The first layer of snow has settled over Switzerland and the new winter season is officially open. Whether for winter sports or wellness - Mr and Mrs Swiss are drawn to the Alps. In the idyllic mountain community of Saas-Fee in Valais, visitors are in for a special surprise: the Metro Alpin mountain railway, known as the ‘highest underground railway in the world’, was modernised this year - Gilgen was on the job at the highest altitudes.
The valley station of the Metro Alpin is not located in Saas-Fee at 1,798 metres above sea level, but further up in Felskinn. A cable car and a gondola lift run from Saas-Fee up to Felskinn, where the Metro Alpin starts. The underground funicular railway climbs 476 metres in altitude on its journey to the Mittelallalin mountain station at 3,456 metres above sea level. Under these exceptional working conditions, challenges are inevitable.
Transport with snow groomers
Transport with snow groomers
Gilgen received the order for the new platform screen doors at relatively short notice. The first delivery was due just six weeks after the official confirmation in spring. Almost the entire production in Schwarzenburg focussed on the project in order to meet the ambitious delivery deadlines - successfully.
Thanks to special permits, the material could be transported through the health resort of Saas-Fee, where normally only electric taxis are permitted. Special measures were required to transport the components to the snow-covered Metro Alpin stations. Helicopters were mainly used to transport the door drives and wings, although only a maximum of 500 kilograms of freight could be transported per flight due to the thin air. The snow groomers usually used for winter sports were also deployed at times to ensure that personnel and doors were in the right place at the right time.
Extreme cold: ‘chimney effect’
The thin air was also a problem for Gilgen's fitters. They felt the lack of oxygen, became exhausted more quickly and occasionally suffered from headaches. In addition, the so-called ‘chimney effect’ - where warm air rises and cold air follows - led to extremely low temperatures. This occurred when the wind protection doors of the valley station were dismantled to replace the old funicular railway trains with new ones. At the beginning, these temperatures even dropped to an icy -21 degrees. Hot lunches in the otherwise closed mountain restaurant on Mittelallalin (the highest revolving restaurant in the world) and hot bathtubs in the accommodation in Saas-Fee made the extreme conditions bearable.
The project was finally completed successfully in the summer and Gilgen was expressly praised by the operators for its excellent reliability and rapid realisation of the project.
