1929Activation of the transporting structure for Lasa's marble
The Italian company Lasa Marmo S.p.A., founded in 1928, brought about decisive technical innovations. In 1929 it opened the so-called "Marble railway”, which originally used electric propulsion, later replaced by diesel.
The 4 km long transport structure is still used now to move marble blocks from the mountain station (1350 mt asl) to the processing plant at 867 mt asl. Its most amazing stretch is the 1 km-long incline. The idea and design of this rail is unique in the whole world. The marble, extracted from the Weisswasser quarry at 1555 m of altitude, is transported down below in four stages (funicular, upper railway on flat land, inclined plane and again railway on flat land in the lower level). The most outstanding feature is that the transport of marble blocks to the plant occurs without any need of a transfer since the narrow-gauge trucks can be loaded directly onto the platform of the trolley that runs on the inclined plane.
