Die schwebenden Särge von Georgien

Anyone traveling to work in Chiatura needs good nerves. The cable car network that crisscrosses the Georgian mining town in the Caucasus must be one of the most fearsome in the world. But without its gondolas, the small town would not be viable. The cable car network that crisscrosses the Georgian mining town of Chiatura in the Caucasus is one of the most decrepit in the world. Built during the town's industrial heyday in the 1950s and 60s, they still glide creakily at dizzying heights over steep slopes, deep ravines and the town's rooftops. As the only means of public transportation, they shape the daily lives of the 16,000 inhabitants, who affectionately call their cable cars "metal coffins." At the same time, the cable cars are vital for the operation of the nearby manganese mine, the largest employer in the region. Now the gondolas are to be replaced by new models. 360° - GEO Reportage visited the site. Once a week, mechanic Amiran Bareladze climbs onto the roof of the gondolas and oils the pulleys of the cable car at full speed. At a dizzying height, the 57-year-old hovers over the town of Chiatura, whose inhabitants jokingly refer to their cable cars as "metal coffins." For them, however, they are the means of local transportation par excellence. The supports, masts, trolleys, suspensions, pulleys and cables of the entire system date back to the 1950s, when Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union and had large quantities of manganese mined. Stalin had the transportation network for man and material spanned to demonstrate that Soviet engineering would be able to overcome even the adverse geographic conditions of the city, which is cut by steep slopes and deep notches. Most of the gondolas have now fallen victim to rust, but a few lines continue to provide service. Now the governor of the region is planning to modernize the cable cars - a project that is viewed by residents with a mixture of euphoria and concern. On the one hand, the town is thus moving toward the future, but on the other hand, jobs like that of Amiran Bareladze could be cut. And whether the ride will then remain free for the residents is also questionable.