General notes

Please also refer to our terms and conditions of carriage.

  • General information on the use of the Schauinslandbahn

    • The Schauinslandbahn is a cable car with which you can overcome an altitude difference of 760 m in about 20 minutes. The conductorless cabins are located up to 60 m above rough terrain.

    • Users in general, and in particular users with physical or other disabilities, or their accompanying persons on their behalf, must inform themselves independently about the conditions of carriage, and in particular about the requirements necessary for use, before using the cableway system (cableway and operating area). Please also refer to our information boards with rules of conduct.

    • Please use equipment appropriate to the climatic conditions.

    • The supervision of children is the responsibility of the accompanying persons. In particular, they must ensure that children do not kneel or stand on the seats and that they have a secure hold at all times during the journey.

    • In order to maintain scheduled service, all passengers should board and disembark quickly. When the impending departure is announced or the door closes, passengers are not permitted to enter or exit the cab.

    • Each passenger is required to maintain a firm footing in the vehicle at all times. The maintenance of a safe position of carried luggage and means of transport (such as wheelchairs, baby carriages ...) is to be ensured by engaging the parking brake or other suitable measures.

    • If you have any questions in this regard, please feel free to contact us at any time.

  • Notes for guests with restrictions and disabilities

    Great importance is attached to accessibility at the Schauinslandbahn. When using the ropeway system by physically impaired persons, it is nevertheless necessary to observe a few notes. These are intended to enable safe use of the ropeway and minimize the risk of injury.

    • Should you require special assistance due to a disability or wish to use a special aid (e.g. breathing apparatus etc.), please contact us.

      Unfortunately, we can only transport you if we can assume, based on your information about existing limitations, that this is possible for us (including a possible evacuation) safely and without risk of injury.

      Persons using the cable car system must be mentally and physically able to follow the instructions of the operating personnel and evacuation assistants (with assistance, if necessary) in the event of an evacuation.

      The individual conditions of the users must allow for injury-free evacuation from the cabins and subsequent transfer to a safe assembly point. The person transported or his or her legal representative shall be responsible for assessing compliance with this requirement.

      Accompanying persons for persons with a degree of disability of more than 50% (identification B in the ID card) receive the cable car ride free of charge and are required to assist the person entrusted to them as follows

      o   Assistance in navigating the building.

      o   Assistance getting in and out of the cable car cabins.

    • Accompanying persons should give priority to the disabled person when entering the cable car cabin and get off first when leaving the cabin.

      o   Support of the recovery worker in case of evacuation.

    • If a person is transported in a wheelchair, the wheelchair should be pushed forward into the cabin and backward out of the cabin. The auxiliary support wheels should not be removed from the wheelchairs and should also be used to secure them.

    • Persons with acrophobia (fear of heights) must assess the effects on their well-being before using the cable car and, if necessary, refrain from using it.

    • Deaf persons and persons with severely impaired acoustic perception can only use the cable car in the company of a responsible person who compensates for the impairment, as the cable car cabin can only be supplied with information and instructions via loudspeakers in the event of a malfunction.

    If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us at any time.

  • Guests we unfortunately can not carry

    It is a great concern of the Schauinslandbahn team to enable all guests to travel by cable car by providing the best possible accessibility. Unfortunately, we are limited by technical and legal requirements, which force us to suspend the transport offer to individual persons:

    • Persons who, due to a health restriction, other illness or other handicap, cannot be safely rescued (without risk of injury) from the cable car cabin and/or moved to a safe assembly point in the event of an evacuation.

    • Children before the age of 12 may be excluded from transportation unless they are accompanied by a person of legal age for the entire journey.

  • Information on the evacuation case

    The Schauinslandbahn stands for a great view and a relaxing cable car ride. Numerous preventive measures ensure your safety on the entire installation. So you can float to the top without a care in the world.

    However, in the case of an unforeseen event, such as a serious technical defect, it may be necessary to evacuate passengers from the cabins.In this case, which has no impact on the safety of our passengers, it is very important that all passengers remain calm. The helpers of the Bergwacht Schwarzwald e.V. are prepared for this situation. The evacuation of people from cable cars is trained regularly.

    Helpers of the Bergwacht drive from the supports over the suspension rope to the cabins. The rescuer enters the cabin via a roof hatch and immediately starts evacuation. A rappelling aid is located on the outside of the cabin. This allows the passengers to be lowered individually to the ground, secured by a rope. Once there, you will be met by other mountain rescue assistants and accompanied to the valley station. The instructions of the mountain rescue team must always be followed. Only with the help of the passengers can the evacuation be carried out without any problems.

