Photo: Forum-0841672990
The railway that transformed Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains. How a mountain legend was born.
15 March 2026 will mark 90 years since the first cable car reached the summit of Kasprowy Wierch. At the time, it was the third longest cable car in the world, and its construction in just 227 days is considered one of the greatest engineering challenges of the Second Polish Republic. The project, which took place in challenging terrain and weather conditions, was the subject of much controversy for many years, but the cable car has been successfully serving tourists ever since.
The construction of the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch was made possible by the determination of Aleksander Bobkowski, who was Deputy Minister of Transport at the time. Not only was he a civil servant, but he was also a sports activist. Thanks to his efforts, the World Ski Championships were held in Zakopane in 1929 and 1939. A keen skier himself, Kasprowy Wierch was his favourite place to ski. It is said that he could ski down from Kasprowy Wierch to Kuźnice and back up to the summit twice a day.
However, the idea of using the technological capabilities of the time to bring tourists closer to the High Tatras was met with mixed opinions. The initiative was criticised by conservationists, as well as over a hundred different societies, institutions, and social organisations — including the well-known Polish Tatra Society at the time. They argued that the investment would cause irreversible damage to the high-mountain ecosystem. Following the construction and operation of the cable car, all members of the State Council for Nature Conservation resigned in protest. Despite the protests that had lasted for many months prior to construction, the Ministry of Transport formalised agreements with the co-owners of the mountain land.
The project was financed through a formula that we would today call a public-private partnership. The Ministry established Towarzystwo Budowy i Eksploatacji Kolei Linowej Zakopane (the Zakopane–Kasprowy Wierch Cable Car Construction and Operation Society), popularly known as 'Linkolkasprowy’, whose shareholders included Polish State Railways (PKP), the League for the Promotion of Tourism, the Orbis travel agency, the Society for the Promotion of Skiing, and the Gdańsk Shipyard. The cable car was intended as a public utility investment to serve tourism, sports and transport purposes. Construction of the cable car was also supported by the public, who donated money, land and valuables to nationwide collections.
Construction began on 1 August 1935 based on a technical design prepared by the Leipzig-based Bleichert company in collaboration with the Gdańsk Shipyard. The station buildings were designed by the architects Anna and Aleksander Kodelski. Construction started with the road because, while the section from Kuźnice to Myślenickie Turnie followed an existing forest track, further up, it was necessary to fell trees and drill into the rock using quarrying machinery and explosives. Given the limitations of the time, the scale of the work was enormous. Conducting construction work at such a high altitude, in a region prone to frost, storms and avalanches, required the workers to be extremely resilient and, at times, to possess alpine skills.
The most challenging aspect at this stage was transporting materials to the upper section of the road. Carts were used to transport the materials to Hala Gąsienicowa, and they were then carried by hand from there. People formed chains and passed sand, cement, wood and ropes from hand to hand. In the final phase of the work, four Hucul horses, which are accustomed to working in difficult, rocky terrain, were brought in to assist.
At the same time, wooden and steel supports and masts were erected. Once these were ready, a temporary railway could be installed to transport materials to the summit.
The work was carried out throughout autumn and winter, in temperatures as low as
minus 20 degrees. At its peak, around a thousand people from Podhale, Małopolska, and other regions such as Vilnius and Polesie were working on the construction site. To enable masonry work to be carried out at an altitude of almost 2,000 metres, a special heated wooden shelter was erected above the upper station under construction. This allowed masonry work to continue despite the harsh winter conditions. The workers lived in barracks at the top of the mountain, descending to Zakopane only once every two weeks. The construction did not proceed without tragic accidents: two workers were killed when, in breach of regulations, an overloaded work-train cart broke loose and fell several metres.
The cable car route is divided into three sections: Kuźnice (1,032 metres above sea level) – Myślenickie Turnie (1,360 metres above sea level), which is 1,974 metres long with a difference in altitude of 328 metres; and Myślenickie Turnie – Kasprowy Wierch (1,965 metres above sea level), which is 2,208 metres long with a difference in altitude of 605 metres. The load-bearing cables, which have a diameter of 45 or 48 mm and weigh approximately 30 tonnes each, are stretched between six lattice masts that are set on solid concrete foundations. Electric drives and a power plant were installed at the intermediate station in case of a power failure. This was a very innovative solution at the time.
Despite facing many challenges, the schedule was maintained. On 26 February 1936, the first train departed from Kuźnice to Myślenickie Turnie. On 15 March of the same year, the first carriage reached the summit of Kasprowy Wierch. In its first year of operation, the railway carried around 165,000 passengers, and the construction cost of over 3.5 million pre-war zlotys was recouped by 1939 through revenues.
From the outset, the railway was a technical and aesthetic undertaking. The station buildings, which were designed by the Kodelski family, and the Meteorological Observatory, which was built two years later and finished in granite, are still presented today as examples of successful functional mountain architecture.
Kasprowy Wierch remained one of the most important training sites for Polish alpine skiers for decades after the war, and the modernised railway continued to transport tourists and skiers, adapted to new safety requirements. In 2013, Polskie Koleje Linowe (PKL), including the Kasprowy cable car, was privatised and sold to Polskie Koleje Górskie (PKG). This caused considerable controversy and is still under investigation by the public prosecutor’s office. In April 2019, the Polish Development Fund bought back the majority stake in PKL (99.77%), which politicians described as ‘the return of the railway to Polish hands.’
During the season, the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch runs every 10 minutes, or every half hour when traffic is lighter. It is always busy, and you may have to wait up to four hours to get on. The journey to Kasprowy takes around 15 minutes.
Kasprowy Wierch cable car
The first high-altitude cable car in Poland.
Built in a record time of just 227 days.
The route is 4,292 metres long.
The altitude difference is 932 metres.
Built by thousands of people.
The journey to the summit takes about 15 minutes.
During the season, the wait for a ride is several hours.
A journalist and content manager, author of genealogical books. She is interested in history and, in her writings, she would like to revive the memory of people who contributed to Polish science and culture.
Source: DlaPolonii.pl
