In May 2025, as part of the INTERALPIN international trade fair held at the Congress Centre in Innsbruck (Austria), a seminar was organised by OITAF Study Committee III (International Organisation for Ropeway Transport) entitled ‘AI – Is the world of ropeway transport facing a structural revolution?’ Over 200 participants from 20 countries attended the seminar and were able to follow the presentations in one of four languages thanks to simultaneous translation. The seminar was moderated by the chairman of the study committee, Erich Megert of Sisag AG (CH).

The series of presentations was opened by Günter Tschinkel, head of the electrical systems department at Leitner SpA, with a historical overview of AI, including all the possibilities and risks that AI entails. This was followed by an overview of AI – Application to road transport systems, where the requirements for AI are even more complex than for ropeway systems, presented by Léo Maisonobe, an engineer from the French supervisory authority STRMTG. The relevance of AI to transport systems and ropeway systems was also discussed.

The presentation on AI – An operator’s point of view, given by operations manager Fabian Imboden of Zermatt Bergbahnen AG (CH), one of the first cableway companies to adopt AI surveillance of chairlift disembarkation areas, with very positive experiences in subsequent years with unmanned operation, was particularly interesting. Everything that needs to be taken into consideration in order to adopt such a system was also mentioned, including user expectations.

After the break, Marco Zgraggen, graduate engineer at Sisag AG (CH), continued with AI – Support for software development, engineering and operations. In the area of operational monitoring, planning and strategy, it is possible, for example, to predict tourist flows on lifts and slopes, as well as in restaurants on peak days, maintenance requirements and energy needs.

The next topic was the use of AI – Transferring the knowledge and experience of operators to AI, presented by MSc ETH Carl Biagosch from the start-up Mantis Ropeway Technologies and Dipl.-Ing. Jari Höck from Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH. The development of the system since 2018 was presented, from data and image collection and analysis of user behaviour when disembarking from chairlifts to the current situation. The system replaces the staff responsible for surveillance at the disembarkation station. Eight systems have been installed and another eight are planned for 2025. The system is based on cameras that analyse the disembarkation phases from different angles in conjunction with artificial intelligence computer vision algorithms and ensure safety by determining, as necessary, slowdowns or emergency stops. The latest development in chairlift surveillance was also mentioned: this involves stopping the chair in a safe area in the event of incorrect behaviour during boarding or incorrect positioning when seated. This should prevent the fall height from being too high. This means a significant increase in safety, in combination with the presence of staff at the boarding station. Similarly, the very positive experiences with unmanned gondola lift stations were also mentioned.

The last report concerned AI – Innovations in image recognition, presented by Fabrice Aubuoy, engineer at Bluecime (F), and Mathieu Babaz, engineer at Poma (F). The topic focused on positive experiences in their applications, including in the case of chairlift stations manned by service personnel. In this case, the correct closure of the safety bar and the correct seating of the user at a specific point in the boarding area are checked. This system has also been adopted several times on older lifts. In the final discussion, the question was raised as to whether there are any statistics on the reduction in accidents in the boarding area of chairlifts equipped with this device compared to those without it. The two speakers admitted that there is no systematic comparative analysis to date, but that it would be interesting to have one.

It was an extremely interesting seminar, professionally prepared and organised by the chairman of Study Committee III, Erich Megert.