Friday, June 13, 2008

Tramless Roosevelt Island Weekend But Regular F Train Subway Service and the Red Bus Will Go To and From Manhattan

Image of Roosevelt Island Tram Gear from itofoto

This will be the first Tramless weekend for Roosevelt Islanders during these current repairs. The MTA reports that there will be regular F train subway service to and from Roosevelt Island this weekend. In addition, RIOC will be providing weekend Red Bus service to and from Manhattan. From RIOC:
Weekend Manhattan-Bound Bus Service:
From 7am to 11pm. Departing on the hour from Gristedes on Roosevelt Island.
Drop-off at Second Avenue and 60th Street.
Departing on the half hour from Second Avenue and 60th Street.
Be aware that the Red Bus service to Manhattan is an experiment. If it is not used, the service may be discontinued.

The reason for the Tram shutdown is that the track rope must be slipped. Let's hope that we do not get a repeat of this incident as reported in the January 2002 Main Street WIRE:
The Tram has been shut down since November 24, when American Tramways began a major repair and maintenance project. The work was nearly finished during the week of December 16 when the company’s technicians committed one of the nightmarish mistakes of the aerial Tramway and ski-lift industry: In connecting a new haul rope to the Tram cabin assemblies, they trimmed the excess cable too much, leaving it a little over eight feet short of the length necessary to allow both cabins to dock in their proper places.

The mistake, a “human error,” as Blomer called it, wasn’t noticed until the workers tried to dock the cabins.

Image of downed Roosevelt Island Tram from Main Street WIRE

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

As I remember it, not only did they cut the rope too short, but they didn't have any backup supply, and they had to send to Switzerland for more. That's why it took so long to get the tram back up.

Anonymous said...

The lower level up escalator has been turned off every day this week around 5:45, I don't know about other times. It was working every morning, so why is it turned off in the evening? Outrageous.