Neue gesetzliche Bestimmungen

für das Seilbahnwesen

Authorisation of cableway installations

in Austria (procedures for authorising

the construction and the entry into

service)

Cableways in Austria

Current number of cableway

installations: 1.120 cableways

approx. 1.840 drag lifts

New installations in 2016: 20 cableways

Investment volume in 2016: approx. € 570 million

(estimated number, inculding

snow-making equipment)

Number of transported persons: approx. 600 million/year

Total turnover in cableway

business: approx. € 1,2 billion/year

1) Directive 2000/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 20 March 2000 relating to cableway installations

2) applicable for federal states as well

Abbreviations:

SBT safety component VO Regulation

TS subsystem RL Directive

N.B. Notified Body BV Operation Instructions

Structure : Law on Cableways

Essential requirements

European

standards

Defintion

Cableway

Conformity

of SBT + TS

Safety

analysis

Safety

report

N.B.

CE-

marking

BMVIT

European Standards2)

International

Affairs

Supervision

- Funicular railways

- Reversible aerial cableways

- Gondola lifts

Legislation 2)

Laws, VO

RL, Decrees

BV – requirements

of BMVIT

- Funicular railways

- Reversible aerial cableways

- Gondola lifts

- Detachable chairlifts partly

Authorization

procedure

- Notified Body

- Creator of the safety report

Registers 2)

RL 2000/9/EG 1)

New Approach

Transformation

BMVITSeilbahngesetz 2003 Authorities

Federal States

Supervision- Detachable Chair Lifts

- Drag lifts

- Fixed-grip chair lifts

Removement

- Detachable Chair Lifts

- Fixed-grip chair lifts

- - Drag lifts

Ensuring:

- free movement of goods

- uniform safety

standards

- safeguard procedure

Authorization

procedure

designed to carry persons

SEILBAHNGESETZ 2003 / National Law on Cableways 2003

Manufacturer / Operator Procedures of the authorities

Project

S.A.Cableway tech.

S.A.Electrotech.

S.A.Fire protection

S.A.geology

S.A.avalanches

S.A.other dangers

Safety Report

(civil engineer, accredited bodies)

Construction plan

Safety Report

Longitudinal intersection

+ calculation

List of safety components and subsystems

Documents infrastructure

(maps of buildings etc.)

EU Declaration (if available)

Request

Concession

OK

Concession

oral hearing for

construction permit

OK

Construction permit

Request

operation licence

Public interest

financing / rentability

Protection of nature

Avalanche safety

Construction plan

Costs of the project

oral hearing for

operation licence

EU Declaration safety component

EU Declaration subsystem

detailed plans

Operation licence

OK

Periodical inspections

gem. SeilbÜV 2013

every 5 years

Safety Analysis

Technical description,

map, etc.

other things

every 5 years

Fire protection

Rquest Construction Permit

Request Construction Permit

Cableway installations subject to

the „Seilbahngesetz“ (National Law on

Cableways)

Cableways in the sense of this National Law are railways whose carriers

are moved track-bound by cables as well as drag lifts.

Cableways are:

1. Funicular railways (Standseilbahnen);

2. Aerial cableways (Seilschwebebahnen)

a. Reversible aerial cableways (Pendelbahnen)

b. Circulating cable cars (Umlaufseilbahnen)

ba. Gondola lifts (Kabinenseilbahnen) bb. combined lifts (Kombilifte)

bc. Detachable chair lifts bd. Fixed-grip chair lifts

3. Drag lifts

4. Aerial cableways which are operated as drag lifts during winter-time

(combined lifts)

5. Cableways for material transport either for company purposes or for

limited public transport

Main obligations of cableway

companies

• Obligation to operate

• Obligation to contract (= obligation to transport persons)

• Liability insurance

• Liability for damages caused on neighbouring property by

building or operating the cableway

• Construction and operation with regard to the safety

requirements and taking into consideration the generally

accepted rules of technology

Rights of the cableway company

• Right to expropriate on the basis of the Law of Expropriation for

Railways

• Protection against unreasonable competition

• Authorization to build the auxiliary equipment for the

construction, operation and transportation of the cableway itself

• Authorizaton to carry out maintenance work and servicing

Authorization procedures

The authorization procedure has three stages:

• Authorization (concession)

• Construction permit

• Operating license

Basis for the examination of the

authorization request(§ 24 SeilbG 2003)

• Memorandum of association (Statute)

