Germany's highest peak gets new record-breaking cable car
BERLIN (AP) — A new cable car is beginning service at Germany's highest peak, with VIPs getting to enjoy the first ascent Thursday.
The cable car to the Zugspitze mountain is being billed as a world-record-breaking work of German engineering, featuring the biggest altitude difference between the base and summit station and the greatest distance between the summit and the only support pillar.
The 50-million-euro ($59-million) installation replaces a cable car from 1963 that could take 240 tourists an hour to the 2,962-meter (9,718-foot) Alpine peak. The new cable car can manage more than twice as many passengers.