After nearly a week of tests, the Monongahela Incline between Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington and South Side neighborhoods reopened at 3 p.m. Friday.
The incline had been closed since March 5 after a brake resistor and the motor controller failed, causing cars at the top and bottom of the incline to remain in the station. Crews replaced the parts, but Pittsburgh Regional Transit continued to review why the failures occurred because the funicular had been closed a half-dozen times since a major renovation was completed in March 2023.
During the review, officials found that the brake resistors were too small for the system and they were replaced last week, said Adam Brandolph, spokesman for PRT. PRT crews tested the system for more than five days beginning last Saturday before before the state Department of Labor and Industry inspected it and gave approval for it to resume operation Friday afternoon.
During the closure, PRT initially ran shuttle buses in place of the incline, which carries about 600,000 riders a year, about half of them tourists. On Thursday, it began using three smaller vans that are easier to navigate the narrow hillsides of Mount Washington.
Ross Nicotero, president and business agent for Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union that represents bus drivers, said the union hasn’t filed a grievance over the use of the vans because they are being operated by members receiving union wages. But he said he is unhappy that the agency didn’t work with the union to set up the route and about safety concerns such as not protecting drivers from riders as they are on buses.
“Let’s just say we’re trying to work through this with our legal counsel,”
Nicotero said. “That’s all I can say right now.”
The incline has had a series of closures since it completed an $8.1 million project to upgrade its mechanical system and restore the stations to their original appearance when the system opened in 1870. A Philadelphia consultant, Talson Solutions, was hired earlier this month and has begun a review of the agency’s operating and maintenance procedures on the incline to see if anything should be changed to avoid the closures.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.