Chronicle of the Patscherkofel Cable Car

“Already in 1910 it was planned to construct a cable car up Patscherkofel Mountain from Igls. Main sponsors were Adolf Zimmer, owner of the Hotel "Iglerhof", the company Heckel from Saarbrücken, the Nürnberg Electricity Company and the City of Innsbruck. Although the route had already been established and enough money was available, construction never actually started due to slow bureaucracy, the turmoil in the Balkans in 1912/13 and World War I. Only when founding a committee in 1926, headquartered in Igls, the construction of the cable car was definitely decided. This committee, including the aforementioned KR Zimmer, Leo Handl, Franz Eiler, the communities of Igls and Schwaz, organized the necessary capital in the amount of 1,7 million Schilling and the "Patscherkofel-Drahtseilbahn-AG" company was founded.

The route was re-established. There were various options for the valley station such as the centre of Igls, the Lansersee Lake, and the meadow next to the spa….  Construction started on May 15th, 1927. The cable car was officially opened on April 14th, 1928. The construction sum increased by double the amount estimated (about S 3,6 m) due to unexpected building difficulties.
The company faced enormous financial problems and finally had to declare itself bankrupt due to the increased need for capital and the worsening of the economic situation.
The State of Tyrol took over most of the shares and in 1931 also the management of the company. The City of Schwaz had to meet its financial obligations until 1978.

Due to different legal conditions stipulated in 1938 the Patscherkofel cable car had to be sold and merged with Innsbruck Transportation (Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe AG). The original installation suited the demands perfectly until 1938. Tourism started during and increased after World War II and made several small reconstructions necessary. In 1962 4 instead of 2 gondolas started operating and the service improved considerably.
On December 1, 1996 the Patscherkofel cable car again changed its owner and was re-constructed technically. All four cars were redeveloped and received a new logo in 2002.”
For detailed information on the history as well as the parameters of the cable car have a look at: Ein Jahrhundert Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahnen, p. 26 pp., published in 2000 by Eisenbahnarchiv Tirol. (Text: E.Mungenast)