior to closing the meeting after the presen-tation and discussion of this report the meet-ing accepted with gratitude the invitation of the Norwegian delegation and agreed to con-vene for their next meeting in Tromsö in June 2002. CEN standards The Technical Committee CEN TC 242 con-vened for their 20th meeting at the headquar-ters of the British Standards Institution in London from October 24 to 26, 2001. O.I.T.A.F. was represented by the Secretary General Ing. Heinrich Brugger. The meeting was also attended by the repre-sentative of the European Commission, Mrs. Belén-Niceas Martinez Arriola and the con-sultant of the European Commission respon-sible for the coordination of the CEN stan-dards and the EU Directive for passenger ropeways, Mr. Soury Lavergne. The meeting addressed the following impor-tant items of the agenda : • Approval and release for formal vote of

two standards : Standard prEN 13223 : “Mechanical de-vices” Standard prEN 13243 : “Electrical installa-tions” The convenors of the two responsible working groups, Prof. Giovanni Molinari (I) for the standard on mechanical devices and Dipl. Ing. Ruedi Schüle (CH) for the

standard on electrical installations at-tended the meeting’s discussions of comments submitted by member bodies, and the rather lengthy exchange of views on some of the points that have been raised. Once again the Technical Committee went into the depth of the issues related to the certification of electrical installations and the application of the new IEC standard 61508 and / or application of EN 954-1. No agreement was reached, reason why the issue will have to be discussed once again at the next meeting of the Technical Committee. Because of lack of time it has not been possible to examine all suggested amendments and hence the discussion of amendments will be resumed at the next meeting. Nevertheless there are good reasons to believe that at the next meet-ing the Technical Committee will give their approval to both draft standards and release them for final vote.

• Fire prevention and control Setting up of an ad-hoc group. Member bodies submitted reports on the research work and investigations that have been carried out in their countries after the accident in Kaprun. The outcome of their research work and the experience so far gained will be made available to CEN and to the ad-hoc working group for them to use as reference documentation for the standard on fire control of ropeway installations. In this context it is felt that reports published by Austria, France (based on the outcome of a safety analy-sis made in France), Germany (based on a research study on the fire risk of rope-way installations commissioned by TÜV), as well as the result of the research work done in Switzerland to assess the fire be-haviour of a funicular carriage) ought to be made available to the ad hoc group. After a lengthy discussion the decision was taken to set up an ad hoc group and request it to draft a technical report on sho fire control requirements for the im-mediate future. Experts serving in this ad hoc group are ropeway and fire control experts appointed by Italy, France, Aus-tria, Switzerland, Germany and Great Britain.

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(e-mail : I.M.L.Ridge@reading.ac.uk) The first meeting of the ad hoc group is scheduled to take place mid January 2002 in Paris.

The General Meeting of the organisation ac-knowledged with regret the resignation of the organisation’s president Mr. Donald Sayenga (Associated Wire Rope Fabricators USA) and elected Prof. Dr. Gàbor Oplatka, Zürich new president of the organisation (Additional in-formation on the activities of the organisation and conditions for membership may be ob-tained from the organisation’s secretary, Dipl. Ing. Roland Verreet, Grünnnenthalerstr. 40, D-52072 Aachen, e-mail : R.Verreet@t-online.de.

It has been agreed to circulate this tech-nical report as soon as possible to all member countries for them to be able to take the necessary steps.

• Transport of disabled persons The Technical Committee resumed the discussion on requirements for the trans-port of disabled persons contained in a draft submitted to the last meeting by the special ad hoc working group. A consen-sus was reached on the requirements which according the the proposal of the ad hoc group ought to be specified in the various standards.

International Technical Exchibition CHINA SKI TECH 2001 and seminar on „Ski Re-sort Planning & Management“ in Peking, November 6 to 8, 2001. China Pan-Tourism Industry Development Co., Beijing Materials Handling Research In-stitute and the National Center of Passenger Aerial Ropeway Safety Supervision Inspec-tion are the three responsible organizers of both the technical exhibition and the seminar. O.I.T.A.F. had accepted to sponsor both events.

