Pittsburgh Regional Transit expects to reopen the Monongahela Incline by Feb. 9.
The agency said Friday that repairs to the incline, which carries riders from Pittsburgh’s South Side at Station Square to Mount Washington, should be finished by Monday. But it could take another 10 days for internal testing and inspection by the state Department of Labor & Industry before it reopens to riders.
The incline closed Jan. 2 after the system’s cars on adjacent tracks failed to stop when they reached stations at the top and bottom due to what the agency called “multiple” electrical and mechanical failures. PRT has been running shuttle buses between the stations on Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington and East Carson Street at Station Square.
Subcontractor Elcon Technologies Inc. of Bridgeville, which had worked on a recent system upgrade, found additional concerns when crews investigated why the cars wouldn’t stop. That $8.1 million project that concluded last March included refurbishing the operating system and returning the look of the stations to 1870, when the incline opened.
Elcon is doing the repairs under its previous contract.
The funicular is the oldest continually operating such system in the country. It carries about 600,000 passengers a year, about half of them tourists.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.