Cableway running again after breakdown

TABLE Mountain Aerial Cableway says it has fixed a technical glitch which prevented cable cars from operating, stranding 300 tourists on Sunday.

Hydraulic pistons in the platform that guides the cable cars into the top cable station were not operating as required, preventing cable cars from moving up the mountain, said cableway chief executive Sabine Lehmann.

She said cableway staff could not have anticipated the problem.

“The piston has never given us problems before. The cableway is a very intricate and complicated mechanical and electrical system and, therefore, there may be things that need to be replaced.”

Lehmann said two technical staff members had to manoeuvre the platform manually, keeping visitors trapped on the mountain for five hours.

Dirk Heinrich, a Namibian tourist visiting the city with his girlfriend, said he and other guests were given free pizza and coffee at the Table Mountain Café while they waited.

Though Heinrich thought the situation was handled well, he said cableway management did not seem prepared for the emergency.

Lehmann admitted cableway staff had not known how long it would take to get the visitors off the mountain

“How long it would take depended on the speed at which the cable car would travel. We had to slow down the cable car to get people back down. What usually takes five minutes took 20 minutes,” she said.

Lehman said a technical team had replaced the faulty piston. “We did tests this morning and everything is up and running.”

Affected visitors have been offered refunds. See www.tablemountain.net for details.