Hogwarts Express ride at WWoHP designed by Swiss cable car company

It was recently revealed (during the NBC special about Diagon Alley) that the Hogwarts Express ride in the new expansion at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, was created by a cable car company in Switzerland. Now, in a new article, swissinfo.ch shares a little more detail about the project. The company, Garaventa, was secretly working on the Hogwarts Express replica for two and a half years and built it in their factory in Goldau.

During an interview, the company’s CEO – Istvan Szalai – said,

It’s a funicular like any other you’d find in tourist spots taking you up a mountain.

The special thing here is that on the outside it looks like a steam engine. It’s an illusion you want to give people.

According to the article, “the train is moved by a cable, basically like a funicular but on flat terrain,” and approximately 500 tons of material was shipped over to America – “that’s six coaches, two locomotives and two extra coaches containing steering components.”

Watch the clip below to find out a little more about the process.

Thank you to Twitter user @dy158 for the tip!