• Data recording device

Application of data recording devices is a compulsory requirement applicable to all ropeway installations except fixed grip chairlifts and ski-tows .which Italy has in-troduced some twenty years ago. This is the reason why Italy requested the Tech-nical Committee at their last meeting to standardize the data recording device. It has been agreed to appoint an ad hoc group which has already had a first meet-ing. Even though the data recording de-vice is no safety device according to the traditional meaning of safety devices, its standardisation seems to be advisable.

Both, the exhibition and the seminar were opened by the president of O.I.T.A.F., Dr. Horst Kühschelm, who conveyed to partici-pants the greetings of O.I.T.A.F. The western world was represented by 35 companies and China by 15 exhibitors. The two principal themes of the exhibition were the following ones : 1. Ski area technology (ropeways, rope

production, ski area planning, snow mak-ing equipment and ski run grooming equipment)

Because of lack of time no final decision has been taken with regard to this issue.

O.I.P.E.E.C 2. Skiing gear (skis, snowboards, boots) OIPEEC (International Organisation for the

Study of the Endurance of Wire Ropes) has held its two yearly conference this year in Bethlehem (PA, USA) on August 20 to 22. The following general theme had been cho-sen for this year’s conference : “Rope Termi-nations and Fittings”. The 16 lectures that had been foreseen covered a wide field ex-tending from general to specific applications and addressed both the theoretical, as well as the practical aspects of each covered theme. Lectures were followed by highly in-teresting discussions.

At present great efforts are being made in China in order to develop winter tourism, a general breaking up is to be felt. During the China Ski Tech exhibitors had an opportunity to establish and develop contacts with Chi-nese operators. What is still missing, may be, is the awareness of all requisites that make up a successful management of a ski area. This is where a seminar, like the one organ-ised within the framework of the exhibition may be of great importance. And indeed western experts have tried to convey their wisdom of the demands and in particular stress the need for quality in all fields (ski area planning, ropeway construction, ski-run grooming etc).

Proceedings of the conference (as well as the proceedings of past conferences, if still avail-able) may be ordered to Dr. Isabel Ridge, University of Reading, Department of Engi-neering, Reading RG8 6AY, UK

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The fact that the Chinese economic operators and authorities responsible for the develop-ment of winter tourism in China consider O.I.T.A.F. as a competent interlocutor is par-ticularly gratifying. They wish to improve and further develop contacts with OITAF and ac-quire knowledge of the OITAF know-how and of OITAF technical recommendations for Up-hill conveyance systems for winter sports. The second China Ski Tech is due to take place within two years. PRESENTATION OF A WORKING GROUP Working group : Non public ropeways Material handling ropeways and cable cranes set up by committee n° 1. Convenor : Dr. Ing. Achille Bonini (I)

Having taken a course on transports at the University of Rome Ing. Bovini submitted his dissertation on “Retrofitting and measures that can be taken to increase the capacity of a reversible bicable aerial ropeway fitted with big cabins” and took his degree in 1962. He started his professional activity with Leit-ner in Vipiteno and worked next with Agudio (which has become Poma Italia) and was thus directly involved with the design, con-struction and commissioning of many big ae-rial ropeways for passenger transportation, material handling ropeways, inclined liftts and cable cranes in many a country in Europe and overseas. In 1978 he settled down in Rome as self-employed ropeway expert and has ever since represented the interests of ANEF, the Italian Association of Ropeway Operators, in the Italian ropeway commission in Rome and in