• Certified excerpt from the commercial register

• Annual accounts of the last financial years

• Construction plan

• Construction and operating programme

• Detailed description of the construction project

• Indication of the cableway‘s purpose

• List of building costs with company offers

• Profit forecast

• Financing plan (proof of sufficient internal and external funds)

• List of land owners

• Description of traffic situation

• Map of ski slopes

• Notification of nearest public cableways

• Documents concerning nature conservation

• Documents concerning forest clearence if forest area is required

Period of authorization (concession)

Current practice:

• Fix-cripped cable lifts: 30 years

• Detachable cable lifts

and gondola lifts: 40 years

• Reversible aerial cableways and funiculars: 50 years

Extension of authorization is possible (on request) if:

- public interest is still given

- cableway is technically modernized

Construction Permit

The Construction plan has to contain the following documents:

• Technical description;

• Map with stations, entries and exits, structures along the line, electric

cables and intersections;

• Name and address of the land owner;

• Longitudinal section of the trail (scale 1:500);

• Calculation of rope and longitudinal section;

• Maps of buildings (station and structures along the line);

• Declarations of EU conformity for safety components and subsystems as

far as they are already available;

• Plan of subsystems as to Annex I of Directive 2000/9/EG;

• Description of electrotechnical facilities;

• Announcement of type of transportation and operation (as well as sports

equipment admitted for transportation, night operation);

• Provision for the supervision of the operation

• Safety analysis and safety report

Construction Permit

The following branches are involved in the building permission

procedure:

- Cableway technology

- Electrotechnology

- Protection against natural hazards (Torrent and Avalanche Control)

- Geology

- Water protection

- Building construction

- Fire protection

- Employee protection

- Nature conservation

- Forestry technology

- Medical aspects (e.g. first aid facilities)

Construction Plan

• On the basis of the safety report the construction plan has to

contain documents concerning infrastructure, subsystems and

safety components, safety analyses and the declaration of EU

conformity (if already available)

• When evaluating the construction plan the integrity of the

documents as well as the conformity with the safety report, the

safety analyses and the existing declarations of EU conformity

have to be verified. Including the infrastructure it has to be decided

whether for the secure and proper construction and future

operation any further measures have to be taken to fulfill the

essential requirements in accordance with § 11 (Annex II of the

Directive).

Subsystems

1. Cables and cable connections

2. Drives and brakes

3. Mechanical equipment

4. Vehicles

5. Electrotechnical devices

6. Rescue equipment

Safety components

• A safety component is a provision for ensuring the safety of the

cableway.

• A malfunction of such a component endangers the safety of the

cableway.

• It may include a group of components.

• Safety components must be mentioned as such in the safety

analyses.

Operating license

The following documents have to be added to the request:

• Report of the declaration of the installation‘s conformity with the verified

plans;

• Drawings of the intallation‘s infrastructure facilities (stations and

structures along the line including their foundings);

• Declarations of EU conformity for the safety components and

subsystems as far as these are not already part of the construction

plan);

• Static calculation of the stations and the structures along the line; has to

be prepared or verified by an authorized civil engineer);

• Circuit diagrams (Stromlaufpläne);

• Proof of the conclusion of a liability insurance;

• Operation instructions and terms of transportation;

• Announcement of the responsible operations manager and his

representative

Operating licence

- Before the operating licence is given, the cableway undergoes a technical

check by the authority.

- The legal requirements stated in the construction permit are verified by

the appropriate technical experts.

- For new cableways or extensive changes of a cableway the authority

makes an on site hearing with all relevant technical experts at the end of

the technical examination. The technical experts make written reports

about the result of their inspection.

- During the permission procedure for new cableways, the managers of the

operation and the operating instructions are approved by the authority

and it`s experts as well.

Operating personnel

• Minimum age: 18 years

• Sufficient language skills (German)

• Appropriate health and professional competence

• Reliability

Operations manager:

• Operations managers have to fulfill additional conditions.

• Professional competence has to be proven by a positive

certificate of an operations manager training course +

examination by the authority.

• Before first appointment a medical attestation is required.

• Is approved by the authority.

