12.12.2019

Opening of the new Grindelwald-Männlichen Gondola Cableway and the Grindelwald Terminal BOB station

On 13 December 2019, the Grindelwald-Männlichen Gondola Cableway (GGM) as well as the new “Grindelwald Terminal” stop on the Bernese Oberland Railway (BOB) were officially opened. Saturday, 14 December 2019 will be the first time that guests can also use part of the new terminal of the V-Cableway major long-term project.

Together with the Grindelwald-Männlichen Gondola Cableway (GGM), Jungfrau Railways is implementing the V-Cableway generation project for the long-term safeguarding of the future of tourism in the entire Jungfrau Region. After 18 months of construction, the GGM is launching on time. The new development brings enormous advantages, especially for winter sports enthusiasts: 111 gondolas will double the transport capacity from 900 to 1,800 guests per hour. Time-consuming queuing will be a thing of the past. The trip in the modern 10-passenger gondolas up to the mountain station 2,225 metres above sea level takes just 19 minutes, compared with 30 minutes previously. 

The president of the Bernese government, Christoph Amman, mentioned the “great economic importance” that the new V-Cableway has for Grindelwald, the Jungfrau region and the canton of Bern. This is why the government council has supported the project from the beginning.  

For Jungfrau Railways CEO Urs Kessler, the secret of the V-Cableway’s success is “thinking without barriers”. The planning and realisation of the generation project was only possible because everyone wanted the best for the whole Jungfrau region and thought beyond borders, he says.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of GGM, Andreas Kaufmann, spoke of a demanding year full of challenges for all GGM employees. “They worked very well on all levels and in all departments to build the new track on time”, enthused Kaufmann.

Construction alongside ongoing operations

The official ground-breaking ceremony for the 470 million Swiss franc V-Cableway project took place on 3 July 2018. Since then, the construction of the new Grindelwald-Männlichen Gondola Cableway has been advanced as a top priority. The gondola was in operation unchanged up to and including the winter season 2018/2019. It was only closed this summer in order to start the winter season 2019/2020 on time in December 2019 with the new 10-passenger aerial gondola from the Grund Terminal.

The Grindelwald Terminal station, the new stop on the Bernese Oberland Railway (BOB), can now be put into operation. The direct public transport connection represents a significant increase in quality for guests who want to travel to the Jungfrau Ski Region by public transport. The station has three entrances, with the main access via a connecting corridor leading directly to the Grindelwald Terminal and therefore to the CGM valley station.

Today's GGM was put into operation on 23 December 1978. With a total length of 6.2 km, it was considered the longest aerial gondola in the world. After more than 40 years of operation, the GGM was dismantled after the end of the 2018/2019 winter sports season. Sunday, 31 March 2019, was the last day of operation.  

V-Cableway outlook

The V-Cableway will start its first day of operation on 12/12/2020. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, work will continue in both Grindelwald-Grund and on the Eiger Glacier in the winter of 2019/2020. After a break over the festive period, work will resume on all construction sites from 6 January 2020. A milestone will be the insertion of the cable for the Eiger Express in the spring.