the technical committees CEN TC 242, CEN TC 168 and CEN TC 10. He chaired the OITAF committee IIIe “Me-chanical equipment of ropeways” in the years 1988 to 1996 who produced the OITAF bulle-tin n° 13 “Technical recommendations for the brakes on the winch of ropeway installations” (published in 1991) The working group “Material handling rope-ways and cable cranes” set up by OITAF committee n° 1, chaired by Dipl. Ing. Dr. Se-divy, is composed of experts in the field of safety at work appointed by ropeway super-visory authorities, manufacturers, designers, operators or organisations. The Management Committee of O.I.T.A.F. have assigned this working group the remit to revise and update the O.I.T.A.F. bulletin n° 8 “Technical recommendation for the construc-tion and operation of material handling rope-ways and cable cranes” which O.I.T.A.F. had published in 1980. It has indeed become necessary to bring the then recommendations in line with present-day requirements and state of the art, to re-vise values which had been recommended in 1980, in particular those which had been specified for the installations’ capacities and speed , as well as to include recommenda-tions for so-called mobile material handling ropeways, i.e. ropeways that are in use only temporarily (no more than 24 months) and the overall load carried on one and the same track does not exceed 500 000 t and the components of which, or at least most of them, can be re-used elsewhere. There was general agreement as to the ne-cessity to define in the recommendation the safety objective and to address the issue of risk assessment, as well as to draft an annex showing a number of specific useful and guid-ing examples for proper design and construc-tion of installations covered in the recom-mendation. An other important issue requiring a consid-erable amount of work was the appropriate definition and description of the greatest pos-sible number of different types of mobile and fixed material handling ropeways and cable cranes. The working group adopted the following pro-visional classification of material handling ropeway systems :

1. To and fro material handling rope-ways used to transport material be-tween loading and unloading station

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2. Single track material ropeways in-cluding one carriage with a lifting winch

Unidirectional bicable ropeway with detach-able grips

3. Monocable continuous material

ropeway used to transport material between loading and unloading sta-tion

F1

F2

F3

F4 W

F5

F6F7

F8

STST

T

C

SC

PU

4. Cable cranes 5. Skyline-cranes

The above types of material handling installa-tions have been further subdivided in different subgroups for the different operating sys-tems, the number of tracks, different track slopes, systems with or without counter rope, the type of driving system, radial or parallel travelling anchorage or carriage etc.

C Hauling rope Examples of a number of descriptive draw-ings are given hereafter :

F1-8 Carriages P Tower

SC Haulage rope counter weight ST Track rope counter weight

T Track rope Fixed grip monocable reversible ropeway U Return sheave W Station rail

R

P

ER

F1

SR

VR

U

F2

Cable crane with fixed track Track between fixed towers and fixed anchorage

ER Power drive with driving sheave F1 Carriage

P Tower R Transport rope SR Tension weight VR Tensioning rope

A1 Head tower G1 Tail tower B Hoist rope C Haulage rope

EC Haulage rope drive EB Hoist rope drive F Carriage T Track rope

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Parallelly running cable crane

A5 Mobile driving cable B Hoist rope C Haulage rope EB Hoist rope drive EC Haulage rope drive F Carriage G7 Tower running on the other side T Track rope

Radial cable crane

A4 Fixed driving B Hoist rope C Haulage rope EB Hoist rope drivel EC Haulage rope drive F Carriage G7 Tower running on the other side T Track rope

Other descriptive drawings are already at hand or presently being prepared. The working group with their convenor, Dr. Ing. Achille Bonini have met several times in

the year 2000 and have met four times in the year 2001. Two additional meetings have al-ready been scheduled for the year 2002, the first one in Como in January, and the second in Hamburg in March. The working group intend to continue and to finalize during these two meetings the work on risk assessment and fixed material han-dling ropeways. At past meetings they have already approved the revised text of the fore-word and the specifications for the operation of material handling ropeways. Thereafter the working group intend to con-tinue to revise the other chapters of bulletin n° 8 and discuss the amendments and addi-tional specifications for the different types of material handling ropeways, mobile ropeways and cable cranes suggested by the task groups. Cooperation between the members of the working group is marked by harmonious goodwill, the readiness to contribute own proposals for the various chapters of the rec-ommendation and the desire to produce a document that will help and serve as a guid-ance for people involved with ropeways all over the world. The work is carried on thanks to the input of the wisdom gained by own ex-perience made by each member and their desire to get a grasp at and define the great variety of different aspects and issues. ACTIVITIES OF O.I.T.A.F. COMMITTEES Committee n° 1 : Ropeway technique and technical recommendations. Chairman : Dipl. Ing. Dr. Peter Sedivy, Aus-trian Federal Ministry for Infrastructure and Transports The chairman submitted the following report : Committee n° 1 have finalized their work on the draft Recommendation for the specific features of double monocable aerial rope-ways. Publication of the recommendations is imminent.. The last meeting of committee n° 1 was held in Bolzano on October 11, 2001. The lively exchange of views between the twenty and odd participants bears witness for their inter-est for the issue the committee have decided to tackle next, i.e. the drafting of a document on the Safety analysis of a uni-directional monocable aerial ropeway according to the safety principles laid down in the standard

