Decommissioning and construction of a new installation

After almost twenty years, the ropeway was decommissioned in January 1976. Few people had the optimism to envisage a resumption of operations. Following numerous negotiations, the allocation of regional government funds for a full refurbishment, and the transfer of ownership to the municipal authority, however, the decision was finally taken to build a replacement system on the same line. Construction time was a mere seven months, and trial running began before Christmas 1978, with the official opening held in 1979. The new installation was a modern 4-seater gondola system supplied by the Girak company with automatic screw-rod grips based on the Müller detachable grip system. It has a transport capacity of almost 400 pph, which is almost double the original 200 pph. The old station structures were incorporated into the new ropeway, and all the original lattice towers were retained, with a wider cross arm and rope lifting frame mounted on the existing tower head to handle the increase in line gage to 4.00 m. For enhanced performance in strong side winds, additional towers were located in the two original 580 m spans so that the height of the rope above ground could be reduced to tree-top level. That measure increased the total number of towers from 17 to 25.

This was the first monocable circulating gondola ropeway to be built in Austria with a rope inclination of 100%. In order to meet the width constraints imposed by the existing station structures, 46 newly developed Austro Panorama cabins with automatic sliding doors were ordered from Traunsteinwerkstätten Josef Swoboda. Unlike the earlier models with hinged doors, they could be used without causing problems with available clearance for lateral swing of the cabins on the turnaround. As on the original installation, the drive is located in the top station, and the carrying-hauling rope is tensioned with an 18-ton counterweight in the bottom station. The total cost of construction for the new ropeway amounted to 26 million schillings in the old Austrian currency.

Modernization after 17 years of operation

In the course of a second refurbishment in 1996, the Müller grips, which were no longer in conformity with the regulations, were replaced by Girak cam-operated grips. In spite of the 100% maximum inclination of the line, conformity with all the codes and requirements was achieved with a single-grip solution. The existing station equipment was retained unchanged apart from some improvements made to the grip closing and opening lines with grip force testing. Within less than four decades, the Katrin Cable Car thus had three different automatic carrier attachment systems. In 1997 the obsolete single chairlift, known as the Katrinlift, was replaced with a new double chairlift supplied by Girak-Garaventa. In 2009 the electrical systems were modernized, but winter operations for skiers were discontinued only one year later. The double chairlift, which was still in very good condition, was sold and re-erected at Ski Park Gruň in the Czech Republic in 2013. Since then the Katrin Cable Car has been used as a pedestrian service only, carrying some 100,000 passengers per year. The Katrin is considered one of the finest mountains in the Salzkammergut region for the views it provides, including Bad Ischl itself and the lakes Wolfgangsee and Hallstättersee plus an impressive panorama to the south of the mountains of the Salzkammergut and the Dachstein massif. For passenger transportation, the cable car now has over 40 cabins, which have been painstakingly renovated step by step by local companies. In July 2019 the 60th anniversary of the Katrin Cable Car was celebrated, with one of the old two-seater gondolas on display in the bottom station.