The world leader in ropeway transport regularly calls on Cetim to perform on-site measurement campaigns on its systems. Example in Toulouse, on one of its latest achievements.
The customer wants to validate the design and manufacturing of a ropeway transport system, in accordance with the requirements of the applicable standard.
Poma is known for its long history as a manufacturer of ski lifts for winter sports resorts. For several years now, the company based in Isère (France) has also been active in tourist transportation, especially in China, and in urban transportation. One of its latest projects, Teleo, a tricable gondola lift system interconnected to the urban transportation network of the city of Toulouse (France), was commissioned in June 2022. This system is intended to transport more than 8,000 passengers per day in the southern part of the Toulouse area and covers a distance of three kilometres, which makes it the longest urban gondola lift system in France. For this new gondola lift system, Poma also chose to rely on Cetim for the fatigue substantiation of its vehicles.
A well-established process
For many years, “we have been working with Cetim for on-site physical measurements and data recording that allow us to validate the service life of our products. Depending on the nature of our products, we use different validation sequences”, says Philippe Martin, Head of the Product Expertise Centre at Poma. The tests performed on the various components of a gondola lift system follow a well-defined and standardised process. “In concrete terms, we first draw up a design note to identify the areas in the structure which undergo the highest level of stress. Then we discuss with the notified body and the laboratory, in this case Cetim, to decide on a way to instrument the vehicle. Finally, we meet on site, load the instrumented vehicle, then we record and post-process the data so as to issue a design note with a safe service life for our vehicle”, explains Philippe Martin. Besides the advantage of speaking the same language, there is also the geographic proximity between Poma and Cetim and the fact that Cetim is recognised in particular by the STRMTG (the French Ropeway and guided transport technical department), i.e. the French certification body for the ropeway transportation sector, “working with experts in this field leads to productivity gains and allows us to save time and, with Cetim, we are assured of having the latest generation of equipment with staff trained in the use of this equipment and in data processing”, concludes Philippe Martin.
Cetim’s offer includes the instrumentation of the ropeway transport system, the tests on site and/or in Cetim’s facilities and an interpretation of the results.
Cetim has the necessary skills and equipment to provide support in standardised testing, custom testing, training and the remote monitoring of facilities. It is also recognised by the European certification bodies in the sector, for example STRMTG in France.
The customer benefits from Cetim’s test benches and the expertise of our specialists in this field.
The results obtained are used to demonstrate the compliance of the system with a standard.
STREM is the only body accredited by the French State for validating the tests carried out.