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prEN 12929-1:1999. For this document to be-come the starting point of an O.I.T.A.F rec-ommendation it is necessary, as a first step, to identify and make a list of all safety com-ponents of this type of aerial ropeways ac-cording to the guidelines specified in the EU Directive 2000/9/EC (Directive on cableway installations designed to carry passengers). Several members of the committee have been asked to identify the safety components of the various subsystems of a ropeway giv-ing due consideration to the definitions in the above directive and to put the result of their work down in writing, the intention being to use their contributions as working documents for the next meeting of the committee in Hamburg on February 4, 2002. The composition of the committee has under-gone a considerable change. Ing. Karl Dax-ner, who has served on the committee for many years (actually ever since 1989) has felt that the time has come to resign, in par-ticular now that the committee has decided to tackle the problem of safety analyses. All members of the committee wish to acknowl-edge with gratitude his objectivity and the expertise of his valuable contributions con-scious as they are that the committee’s work could not have been progressed at the rate it did and with the necessary expertise without his contributions. His succession will be taken by Ing. Walter Eisler who has been appointed by Girak-Garaventa, as future member of the committee. It should be pointed out that four members of the committee have delivered lectures to the seminar on “Present day technical limits and the construction of ropeways” organised by committee n° 1 and held in the Conference Centre of Bolzano on October 12, 2001. Their lectures have roused great interest and gained full appreciation of participants. Committee n° 2 : Characteristics and in-spection of ropes No meeting of the committee was held in the year 2001. We have already announced that the French supervisory authority had submitted a pro-posal to reactive this committee and has sug-gested to entrust the convenership of this committee to Mr. Laurent Reinaud, who is re-sponsible for matters related to ropes within the organisation of STRMTG. The proposal was approved by the last meeting of the Management Committee. It was felt that ex-

perts appointed by ropeway manufacturers, rope manufacturers, supervisory authorities and ropeway operators of various countries, as well as rope experts who are not directly involved with ropeways and experts of non European countries ought to be asked to serve on this committee, seen that modern means of communication make it possible nowadays for the latter to contribute to the work of the committee. It was also felt that the working programme ought to cover questions of interest for people who are directly concerned with the ropeway industry, questions in particular that are liable to be progressed rapidly. This is why it is necessary to formulate the frame of the themes to be addressed, which of course needs to be done in close cooperation with ropeway operators and manufacturers. The preferred working language would be English, which would permit to reduce expenses and use the savings to finance other important ac-tivities or the organisation’s expenses. It is also felt that the meetings ought to be con-vened in turn in different countries or regions and possibly chosen with regard to the ques-tion or the problem to be dealt with. As to the frequency of the meetings it is felt that the committee ought to be convened two to three times in the first year for a meeting of two days and possibly include possibly a techni-cal visit of half a day. The committee ought to establish close liaison with working group C of CEN TC 242 who have received the man-date to produce harmonised standards for ropes for ropeway installations. Committee n° 3 : Electrical equipment and components of ropeway installations Chairman : Dipl. Ing. Ruedi Schüle, Swiss Federal Office for Transports The committee convened for another meeting on September 10 to 12, 2001 and addressed during that meeting the following issues : • Exchange of information on accidents and

disorders due to the electrical equipment of ropeways

• State and disorder signals and their stor-age

• Fire prevention and fire control of funicu-lars. Specification for electrical installations Fire prevention and control of other rope-way installations Automatic operation of funiculars

• Mobile radiotelephone aerials

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Acceptability of their positioning on rope-way installations

• Maintenance : Problems with the electrical equipment

• The use of programmable electronic sys-tems (PES) and of complex electronic systems

