Seventeen days after it reopened from a six-week shutdown, the Monongahela Incline was closed again Monday with a short-term problem.
Jim Ritchie, a spokesman for Pittsburgh Regional Transit, said the incline was shut down Sunday evening when doors on one of the cars didn’t align with the station door. Employees manually opened the door so passengers could leave.
Although that happens fairly frequently, Ritchie said, the agency closed the system “out of an abundance of caution” because of recent problems. After a contractor examined the cars and found no continuing problem, the system reopened about 3:30 p.m. Monday.
During the closure, the agency operated shuttle vans between Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington and Station Square on the South Side.
This closure was the latest in a series of problems that started after the 154-year-old funicular underwent an $8.2 million project to update its mechanical and electrical systems as well as restore the stations to their original look in 1870. The system, which is the oldest in the United States, has been out of service more than a half dozen times since March 2023 and PRT has brought in Philadelphia consultant Talson Solutions to review whether any of the agency’s operating protocols should be changed.
The previous closure ended April 19 after the agency replaced a brake resistor and the motor controller that failed, causing the cars to remain in the station at the top and bottom of the incline. A review determined that the brake resistors that had been used weren’t strong enough for the system.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.