I know it might just be an accident. At some point it would be nice, though, if Italy would actively consider improving infrastructure to a level where not frequently major parts of it break, snap and bury people while doing so.

It is certainly an accident, but maintenance on these is supposed to make accidents impossible.

Tragic. Condolences to all impacted by this.

I went on this cable car in 2017 when visiting Stresa.

I too am interested to find out what went wrong - I did read somewhere that it had only re-opened a short while ago. Wonder is somethhing was inadvertantly missed in the pre-opening checks?

sbworcs wrote:

Tragic. Condolences to all impacted by this.

I went on this cable car in 2017 when visiting Stresa.

I too am interested to find out what went wrong - I did read somewhere that it had only re-opened a short while ago. Wonder is somethhing was inadvertantly missed in the pre-opening checks?

If the checks were done properly at all....

In France on the national news they were showing the Pic du Midi telepherique to illustrate a similar system, man, don't take that one if you have a fear of heights.

CRJockey wrote:

I know it might just be an accident. At some point it would be nice, though, if Italy would actively consider improving infrastructure to a level where not frequently major parts of it break, snap and bury people while doing so.

The last time I recall something happening like this in Italy it was caused by US Marine Corp jet flying too low and in restricted airspace cut the cables.

sbworcs wrote:

I too am interested to find out what went wrong

While driving I listened a debate on the news in the radio in Germany on this, an expert familiar with the design of this type of cable car. He explained how the entire system works: There's a main pulley line and an emergency line, in case of any failure brakepads on top of the car will clamp onto the emergency line, arresting the car. He then went on explaining that during maintenance some sort of bracket is installed into these brakepads to prevent them from activation while work is being done on them. His suggestion: Possibly someone forgot to remove said bracket after maintenance.
Would be even more tragic than it already is if such a neglect would be determined to be a major contributing factor, of course it can't be the single cause as something else must have happened too, but this would have eliminated the only safeguard.

Sorry, no further source on this yet it seems, but I'm sure other media will pick it up soon.

Kiwirob wrote:

CRJockey wrote:

I know it might just be an accident. At some point it would be nice, though, if Italy would actively consider improving infrastructure to a level where not frequently major parts of it break, snap and bury people while doing so.

The last time I recall something happening like this in Italy it was caused by US Marine Corp jet flying too low and in restricted airspace cut the cables.

I believe that he was referring to the Milan bridge collapse but you can sleep better tonight since you got your obligatory anti-US post in for the day.
https://6abc.com/us--world-italy-bridge ... y%20150%20

johns624 wrote:

Kiwirob wrote:

CRJockey wrote:

I know it might just be an accident. At some point it would be nice, though, if Italy would actively consider improving infrastructure to a level where not frequently major parts of it break, snap and bury people while doing so.

The last time I recall something happening like this in Italy it was caused by US Marine Corp jet flying too low and in restricted airspace cut the cables.

I believe that he was referring to the Milan bridge collapse but you can sleep better tonight since you got your obligatory anti-US post in for the day.
https://6abc.com/us--world-italy-bridge ... y%20150%20

Genova bridge, other than that, yes.

Kiwirob wrote:

CRJockey wrote:

I know it might just be an accident. At some point it would be nice, though, if Italy would actively consider improving infrastructure to a level where not frequently major parts of it break, snap and bury people while doing so.

The last time I recall something happening like this in Italy it was caused by US Marine Corp jet flying too low and in restricted airspace cut the cables.

Well, I didn’t write cable car, but infrastructure. I did so deliberately.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

Zeppi wrote:

sbworcs wrote:

I too am interested to find out what went wrong

While driving I listened a debate on the news in the radio in Germany on this, an expert familiar with the design of this type of cable car. He explained how the entire system works: There's a main pulley line and an emergency line, in case of any failure brakepads on top of the car will clamp onto the emergency line, arresting the car. He then went on explaining that during maintenance some sort of bracket is installed into these brakepads to prevent them from activation while work is being done on them. His suggestion: Possibly someone forgot to remove said bracket after maintenance.
Would be even more tragic than it already is if such a neglect would be determined to be a major contributing factor, of course it can't be the single cause as something else must have happened too, but this would have eliminated the only safeguard.

Sorry, no further source on this yet it seems, but I'm sure other media will pick it up soon.

Why is it that these type of accidents often result in no survivors or only one survivor on the particular car that falls?

Well that's called gravity. Maybe some airbags could be added but their effectiveness would be limited. If the gondola is 350m above ground, you'd need a parachute or retrorockets to have a chance.

johns624 wrote:

Kiwirob wrote:

CRJockey wrote:

I know it might just be an accident. At some point it would be nice, though, if Italy would actively consider improving infrastructure to a level where not frequently major parts of it break, snap and bury people while doing so.

The last time I recall something happening like this in Italy it was caused by US Marine Corp jet flying too low and in restricted airspace cut the cables.

I believe that he was referring to the Milan bridge collapse but you can sleep better tonight since you got your obligatory anti-US post in for the day.
https://6abc.com/us--world-italy-bridge ... y%20150%20

I think the poster was talking about cable car crash. This is the incident in question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_ ... ster_(1998)

ArchGuy1 wrote:

Zeppi wrote:

sbworcs wrote:

I too am interested to find out what went wrong

While driving I listened a debate on the news in the radio in Germany on this, an expert familiar with the design of this type of cable car. He explained how the entire system works: There's a main pulley line and an emergency line, in case of any failure brakepads on top of the car will clamp onto the emergency line, arresting the car. He then went on explaining that during maintenance some sort of bracket is installed into these brakepads to prevent them from activation while work is being done on them. His suggestion: Possibly someone forgot to remove said bracket after maintenance.
Would be even more tragic than it already is if such a neglect would be determined to be a major contributing factor, of course it can't be the single cause as something else must have happened too, but this would have eliminated the only safeguard.

