Stories from Appenzell · Switzerland

The Santis Bahn railway in eastern Switzerland will be out of service for approximately six months starting Friday. The closure is scheduled to last from September until mid-May. Local residents noted the need to visit the mountain before the closure begins. Gülünai noted that the company has communicated extensively with tourism organizations in recent months to manage the impact. He expressed hope that the closure will not alienate customers. The service handles an average of 370,000 passengers annually, down from 420,000 last year. Two new, larger cabins will be introduced, each capable of transporting a maximum of 85 passengers. New traction and support cables, weighing 245 tons, will be installed, including a single traction cable approximately 5 km long. The new system will generate twice the pulling force of the previous installation.