• Back-up operation and controls Unfortunately the minutes of the meeting were not sent in time to the Secretariat and so all we were able to do was to list the items that featured on the last meeting’s agenda. Committee n° 4 : Legal, administrative, eco-nomic and statistical matters. Chairman : Dr. Horst Kühschelm, Österreichi-sches Bundesministerium für Infrastruktur und Verkehr The composition of this committee has un-dergone considerable change in the year 2001. The following new members joined the committee : Mr. Bedrac (Ropeway associa-tion of Slovenia), Mr. Marzola (Plose Seilbah-nen AG, Südtirol) Mrs. Priesnitz (Director of the German ropeway association) and Mr. Sartori (Swiss ropeway association). The committee met twice this year, the first meet-ing being the one held on April 30 and May 1st in Martigny, and the second held on No-vember 15 and 16 in Vienna. Main issues of the meeting’s agenda were the discussion on the collection of court decisions (at present the committee are preparing a glossary of economic and legal terms), the submission of the final report on the responsibility and liabil-ity of ropeway operators and ski-run owners (this report will be submitted to the Manage-ment Committee for final approval), the addi-tional recommendations on transport condi-tions (in particular regarding the criteria for the transport of children, as well as the report on the activity of the working group on envi-ronment (the O.I.T.A.F. discussion forum on environment) chaired by Dipl: Ing. Manhart. As for the decision taken by the Management Committee with regard to the themes of the next O.I.T.A.F. seminar, i.e. that the issues addressed ought to be legal or economic is-sues, the committee decided to organise the next O.I.T.A.F seminar within the framework of INTERALPIN in autumn 2002 in Innsbruck. The committee examined several sugges-tions and adopted the following general title “Specific economic and legal problems of ropeway installations” which is meant to serve as an umbrella for the lectures to be

delivered by members of the committee on the following themes : • Mutual insurance coverage for opera-

tional risks • Problems pertaining to the transport of

children • The importance of economic charactristic

indices information basis for operators, the industry and the authorities

• Responsibility of the board of the opera-tor’s company and of the operator’s man-ager

and possibly additional lectures on environ-mental liability or may be lectures on the col-lection of court decisions. In order to celebrate their 50th meeting the committee have decided to have a meeting in Rome on June 6 and 7, 2002. Working group “Discussion forum on en-vironment” set up by committee n° 4. Convenor of the working group : Techn. Rat Dipl. Ing. Michael Manhart. In the second half of 2001 the working group met twice, first on July 26 and 27 in Martigny and then on November 14 in Vienna. The purpose of the meeting held in Martigny was to bring about a clarification of and settle the question of the working methods of the working group and the actual need to trans-late the comprehensive documentation that is circulated to the members of the working group. Members also felt they ought to have better links to the world of science. The excursion to the Mont Fort that occupied the whole day was highly interesting. Having travelled up-hill with the ropeway members were invited to walk down along the new ski run and the greening and planting work of the ski-run. During their walk down the ski-run members had an opportunity to discuss in situ a number of topics, such as for instance the layout of ski-runs, management of water resources and run-off, soil erosion, reforesta-tion, etc Mrs. Dinger delivered a summarized report on her trip to the USA where she visited a manufacturer of snow making additives and a ski resort which has been using for at least 10 years snow making additives. Her report on the research work on snow making additives done in Italy and in France stimulated a gen-eral discussion of the issue. As to the meeting in Vienna it should be pointed out that an expert with international

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Having been invited by BG Bahnen the com-mittee accepted to hold their meeting in Hamburg on October 5, 2001.

fame, Univ. Erwin Lichtenegger had been asked to lecture on “The practice of ski-run greening” (construc-tion of ski runs, cover layers, seeds, fertiliz-ers). All members expressed their full appre-ciation of the high standard and the informa-tive character of the lecture.

The meeting addressed the following issues : Uphill conveyance systems for winter sports and Remote control Application of the latest findings of the re-

search work on ski-run greening has shown to bring about a marked improvement in qual-ity and savings. The latest findings will be re-viewed in the new edition of Prof. Lichteneg-ger’s book “Hochlagenbegrünung” (greening at high altitudes) which he expects to publish both in German and in English in 2002.

