A private company wants to build a cable car on Vienna’s Kahlenberg for 70 million euros. Project promoter Hannes Dejaco spoke to the Austria Press Agency of “added value for the whole city”. After a decision by the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG), he is now aiming for the nature conservation and building permit procedures. The city of Vienna is skeptical: A spokesman for transport councilor Ulli Sima (SPÖ) expressed “fundamental concerns”.
Behind the mammoth project is a project company that is owned by the operators of the Kahlenberg adventure world. A year ago, the Federal Administrative Court awarded the project developers the contract to build the cable car. “We’ve come a long way and now want to start talks with the city of Vienna,” said the company’s managing director, Hannes Dejaco, to the Austria Press Agency. The route of the approximately 5.6-kilometer-long cable car should lead from the U4 terminus in Heiligenstadt via the Danube Island to Hubertusdamm on to Strebersdorf and from there to the Kahlenberg. Dejaco made it clear that the route through the Kahlenbergerdorf was not planned. “Instead, the route should run next to the Kahlenbergerdorf along the Leopoldsberg,” says Dejaco.
In a background discussion on Friday, Dejaco presented the cable car primarily as an infrastructure project. Instead of taking the 38A bus for 40 minutes, the local recreation area can be reached by cable car in 20 minutes, he says. In this context, he referred to expert opinions commissioned by the court, which showed that the train could reduce car traffic to the Kahlenberg by 50 percent and public transport to the Kahlenberg by as much as 80 percent. Thanks to the subway connection, traveling by car can largely be avoided, Floridsdorf will also have a direct connection to the U4, and there will also be a park-and-ride facility for commuters with 630 parking spaces and 1,000 bike boxes charging stations planned. “It won’t be a tourist train,” said Dejaco.
The entrepreneur replies to critics that the BVwG has also stated in 14 reports that the project is not associated with any threats to flora and fauna. The lines of sight of the UNESCO World Heritage site are also not obstructed. “Mainly paved area will be used for construction. The cable car stations will also be greened,” he said. Due to the low land use and the unsealing of the parking lot, the project has a positive unsealing balance. “The protection zone below the biosphere reserve also remains completely untouched,” says Dejaco.
In the background discussion, he also referred to numerous declarations of support, such as those from Vienna-Schwechat Airport, the city of Klosterneuburg or the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, as well as international showcase examples. On board are the HTI Group, the world’s largest cable car manufacturer, and the Viennese architectural office WGA ZT. According to the project company, the railway is profitable from 600,000 visitors per year. The project promoters were still covered about possible ticket prices. However, Dejaco considers cooperation with the city to be conceivable.
In the current agreement, the red-pink government coalition actually said no to a cable car on the Kahlenberg. “But that was at a time when far less was known about the project,” said the entrepreneur. They now want to go into more in-depth talks with the city, it said.
“There is still no official decision from the nature conservation authorities on this project from the city of Vienna – not even a request from the nature conservation authorities has been received. All in all, the project will have to be examined by the nature conservation authorities,” said the department for environmental protection (MA 22). “Basically, there have already been several negative statements from the city about the Kahlenberg cable car project, and nothing has changed about the fundamental concerns of the city of Vienna,” said spokesman Roman David Freihsl. The government program was also referred to in the office of Transport Councilor Ulli Sima (SPÖ). “That will be followed to the point and comma,” said Sima spokesman Can Güven. Similar ideas have been carefully examined in the past. “Fundamental concerns” continue to exist.
For the construction of the cable car, the project must go through a nature conservation and building permit process. However, one is optimistic in this regard, said Dejaco.
Corresponding criticism of the Kahlenberg Bahn also comes from the citizens’ initiative “Protect the Vienna Woods – Stop the cable car on the Kahlenberg”. Initiator Hans Binder spoke to the Austria Press Agency of an “optical and possible commercial catastrophe” and “a blatant misjudgment” by the administrative court. Binder cited an EU directive as the reason for this. According to this, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required for the construction of cable cars outside of ski areas with a length of at least three kilometers if a protected area of categories A and B is touched. The cable car opponents are now encouraging the Vienna Environmental Ombudsman and Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) to initiate an EU-compliant EIA procedure.
Dejaco submitted the project to the City Planning Department in 2013. After an application for a license under the Cable Car Act in 2016 and a corresponding negative decision and a corresponding negative decision from the Ministry of the Environment in 2020, he lodged a complaint with the BVwG in January 2021. After an examination by the court including 14 expert opinions in March and a three-day hearing in May, the court came to a decision in March 2022 and the project was granted concessionary approval. At that time, the Ministry of the Environment decided against a revision. If the cable car actually clears all the hurdles that lie ahead, it shouldn’t be long before the first trip, because only ten months of construction are planned.(SERVICE – )