Troubled Monongahela Incline will have short-term closures for first-responder training

The Monongahela Incline has been closed plenty of times over the past year, but short closures over the next six weeks won’t be because of problems with the 154-year-old system.

Instead, the funicular between Station Square and Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington will be shut down on purpose so that Pittsburgh’s first responders can conduct emergency training.

The incline will be closed from 1 to 2 p.m. for the next four Wednesdays through May 22. It also will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 12 for a more extensive training exercise.

Adam Brandolph, spokesman for Pittsburgh Regional Transit, which owns and operates the incline, said the city “regularly” conducts training on the system. This series of exercises probably is drawing more attention because the incline has had a series of emergency closures since the agency completed an $8.2 million project in March 2023 to upgrade the electrical and mechanical systems and restore the stations to their original look when they opened in 1870.

Last August, paramedics rescued a dozen riders who were trapped when the system stopped part way up the hill. No one was injured.

“Full-scale training exercises like these are critical for furthering our existing training and for preparing our teams to conduct safe and efficient rescues in the event of potential future emergency responses,” Public Safety spokeswoman Emily Bourne said in a statement.

During the closures, PRT will use its new shuttle vans to transport riders between the two incline stations. The vans will run about every 15 minutes.