Track rope incident at the Schilthornbahn

All the outer-layer wires of a locked coil rope broke suddenly although the load conditions had not changed. The reason was found to be due to stress corrosion cracking induced by hydrogen. This process had been brought about during maintenance works which took place 25 years earlier as a result of imperfections of the installation. The paper illustrates and describes the relevant parts of the installation, the initiation and development of the damage as well as possible measures to be taken in order to avoid similar future damages.

Author(s): G. Oplatka, G. Piskoty and M. Zgraggen