The Monongahela Incline will reopen Saturday morning after repairs to the 154-year-old funicular passed inspection Friday by the state Department of Labor & Industry.
The incline, which carries passengers from Station Square on Pittsburgh’s South Side up the side of the hill to Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington, has been closed since Jan. 2 for emergency repairs.
The incline passed inspection about 1 p.m. Friday, Pittsburgh Regional Transit said in a news release. The agency said in a news release it would complete a few final tests and adjustments before resuming public operation at 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
The system was closed after multiple electrical and mechanical failures prevented the system’s cars on parallel tracks from stopping when they reached stations at the top and bottom. No one was injured.
Elcon Technologies Inc. of Bridgeville, which had been a subcontractor on a recent upgrade to the incline’s operating system, made the repairs. The company also found other issues when it investigated why the cars wouldn’t stop and made additional changes.
All of the work was done at no charge under the contract for the $8.1 million project that was completed last March.
During the closure, PRT operated shuttle buses between Grandview Avenue and Station Square. The system carries about 600,000 passengers a year, half of them tourists, on the oldest continuously operating incline in the U.S.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.