Obligations of the operations

manager

• The operations manager has to take care that the cableway

corresponds to the official regulations

• Responsibility for secure and correct operational management

• Verification if the operating personnel is suitable and reliable

• Training of the operating personnel

• Regulations

– Regulation on Drag lifts (Schleppliftverordnung 2004)

– Regulation on the Inspection of Cableways (Seilbahnüberprüfungs-Verordnung

2013)

– Regulation on approval-free modifications of cableways (Verordnung über

genehmigungsfreie Bauvorhaben)

– Regulation on the relocation of cableway installations (Verordnung über

das Wiederaufstellen von Seilbahnanlagen)

– Regulation on the Protection of Employees in the field of Transport

(AVO Verkehr)

Overvue of further legal

requirements for cableways

• Reporting Regulation 2006 (Meldeverordnung 2006) (concerning

notification of accidents)

• Decree

– Decree on luminous signs (Leuchtschilderlass)

– Decree on avalanches (Lawinenerlass)

– Decree on operating personnel (Personalerlass)

Overvue of further legal

requirements for cableways

• Directives

– RL R1/04 concerning requirements for the safety report and the

safety analyses

– RL R2/04 concerning repeated examination of fire protection

measures

– RL R4/06 concerning modifications of cableways and

additional constructions

– RL R5/07 concerning regulations on the appointment of

operations managers

– RL R6/08 concerning rescue equipment

– RL R7/09 concerning the working place of the personnel at the

station

Overvue of further legal

requirements for cableways

• The relocation of a cableway contains the removing, the transport

and the construction on a new site, where the predominant part of

the cableway-specific components of the existing cableway

continue to be used.

Relocation

Regulation on the relocation of a

cableway

• Field of application

– Regulation only valid for cableways in Austria that have been

operated before the 3rd of May 2004 or which construction has

begun before that date (before harmonised standards).

– respectively for cableways that have been in operation before

the 3rd of May 2004 in another member state of the European

Union

– Regulation is not applicable for the repeated relocation of

cableways – with the exemption of drag lifts.

• Aim of the Regulation:

– Simplification of the procedure especially facilitation for the

reconstruction of drag lifts

– Securing of high safety standards

Regulation on the relocation of a

cableway

• Authorization procedure (Concession)

– Procedure according to the general regulations of the National

Law on Cableways

– Period of validity of the concession: in general 20 years

Regulation on the relocation of a

cableway

• Each cableway has to be checked at certain time intervals. The

inspection has to be initiated and paid by the cableway operator.

• There are two kinds of inspections: the periodical and the additional

inspections

Periodical inspection:

• The inspection is performed by specially accredited bodies.

• Public cableways - every 5 years

Not public cableways and drag lifts - every 10 years

• Inspection includes mechanical, electrotechnical and operational

aspects

Regulation on the Inspection of

Cableway Installations

• The exact scope of the periodic inspection is regulated in Annex 1 of

the Regulation

• Annex 1:

Basis of the inspection: the approval documents, the reports of

previous inspections and the operations diary

The inspection includes:

- External (apparent) tests (like the line, station structure, structures

along the line, vehicles)

- Functional tests (like drive, breaks)

- Check for changes

- Control of documents (e.g. - if the additional inspections of Annex 2 of

the regulation have been made)

Regulation on the Inspection of

Cableway Installations

Regulation on the Inspection of

Cableway Installations

• The authority monitors whether the deadlines are met by the

operators.

• The time limit may be exceeded or undershot by the company up to

half a year.

• The inspection body creates a report, in which all shortcomings are

mentioned - specifying the dates for the corrective action.

• If an immediate operational risk is detected, the operation must be

stopped immediately.

• The inspection body has to check the corrective action and at the

end to issue a final report.

Regulation on the Inspection of

Cableway Installations

Additional Inspection:

• The exact scope of the additional inspection is regulated in Annex 2

of the Regulation. Here is also determined which auditor may make

these checks.

• Annex 2:

This applies to components of cableways that not have been subjected

to conformity assessment procedures. Otherwise, the operating and

maintenance instructions must be observed.

E.g. - non-destructive examination of the pulleys, the main drive, the

first time within 15 years or 30 000 operating hours after the initial

commissioning of the components, then at least every 10 years or

20 000 operating hours.

Regulation on the Protection of

Employees – Transport (AVO Verkehr)

• Construction permit: In the safety report the compliance with the

requirements of the protection of employees has to be verified and

proven.

• Operating license: Before giving the operating license the

compliance with the requirements of the protection of employees

has to be proven.

• VgBSeil 2006

• This regulation contains an exhaustive list of construction measures

which do not require to be authorized. It further states who is entitled

(operations manager or other person according to § 20 SeilbG 2003)

to conduct and control such construction undertakings.

