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Official technical report about the cable car accident of July 1st, 1999

A group of three experts had been appointed shortly after the accident of the Plateau de Bure cable car by the examining judge at the Court of Gap. At the beginning of July this year, these experts have delivered their report to the judge, a document of 105 pages with more than 400 pages attached in Annexes. For the time being, these documents can only be accessed through the lawyers representing the families of the victims, IRAM and other parties.

Despite pressure from the media to comment on the report, IRAM saw itself not in a position to reply to questions and accusations before having had an opportunity to study the documents in detail. The direct cause of the accident seems clear, namely the failure of the fixation system that attaches the cabin to the pulling cable. However, answers to the question as to why this fixation system has failed on the day of the accident are much more involved. The report contains detailed technical studies, makes comments on maintenance and control aspects, and comments on the exploitation of the cable car and the legal framework in which this occurred. All this material needs careful analysis, and more studies may be required in the future.



Michael GREWING


next up previous
Next: News from the 30m Up: IRAM Newsletter 45 (August 2000) Previous: Anniversary of the cable
bremer@iram.fr