Uphill conveyance systems for winter sports The Management Committee has approved the amendments of the recommendation for uphill conveyance systems for winter sports committee n° 6 had suggested. Hence clause 3.5 of the recommendation now reads as follows (the underlined words have been added to the text) The working group also discussed Rita Wy-

der’s paper on “Ski tourism and ecology in Switzerland” and its critical review of the situation of the Alpine tourism and the role of the ropeway industry.

3.5 Care shall be taken to eliminate an likely cause of hazard for disembarking pas-sengers at the point of transition from conveyor to snow covered surface. To prevent any hazard due to crushing or trapping the conveyor shall be fitted with an automatic stopping device and acous-tic alarm signal installed at its drawing in point.

The working group also briefly addressed the problem of skier density and were handed out additional documentation. They were also given detailed information on ski-run “watch dogs” who are de facto a kind of ski-run po-lice, contemplated by the regional legislation on sports of Vorarlberg. Watchdogs (there are some 40 “watchdogs”in Vorarlberg) have to be trained and this is done by the chief of-ficers of the local government. For a rule they would try to talk friendly to skiers who have violated the rules and only in some cases de-prive them of their skipass for 24 hours and in some rare cases confiscate the ski gear. Ski-ers guilty of having committed a very serious violation may be handed out to the gendar-merie. No legal provisions having been taken in the other regions of Austria operators of ropeways in those regions may refuse to transport skiers who have made themselves guilty of a violation which is a measure the may take in virtue of their carriage contract.

However they wish to stress that the con-struction of this type of conveyors must also comply with specifications in EN 115 “Safety requirements applicable to the construction and installation of escalators and conveyor belts. Remote control At their last meeting the committee discussed the draft recommendation for remote control systems for ropeway installations and have covered the following chapters :

1. Scope 2. General 3. Data capturing capacity of the remote

control system A lecture on “Management of water resources in ski areas, slope retention” will most likely be put on the agenda of the next meeting of the working group on June 11 and 12, 2002 in Italy.

4. The use of data transmitted by the remote control system

5. Quality requirements for remote con-trol systems

6. Conditions for use Snowmaking plants and wildlife is another is-sue the working group intend to discuss at their next meeting.

7. Additional instructions

The following definitions are subject to later alterations :

Committee n° 6 : Optimisation of ropeway and ski-tow operation.

For the purpose of this recommendation re-mote control system is defined as a system of transmission of sensory perceptions (hear-ing, seeing and tactile senses)

Chairman : Ing- Francis Crouzet, Compagnie des Alpes, les Arcs (F)

- For the purpose of helping the attendants

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18

- As a means to trigger a necessary action (automatic remote control)

In virtue of existing regulations the use of re-mote control systems of the kind in lieu of safety control systems is not permitted. The following clauses need to be examined in future meetings : - Scope - Safety of persons (attendants, passen-

gers and third persons) - Definition of remote control systems - Exceptions to the general rule regarding

their use in lieu of line safety devices and safety devices in the stations

- The possibility of achieving a higher safety level with remote control systems

- Remote control in the service of the con-ductor

- Remote control seen as integral part of the automatic control

- Remote control seen as a possible substi-tute for an attendant

- Communication of Italian regulations and description of some examples with a view to providing a better understanding for a number of issues (display of information on the faultless progress of the operating process on a monitor located in the same place as the remote control system)

- Consideration to be given to the percep-tion capability and the skill of an attendant with a view to determining the amount of data and the reliability of the information an attendant can supply without overtax-ing him or asking him to do a job he is in-capable of doing.

- Principle of preventive actions, risk analy-sis and action to be taken.

FUTURE EVENTS Meetings of O.I.T.A.F. bodies (to the extent they have already been fixed) Management Committee 23.04.02 Grenoble (F) Executive Committee 18.01.02 Zürich Airport (CH General Meeting April 24, 2002 Grenoble Committee n° 1 04.02.02 Hamburg Working group Material handling ropeways 21/22.01.02 Como (I) 21/22.03.02 Hamburg Committee n° 3 03.-05.04.02 Switzerland

11.-12.09.02 Italy Committee n° 4 06/06.06.02 Rome (I)

Working group Forum on Environment 11/12.06.02 Bolzano (I) Committee n° 6 15.02.02 Rome (I)

14.06.02 Annecy (F) 30.09.02 Grenoble

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