Regulation on approval-free

modifications of cableways

• The safety of the cableway (stations and pillar (Stütze))

and

the safety of the operation of the cableway (including its entry and exit

areas)

and

an associated ski slope

must be given because of the natural conditions in this region or must

be produced with permanent and/or temporary protective measures.

Decree on avalanche safety of

cableways

• Establishing the requirements for safety analysis and safety report

• The safety report can only be written by a person or body that is authorized

of the Ministry and that is registered in a special register, held by the

Ministry

• In this list are registered the following persons or bodies:

– accredited bodies according to ÖN EN 45004

– civil engineers with the permission in the fields of mechanical

engineering and construction

– for both - some years of work experience with cableway installations

(design, construction and operation) is required

Richtlinie R1/04Directive on safety analyses and the safety report

• Fire safety inspections have to be held at least every 5 years

• Definition of the scope of the inspection

• Determination of the persons or bodies that are authorized to carry

out the fire safety inspections

– official experts for fire protection

– judicially sworn experts for fire protection

– for the field of fire protection accredited testing and inspection

bodies

Richtlinie R2/04Directive on the implementation of § 51 SeilbG 2003

(periodic inspection of cableway installations in terms of

measures of preventive fire protection)

• This directive lays down the procedure for the replacement of

components as well as for the modifications and additional

constructions of cableway installations.

• With exception of: approval-free constructions and the replacements

and modifications of ropes.

Richtlinie R4/06Directive concerning the replacement of technical

components as well as modifications and additional

constructions

Replacement of components:

– The replacement of a component by an identical or similar replacement part does not constitute a construction project as defined in the law (Seilbahngesetz 2003) => an official permission is not necessary, in certain cases it must be reported to the authority

– Identical spare part is a component which has no deviation – refferedto the part to be replaced on

– Similar spare part has similar characteristics to the component to be replaced on

– Example: Replacement of a component by a version with enhanced material quality and unaltered main dimensions, provided that no change of any existing EC declaration of conformity is required

– Not a similar spare part:

Example: Replacement of a fitting (Klemme) by another type

Richtlinie R4/06

An obligation to give the authority some information about the

replacement of a component is only necessary for the replacement of

certain identical or similar components that are listed in the directive.

In this cases the proof of qualification must be submitted to the

authority.

• pulleys (Seilscheiben)

• sheaves (Rollenbatterien)

• cabines, seats or drag devices (Kabinen, Sessel oder Schleppvorrichtungen)

Richtlinie R4/06

• Additional constructions are construction activities where

components are installed,

- that previously were not available to the cableway,

- that perform tasks, which so far not have been met by any other

component, or

- that form a separate assembly.

• Modifications are construction activities that change a cableway

installation and this changes are not classified as additional

constructions.

• For cableways, which were built and approved before the 3rd of May

2004, those regulations can be used that have been applied

immediately before the entry into force of the specific national law

for cableways (SeilbG 2003).

Richtlinie R4/06

• This directive lays down the provisions for operations managers,

that are responsible for several public cableways.

• A manager can not be responsible for more than 8 cableways.

• On the day on which a manager is assigned for duty, he must be

able to reach all of its cableways within 20 minutes.

• Non-public cableways and drag lifts are not affected by this

regulation. There is no obligation for operation!

Richtlinie R5/07

Directive concerning the function of operations

managers

• This directive lays down the rules for the acquisition and modification of the rescue equipment for cablways. For some parts a permission of the authority is necessary, for some parts there is not.

• The directive contains provisions of the evacuation concept:

Description of the proposed methods of rescuing and the rescue equipment, considering the time the rescue team needs to perform a recovery.

Richtlinie R6/08

Directive concerning the rescue equipment for

cableways

• The observation of the passenger transport by employees working at

the entries and exits of cableways (gondola lifts) can take place in

their service rooms.

• = Requirement of the special law for employee protection

• New cableway installation must have appropriate working places in

closed rooms

• The entry and exit areas in the stations have to be in comformity with

this direcitve if the cableway operates with up- and downhill

transportation of passangers

Richtlinie R7/09

Directive concerning the working place (workstation)

Purpose:

• The same level of safety in fire prevention for new cableways and

those which are being upgraded or extended with regard to

construction, operation and maintenance

• Avoid the outbreak of fire within or nearby the cableway

• In case of fire: reducing the risk for persons

Protection target:

• To maintain the functional integrity of the cables in case of a fire

during the operation of a cableway

Guideline concerning the fire

protection of cablways

Thanks!