It was indeed built to bring spectators to skiing events. I found an article in the regional newspaper about "a nostalgic Ski Games train" bringing people directly to the stadium in January 2017. The cars were built in the 1950's.

See: https://tinyurl.com/yc3bsz8j

I only had to walk about one kilometre or less.

I suppose the stadium renovations are just routine work that has to be done from time to time.