The Stresa-Mottarone tragedy

President Anton Seeber declares: “Safety has always been our top priority. Any compensation received will be donated to the victims’ families”. 
No further requests have been sent to Leitner regarding the braking system following an inspection on 30 April.

Vipiteno, 27 May 2021 – Leitner SpA will join legal proceedings as civil party following the tragedy that occurred on the Stresa-Mottarone ropeway on Sunday. “Tampering with the safety systems – leading to the tragic death of 14 people – is extremely serious”, states Anton Seeber, president of Leitner SpA.  The use of brackets for the mechanical locking of the track rope brake is expressly forbidden with people on board. For more than 75 years, ropeways manufactured by Leitner transport everyday millions of people all over the world. Safety has always been our top priority and thanks to this, ropeways are the second safest means of transportation after aeroplanes, continues Mr Seeber. To protect our company’s image, our colleagues and the sector as a whole, we have decided to join as civil party the legal proceedings against those responsible. Any compensation received will be donated to the victims’ families”.

Leitner takes the safety and maintenance of the Stresa-Mottarone system very seriously, as is evidenced by the extensive documentation in our possession, and our willingness to collaborate with the authorities to investigate the day’s events. Leitner SpA has always responded promptly to every operator request for maintenance works. We would like to state the following with regards to the rumours published in some newspapers:

A company commissioned by Leitner has checked the hydraulic central of the carriage brakes (on 30th April 2021, with notification of its findings on 3rd May 2021). No problem was identified, and the pressure accumulators were recharged. From that day, no further requests were received and no other problems with the braking system were reported to Leitner.

Leitner always carries out maintenance works in a timely manner, as is evidenced by the works carried out on Saturday 22nd May 2021, following a request from the operator that same morning on a damaged rubber lining on a roller. The maintenance works – which had nothing to do with the emergency braking system – involved replacing one of the many running rollers on the towers. The request was not urgent, but the maintenance work was carried out that same day nevertheless.