Regular service recommended by the producer is the basis of safe operation of each mechanism. The present-day funicular of Hrebienok with two cars has been operating since 2007 and based on the instructions of the producer, all chassis need to be checked thoroughly every 6 years. “Every overhaul consists of a complex examination, diagnostics and replacement of worn parts if needed. The chassis of car no. 1 underwent this treatment last year and now it´s time for car no. 2,” explained Ján Slamený, the cableways operations manager.
“The technological ‘show’ will begin in the High Tatras, where the cabin needs to be lifted with help of special hoists by our employees and technicians of the Swiss producer, the chassis have to be loosened and slid out. Afterwards, they will be transported by a lorry to the workshops in Switzerland. After about three weeks that the overhaul should take, the chassis will return back to the Tatras to be mounted to rails and connected with the funicular car, the tow rope will be attached and the funicular can start to operate again after some tests,” added Ján Slamený.
The funicular is going to be closed from 1st October to 13th November 2020. Tourists who don’t feel like walking up to Hrebienok can use an ecological alternative arranged by the operator – an emission-free electric bus that should operate along the road between Starý Smokovec and Hrebienok meanwhile.
The funicular with technology made by Doppelmayr/Garaventa was launched on the route between Starý Smokovec and Hrebienok on 22nd December 2007 to replace the previous Cerreti e Tanfani funicular from Milan, Italy, which had been operating there from 1970. But the history of the Hrebienok funicular began already in 1908, when Smokovec was linked with Hrebienok by a railway with the so called Abt switch, which enables railway trains to be guided from one track to another, i.e. to pass each other.
