Bourg St Maurice / Les Arcs Funicular Cable Being Replaced
A huge project to replace the 3,000m long cable before summer
As you can imagine replacing a 60 tonne cable of around 3000m in length and 7cm diameter is no easy feat.
The cable pulling the funicular from Bourg St Maurice to Les Arcs 1600 is believed to be the biggest in France, says one of the team, "Perhaps even the biggest in the world".
Swapping the old cable for the new one involves splicing them together, and then reeling in the new cable up to 1600. A hydraulic machine pulls the cable into place, and as the old cable reaches the top, it's cut into 150m sections and wound onto reels, each on weighing in at around 3 tonnes. These are then taken off for recycling.
Take a look at the video above to see the work being carried out.
