MILAN, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A cable car intended to carry spectators to the women's Olympic Alpine skiing events in Cortina will not be ready in time, prompting Games organisers to request school closures to ease the pressure on the Dolomite resort's transport system, a letter seen by Reuters showed.
The Apollonio–Socrepes lift is one of the most contentious pieces of Olympic infrastructure for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, co‑hosted by the Alpine town of Cortina d'Ampezzo and Italy's financial capital from February 6–22.
Work on the system, designed to take spectators from the town centre directly to the slopes, began behind schedule, and some residents raised safety concerns about its location in an area prone to landslides.
Despite mounting doubts over the project, still unfinished a week before the opening of the Games, Simico, the state‑backed agency in charge of Olympics infrastructure, said on Friday that work on the site was progressing according to schedule.
But in a letter dated January 29 to the central government's top representative in the Belluno province, Chief Games Operations Officer Andrea Francisi said Simico had notified organisers the previous day that the gondola lift would not be delivered within the planned timeframe.
In a statement on Saturday, Simico said work on the cable car was continuing and that safety checks required for the final commissioning were planned for the coming week. It said logistical issues such as school closures were not part of its remit.
The Milano Cortina organising committee declined to comment.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENT FOR MOBILITY
In the letter, which has not been previously reported, Francisi described the lift as an essential element of the Olympic mobility plan for Cortina, which will also host curling, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events.
"The loss of this strategic infrastructure, just ahead of the start of Olympic operations, creates significant organisational challenges, with major impacts on flow management, on security and on the overall ability of the system to absorb the alternative mobility required," the letter said.
As a result, organisers asked local authorities to close schools in Cortina on February 10 and February 12, and if possible on February11, to ease pressure on the town's transport network during critical days for Olympic operations.
CRITICAL DAYS
Closing schools on the most critical days was described as "indispensable" to safeguard order and ensure the transport network could function.
Games organisers have capped the number of tickets for events in Cortina pending clarity over whether the cable car would be ready for the Games, Reuters reported in November.
A spokesperson for the Milano Cortina 2026 organising committee told Reuters on Friday they have so far released a number of tickets in line with the capacity guaranteed by road transport.
Set in the Dolomites, Cortina is one of Italy's best-known winter resorts and staged the Games in 1956, but it has no rail station and access by the only main road into town can often be slow at peak times.
Cars remain the main way to get around a town that is home to only around 5,500 permanent residents.
Special measures are being introduced to try to ease congestion during the Olympics.
Only vehicles with permits will be allowed to access parts of the town - these are being made available to local households, second-home owners and people providing services during the Games.
Fans with tickets for Olympic events will have to leave their cars at designated areas and take shuttle buses to reach the events.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Giselda Vagnoni and Keith Weir)