Safety instructions

Ropeways are among the safest means of transport. This is ensured by state-of-the-art technology, well-trained employees and strict legal requirements. These requirements are met through various control, inspection and maintenance measures. To this end, the Schauinslandbahn is also subjected to an annual technical inspection. In addition, daily, weekly and monthly control and maintenance work is carried out. All measures are explained in more detail under the heading of safety. There you will also find information on how an evacuation would proceed in the event of a cable car breakdown.

Passengers can also actively contribute to the safe operation of the ropeway system. Please read the General Information. In addition to general instructions for all guests, persons with restrictions and disabilities will find further information here.

  • Supervisory inspection (Seilbahn-TÜV)

    German ropeways are subject to two main inspections per year. Once by the management and its employees; and once by a recognized external expert. In the case of the Schauinslandbahn, the technical official from the State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining (LGRB) is responsible. As part of this technical supervisory inspection, all assemblies and functions relevant to the safety of the railroad are examined in detail, in addition to the proper operation of the railroad. The entire installation is also inspected by the authority's expert and checked for proper condition. Operating logs and inspection certificates obtained are inspected. Only if the supervisory inspection is passed does the state office grant permission to operate the plant for a further year.

  • Technical maintenance

    Maintenance and checks are carried out monthly, weekly and daily. Among other things, settings on the entire system are checked and corrected if necessary.

    Twice a year, the Schauinslandbahn technicians, with the support of manufacturers and specialist companies, put the entire system through its paces. In addition, wearing parts are replaced at an early stage and lubricant depots are replenished.

  • Daily controls

    Every day, before the first guest boards the cable car, the Schauinslandbahn technicians carry out specified checks in the top and bottom stations and on the cabins. In addition, the cable car route between the top and bottom stations is driven along and checked for its operationally safe condition. Only when all these checks have been carried out and documented without negative findings is the ropeway released for operation with guests. Weather conditions also play a decisive role here.

    During operation of the ropeway, ropeway technicians monitor the flow of passengers, the ropeway technology and the weather conditions in the top and bottom stations. If necessary, they can intervene at an early stage to ensure that the ropeway operates as planned.

  • Cessation of operations due to weather

    In certain weather conditions it may happen that the Schauinslandbahn has to stop operation. Therefore, all weather data is constantly monitored. For example, the legislator stipulates that the Schauinslandbahn must be shut down when wind speeds reach 60 km/h. For safety reasons and for the benefit of the passengers, the operation of the Schauinslandbahn is already stopped at a slightly lower wind speed than required by law. Another reason for a weather-related suspension of operation of the Schauinslandbahn can be a thunderstorm. Although the cabins would act as a so-called Faraday cage for the passengers, the ride comfort for the guests is no longer guaranteed during thunderstorms, so the cabins are safely retracted into the top and bottom stations. Depending on the extent and duration of the thunderstorm, the operations management sets up a bus replacement service.

  • Standstill

    Standstill means safety. For this reason, there is nothing wrong if the ropeway comes to a standstill. If this is the case, the ropeway technicians clarify the cause of the shutdown, rectify it and then put the ropeway back into operation. If necessary, the cabins can also be safely retracted into the stations at reduced speed with the aid of the emergency drive before the fault is rectified.

  • Availability of the system, evacuation

    The Schauinslandbahn technicians monitor the system before, during and after the ride. Their special training and technical equipment ensure that the system is always available and that passengers can float up without worry. A number of assemblies are duplicated to provide adequate safety reserves.

    The Schauinslandbahn is also well prepared for the event of a power failure. Both the top station and the bottom station have independent backup power generators that can be used to safely retract the ropeway cabins into the stations.

    Should the cabins, despite the many technical possibilities, not be able to enter the stations, the Bergwacht Schwarzwald e.V. will support the safe evacuation of the guests. In this case - which has never been necessary before - the helpers of the Bergwacht would rope the guests out of the cabins and escort them back to the stations. In order to leave nothing to chance even in this improbable scenario, the mountain rescue helpers regularly train to evacuate the cable car.

Frequently asked questions

Do you have a question about your trip with the Schauinslandbahn? Here you will find the answers. If you do not find what you are looking for, you can always contact us directly.