Sorry, no further source on this yet it seems, but I'm sure other media will pick it up soon.

Why is it that these type of accidents often result in no survivors or only one survivor on the particular car that falls?

Why? The physics of blunt force trauma. You did see the condition of the car in the pictures, yes?

Adding on to what was on the radio yesterday, German news broadcaster NTV just released this story:

https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Drei-Festn ... 76488.html

Short summary:

- The bracket that is supposed to stop the brakes from engaging during maintenance seems to have been left installed intentionally, as the system malfunctioned a few times over the last couple of weeks causing the car to get stuck. That way it was impossible for this particular car to enable its emergency brakes. The emergency brakes worked fine on all other cars when the main pulley snapped.

- Three detained by police: The owner, the technical director and the maintenance guy

- Why the main pulley snapped is still not known, investigations still under way

Wow, just wow... What a brilliant idea to disable safeguards in order to assure smooth operation...

Story picked up by The Guardian in english now too: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... rosecutors

A report that the cable car was travelling at over 60mph just before it crashed, amazing anyone survived.

seansasLCY wrote:

johns624 wrote:

Kiwirob wrote:

The last time I recall something happening like this in Italy it was caused by US Marine Corp jet flying too low and in restricted airspace cut the cables.

I believe that he was referring to the Milan bridge collapse but you can sleep better tonight since you got your obligatory anti-US post in for the day.
https://6abc.com/us--world-italy-bridge ... y%20150%20

I think the poster was talking about cable car crash. This is the incident in question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_ ... ster_(1998)

I knew exactly what he, and the poster he responded to, were referencing. I also know he never misses an opportunity to blame the US for everything.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... e-77910900

They have arrested 3 people in Italy over this. The story has more info on what happened, backing up earlier stories down thread.

Prosecutor Olimpia Bossi hypothesized that the operators of the sightseeing funicular, which had reopened after a wintertime COVID-19 closure, used the jerry-rigged clamp to avoid having to shut the attraction for the more extensive, “radical" repairs that were necessary.

Bossi said it still wasn't clear why the lead cable broke or whether it was related to the brake problem. But she said that the intentional deactivation of the brake, done several times over recent weeks for a persistent problem, prevented the brake from doing its job when the cable snapped.

After the lead cable broke Sunday, the cabin reeled back down the line until it hit the pylon and pulled off entirely. It crashed to the ground and rolled over down the mountainside until it came to rest against some trees. Fourteen people were killed; the lone survivor, a 5-year-old boy, remains hospitalized.

So the emergency brake that would have saved them was disabled for convenience. How Horrible.

Carabinieri Lt. Col. Alberto Cicognani said at least one of the three people questioned overnight admitted to what happened. He said the fork-shaped clamp had been placed on the emergency brake to deactivate it because the brake was engaging spontaneously and preventing the funicular from working.

The cable car line reopened April 26 and was bringing sightseers to the top of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore on the first sunny Sunday since then. The jerry-rigged clamp was still in place on the brake Sunday morning, Cicognani said, citing information gleaned from the suspects themselves.

I wonder if the engagement of the brake in previous weeks wasn't the cause of the eventual snapping of the traction cable.

Aesma wrote:

I wonder if the engagement of the brake in previous weeks wasn't the cause of the eventual snapping of the traction cable.

This has all the signs of ignored maintenance/safety measures in the name of profit. I am sure there are going to be multiple causes. Perhaps the brake was having issues since the cable was already under stress/snapped strands. These cables are not one solid piece. They are wound with hundreds of steel strands that form the cable.

I watched a documentary of the Whistler-Blackcomb Peak to Peak Gondola installation for the 2010 Olympics, and because one of the emergency clamps was too tight during training, they managed to damage a few strands of the cable.

The pertinent issue starts at the timestamp below.

https://youtu.be/xEAJmxe27h0?t=1975

Aesma wrote:

I wonder if the engagement of the brake in previous weeks wasn't the cause of the eventual snapping of the traction cable.

Agree, sounds possible.

All in all things unfold as typically in Italy, sorry to say. Something between criminal negligence and intentional carelessness leads to loss of life and as the ignorance is so obvious, it is easy and quick to find the key responsibles.

All quite sad.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

What was it like riding this particular cable car and what were the views like at the top.

When we did it it was fine - I am not a lover of cable cars but was with family and friends that had been on it before. When we did it it was two sections - you do the first part to (I presume) about half way where you can get off and walk round then there is a secon section to take you further up

The views from the top were beautiful!

There is also an alpine "roller-coaster" futher up that you can access (https://www.alpyland.com/en/) but we did not do this - wonder if they are owned by the same people - regardless I would imagine they will be impacted by the closure - you can access by road but not sure that many people do.

We have booked flights to go back next year to Stresa but will probably drive up next time.

Terrible that everyone in there were only fleet away from getting off it!!

Video released:

https://www.foxnews.com/world/videos-it ... -14-killed

DL717 wrote:

Video released:

https://www.foxnews.com/world/videos-it ... -14-killed

Absolutely horrifying.

Fair warning to anyone who clicks the link, the faces are blurred, but when watching this-you will get a close up view of a cable car full of people about to die.

I regret watching that. That's unspeakably horrendous, they were so close to disembarking.