Télécabine Alpe Express POMA
France – Alpe d’Huez – 2018

Alpe express

Sharing over 80 years of history with the resort, POMA has supported Alpe d’Huez in the construction of dedicated public transport, a 2 km urban gondola lift, connecting the resort centre to the slopes.

product range
Detachable gondola lift
Application
intra-urban transport
More about

The project

POMA has supported the French ski resort in its progress toward year-round, sustainable mountain tourism, thanks to the Alpe Express gondola lift connecting the resort centre to the slopes.

 

Offering transport within the skiing area, the Alpe Express is designed as public transport to facilitate low-impact travel around the Alpe d’Huez resort for pedestrians, mountain bikers and skiers, so that they can get to the resort's various leisure facilities, the slopes, the different bus stations and the residential areas.

 

Eventually, the aim is to connect the village of Huez (a few kilometres down) to the slopes in both summer and winter, thereby replacing the transport provided until now by numerous shuttle buses with a second gondola lift in two sections. This initiative is accompanied by the creation of a large, free car park for day skiers, which will help to avoid additional parking within the resort.

Alpe Express

In Motion

Télécabine Alpe Express POMA

Technical

specifications

Longueur

Length

868 m

Difference in altitude

28 m

Capacity

2400 peoples/ hour

Date

Speed

5 m/s

Number of cabins

56

Cabin capacity

10 people

panneau

Sections

2

motorisation

Motorisation

DirectDrive®

temps

Journey time

5 min

POMA, innovation

For the project

Intra-resort transport

This gondola lift is the new major connection between the Alpe d’Huez resort centre and the slopes at Les Bergers. It connects three key locations: the historical centre (where the tourist information office is located and the various forms of transport to the skiing area arrive), a peripheral residential area near the sports centre and the ice driving course, and the slopes at Les Bergers.

First gondola lift to run without an operator

The Alpe Express gondola lift is the first POMA gondola lift in France allowing a ropeway to be run without an operator, using “ESO” (operator-free) technology. The operators supervise loading and unloading at each station, inform customers and manage the installation if there is a technical problem.

Improved performance

The Alpe Express gondola lift has replaced the Éclose and Les Bergers chairlifts, which were slow, old and above all more suited to non-skiing customers. This new gondola lift is fast and comfortable, and allows easy access to the slopes at Les Bergers.

Intermodality

 

The gondola lift provides a connection with the skiing area’s various modes of transport: both the internal bus services within the resort and the Transisère and Transaltitude inter-urban lines connecting Alpe d’Huez to Bourg-d’Oisans (and Grenoble in the winter season).

Alpe express in pictures

They talk about it

Alpe Express

Intra-resort transport, particularly to access the skiing area, is often the hardest part to provide, because the different accommodation sites don’t always have the same needs. At Huez, the first part of the gondola lift, which will eventually provide a connection to Huez Village, opened in 2019! It is a real pleasure to meet the needs of our residents and holidaymakers, thanks to POMA’s tailor-made solutions!

Mayor of Huez and President of the SATA (Alpe d’Huez Tourism Development Society)

Jean-Yves Noyrey
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