FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2017 file photo technicians work on a gondola of the new Zugspitze cable car which will be opened on Dec. 21, 2017 at Germany’s highest mountain Zugspitze in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. (Angelika Warmuth/dpa via AP) (Associated Press)
BERLIN — A new cable car is beginning service at Germany’s highest peak, with VIPs getting to enjoy the first ascent Thursday.
The cable car to the Zugspitze mountain is being billed as a world-record-breaking work of German engineering, featuring the biggest altitude difference between the base and summit station and the greatest distance between the summit and the only support pillar.
The 50-million-euro ($59-million) installation replaces a cable car from 1963 that could take 240 tourists an hour to the 2,962-meter (9,718-foot) Alpine peak. The new cable car can manage more than twice as many passengers.
Munich’s Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx and the Protestant Bishop for Munich and Upper Bavaria, Susanne Breit-Kessler, will bless the cable car before its first official trip.
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Construction video (in German): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt6pruweDjk
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