Bartholet building first urban ropeway in India

Together with Vishwa Samudra Engineering in Varanasi, Bartholet Maschinenbau AG from the canton of St.Gallen is constructing the first urban ropeway in India on behalf of the National Highways Logistics Management Ltd. The ropeway will carry a maximum of 3,000 passengers per hour and per direction from 2025 onwards along one of the busiest stretches of Varanasi, which is known as the spiritual capital of India and is highly popular with tourists.

Five stations will be connected by the ropeway system, which covers a total length of around 3.7 kilometers. It will run at a height of up to 40 meters from the main railway station to the Godowalia Chowk station and, according to a press release issued by Bartholet, is intended to “drastically” reduce travel time. A total of 150 panorama cabins, developed in partnership with the Porsche Design Studio, will travel along the ropeway route.

According to an article published by the Indian news platform News9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for this project on March 24 on the campus of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. The ropeway project is designed to make it easier for locals and tourists to get around Varanasi, which is capital of Uttar Pradesh state. With more than 2,000 temples, Varanasi is also widely regarded as the spiritual capital of India. The city is situated on the banks of the holy river Ganges. As such, pilgrims descend on Varanasi to bathe in the waters of the Ganges and perform rituals. ce/mm