Shortly after noon, invited guests and media witnessed how the construction workers of the ARGE Oberland V-Cableway broke through the last thin rock wall of the two mountain tunnels of the future mountain station. The milestone was ceremoniously observed with the ritual of St. Barbara. In his welcome speech, Urs Kessler, CEO of Jungfrau Railways, was touched: “The fact that we can celebrate the breakthrough for the new tricable gondola mountain station on the Eiger glacier after nine months of construction is a success for the entire V-Cableway project.” Afterwards, a first visit of the two 40-metre long tunnels took place. Altogether, around 11,000 m3 of rock were removed for the mountain station and the connecting tunnels.
From 12 December 2020, guests will be able to quickly and easily transfer to the Jungfrau Railway at the mountain station of the tricable gondola or directly from there to the ski slope. Thanks to the two connecting tunnels, arriving and departing guests are separated from each other, thus guaranteeing an optimal flow of guests.
Punctual opening of the new railways
At the mountain station of the tricable gondola, the rock securing work will take place over the next few weeks. From April to December 2019, the concrete works will be carried out to start the interior work and installation of the aerial cableway technology in time for completion in December 2020.
The winter months were challenging for all construction sites of the V-Cableway. Thanks to additional winter construction measures, however, the tight schedule for the 470-million Swiss franc project was met. The construction work is currently on track. The project managers are convinced that the new GGM as well as the Bernese Oberland Railway “Grindelwald Terminal” stop will be put into operation on time on 14 December 2019. The “Eigerexpress” tricable gondola, including car park and terminal with shops and ski depots, will be opened on 12 December 2020.
Details of the overall project (until completion in December 2020)
Amount in m3 of built-in concrete
40,000 m3
Total excavation
110,000 m3
Eiger glacier / Eiger Express mountain station
Rock removal: 27,000 m3
Rock excavation: 23,000 m3
Number of tonnes of steel used
310.2 tonnes for the Eigerexpress tricable gondola
328 tonnes for the Grindelwald-Männlichen gondola cableway
Weight and length of steel ropes for tricable gondola and GGM:
Weight: Length:
Tricable supporting cable: 532 tonnes Tricable supporting cable: 4x 6940m
Tricable towing cable: 168 tonnes Tricable towing cable: 2x 6782m
GGM: 124 tonnes GGM: 12,554m
