More electrical problems will keep the Monongahela Incline closed at least through the rest of the week, Pittsburgh Regional Transit announced on Wednesday.
The incline, which has had a series of problems in the past year, was closed Tuesday afternoon after a brake resistor and the motor controller “unexpectedly failed,” the agency said in a news release. The incline, which carries riders between Station Square on Pittsburgh’s South Side and Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington, was at the station when the failure occurred so no one was trapped or injured.
Once repairs are made and the agency conducts test runs, the incline will be inspected by the state Department of Labor & Industry before it reopens. Pittsburgh Regional is running shuttle buses between the stations as drivers are available.
This is the fourth time the 154-year-old funicular has been out of service since contractors completed an $8.1 million project to upgrade the system’s electrical and mechanical systems as well as restore the original look of the stations. Spokesman Adam Brandolph said the repairs are being done at no cost to the authority by Elcon Technologies Inc. of Bridgeville, the electrical subcontractor on the improvement project.
About 600,000 riders use the incline annually, 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.