Mechanical power transmission: Geopolitics and regulation

Efficiency drives, urban cable cars and lessons from Stresa

Mechanical transmission raises few cross-border issues; the main forces are energy-efficiency policy, safety regulation after accidents, and city transport planning for ropeways.

Tailwinds

US government programmes promote synchronous belts and leak repair; Compressed Air Challenge fact sheets were revised in May 2026.¹³

Fluid power uses about 2 to 3% of US energy (calculated) at about 22% average efficiency, making it a target for efficiency research.²

By 2017 the World Bank counted 25 urban cable car projects in 14 cities, starting with Medellín in 2004.⁷

Doppelmayr revenue rose 9.1% to about EUR 1.3 billion in 2025/26, helped by an urban ropeway in Paris, and HTI Group turnover rose 15.8% to EUR 1.622 billion in 2025.⁹¹⁶

Headwinds

The Stresa-Mottarone cabin fell on 23 May 2021, killing 14. Court experts found about 68% of the haul rope's wires at its cast-head joint already broken by fatigue and corrosion, and that forks fitted to the cabin had stopped the emergency brakes working. In September 2025 a Verbania judge accepted plea bargains of 3 years 10 months to 4 years 11 months for the owner, operations director and service chief.²⁷²⁸

Rio de Janeiro's system was suspended indefinitely because of financial trouble.⁷

London's hydraulic network closed in 1977 and Paris's compressed-air network was abandoned in 1995, according to the City of Paris.⁴⁵

No sanctions, chokepoints or trade disputes specific to this tile were found. Ropeways are regulated as passenger transport and need public planning approval for cabins passing over homes. Supplier ownership is shifting: Danfoss bought Eaton's hydraulics arm in 2021 and Flender is being sold to Triton in 2026.

Sources

1. Replace V-belts with notched or synchronous belt drives (Motor Systems Tip Sheet #5) US Department of Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, 2012
2. Estimating the Impact (Energy, Emissions and Economics) of the U.S. Fluid Power Industry (ORNL/TM-2011/14), Love, Lanke and Alles Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2012
3. Compressed Air System Leaks (Improving Compressed Air System Performance, Fact Sheet #7, Rev. 1) Compressed Air Challenge, 2026
4. London Hydraulic Power Company Science Museum Group Collection, 2025
5. Victor Popp et l'horlogerie pneumatique à Paris Ville de Paris, 2024
6. Innovation in the air: using cable cars for urban transport World Bank (Transport blog), 2017
7. Doppelmayr: Umsatz wuchs 2025/26 auf 1,3 Mrd. Euro APA (Austria Presse Agentur) via news.at, 2026
8. HTI Group: a year of results and investments Leitwind (HTI Group), 2026
9. Strage della funivia del Mottarone: tre patteggiamenti e due proscioglimenti Il Giorno, 2025
10. Mottarone disaster: 68% of the rope was already corroded before the tragedy L'Unione Sarda, 2022