Every day, Ropeway Maintenance & Inspection safety inspectors, engineers, and cable car operators juggle with the pressure to keep their ropeway system not just operational—but safe, uninterrupted, compliant, and ready for whatever situations they come across from nature and passenger’s side.
Maybe it’s about managing a city gondola, navigating tight urban infrastructure and strict transit regulations or maintaining critical aerial tramways for industrial or mountain usage, the responsibilities of a ropeway industry professionals extend far beyond daily operations. They are required to meet safety requirements, manage high-altitude machinery under tough conditions, enforce on-timely ropeway inspections, and address unexpected failures and ensure the breakdowns are swiftly and quickly resolved—--- all of which is a tough balancing act.
For many years, ropeway maintenance and inspection were dependent on periodic delayed reporting, manual hand-down tools, and limited access to expert assistance.
On-site field technicians routinely perform physically demanding tasks of climbing extreme heights to maintain the ski lifts, aerial tramways and gondolas, often in harsh weather conditions. Be it servicing a heavy machinery, inspecting cables or climbing ropeway towers, their work relied on paper-based manuals, checklists, and institutional knowledge passed down through experience.
Sometimes, they had to make critical decisions without real-time input from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or senior engineer specialists. But when confronted with complex issues beyond their immediate expertise, delays are common as additional support is sought—typically through phone consultations, photographs, or dispatching specialists to the site. This model may have worked in the past—but these traditional ways of ensuring safety and compliance of ropeways may no longer be enough with today’s advanced systems and machineries.
Traditionally, ropeway inspection and maintenance teams have relied on a combination of scheduled maintenance protocols and manual tools. But let’s be honest no matter how good the technicians are at what they do, the systems they're maintaining today are day-by-day getting more complex with —real-time diagnostics, IoT alerts, and automated controls.
Traditional methods:
.jpg)
While all these tools are serving their purpose, still they all alone are no longer sufficient in today’s fast-moving, safety-critical world. The modern systems complexities demand more advanced tools and solutions to ensure efficiency and safety.
Online or paper documentation is often inconsistent, time-consuming, incomplete or delayed and technicians can easily misinterpret symptoms. And when something goes wrong—especially in far mountainous or remote terrain—getting an expert on-site can take hours, or may be days. The ropeway downtime, not just cost time, it also impacts tourist satisfaction, passenger's safety and the environmental factors such as poor visibility, icy conditions, or high altitudes —adds the margin for increased errors, bringing operations to a grinding halt.
Modern methods for ropeway maintenance and inspection integrate advanced technologies to enhance efficiency, safety, and reliability. Some of the methods include: Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) such as : Magnetic Rope Testing (MRT) for detecting internal and external defects, remote visual inspection (RVI) using robotic crawlers and borescopes to access hazardous areas, Rope X-ray inspections & Ultrasonic Testing (UT), or periodical maintenance checks, digital visual inspections for high-resolution surface analysis etc.
Digital CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Systems) and IoT monitoring systems or sensors are also employed for real-time monitoring of temperature, tension, and vibration. Although all of these techniques of ropeway inspections adds precision but still without real-time human guidance, their effectiveness is limited.
Integrating Augmented Reality (AR ) with the modern maintenance and inspection tools creates a powerful and enhanced approach to industrial ropeway maintenance. Using AR Remote Assistance , ropeway operators can guide on-site technicians with real-time diagnostics and instructions.
Let’s consider a scenario of —--Troubleshooting a Ropeway Tensioning System
Ropeway tensioning systems is one of the most complicated systems of ropeways, maintaining the proper tension of the rope, preventing it from sagging while ensuring its safety and functionality. Any failure on these can halt the entire system on its tracks.
Traditionally, when a technician finds abnormal tension levels:
With Augmented Reality App such as “AR Genie Remote Assist” , on-site technicians can initiate a remote session using their mobile device to connect with the remote experts. Through real-time live video streaming, remote specialists can see what the technician is viewing.
But it's not just a video call—it's a collaborative visual work surface that uses AR annotations to highlight areas of concern in real-time. The remote specialist marks certain cables, draws arrows across important sections, highlights buttons over the technician screen, and walks him through step by step using real-time AR markup that remains anchored in space even when the camera moves. Just immediate expert visual guidance all while being far away, bringing experts virtually on-site in seconds.
Together, they quickly isolated the faulty relay, verified surrounding diagnostics, and resolved the issue—without ever dispatching another technician.
Result: The ropeway remains operational, passenger flow continues uninterrupted, and the issue is resolved in minutes, not hours.
So how exactly does this help you meet safety and compliance goals?
Embracing AR remote visual support isn’t about following the latest technology trend—it’s about revolutionizing your maintenance model. With AR Genie Remote Assist, you can:
This collaborative, visual AR framework makes tools more actionable and cuts response time in half.
Ropeways do not merely transport; they represent lifelines to commerce, urban mobility, and tourism. Their complexity and their high safety standards demand a more intelligent approach to maintenance. If you are a ropeway operator, you're not just maintaining cables and towers—you’re ensuring safe transport for thousands of people every day. The traditional ways of working aren’t just slow; they’re risky and outdated.
AR offers exactly that. It brings expert knowledge directly to the field, turning a smartphone or wearable into a powerful support channel. Whether it’s a ski resort in the Alps or an urban gondola system in a major city, AR visual assistance ensures your team can troubleshoot faster, safer, and smarter—anytime, anywhere.
Why wait for help when you can bring the expert with you—virtually?
Start modernizing your ropeway maintenance operations with AR Genie Remote Assist today.
