Roosevelt Island Tram Mid Air Emergency Shutdown This Afternoon, Cabin Swaying And Shaking Says Rider - RIOC Reports Emergency Stop Button Activated By Waiting Passenger At Manhattan Station

A Cornell Tech Masters student Tipster reported a malfunction and emergency stop in mid-air on the Roosevelt Island Tram earlier this afternoon.

According to the Tipster:

The tram just had a bad malfunction where it rocked sideways to extreme angles. I was on it.  They had to stop it for 20 minutes mid air until they figured out how to bring it down

What happened exactly is that the tram did stop suddenly, the driver immediately exclaimed "everyone hold on" while he was moving around his control I guess in attempt to check or activate something underneath the main screen.

A young girl on board said this exact thing happened before in the past (a few years back).

After the sudden stop the main issue is that they couldn't get it going again. They tried to start the movement but it wasn't starting smooth, kind of like a car anti-brake system feels when you break suddenly. They stopped again, tried again. For 3 or more times.

I asked the driver when we got off "Did this thing ever happened before?" He mumbled something about "The computer" and pointed to the Roosevelt island station. As if he was thinking the computer on the ground was causing the issue.

I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Susan Rosenthal:

I’m told there was a problem on tram this afternoon.

It was stuck in mid air for over 20 minutes before docking at station and cabin was shaking.

Is that true.

What happened?

Any statement from Rioc.

Ms Rosenthal replied:

A passenger hit a safety switch on the Manhattan side, causing the tram to stop----the ride across took about 7-8 minutes longer as a result. No one was hurt.

The Tipster added:

 It definitely didn't feel like there was a "one time" issue that caused the stop.There was a technical challenge to get it to move again. It didn't feel like they had it under control. I am surprised they didn't ground it longer.

A RIOC spokesperson had this fuller explanation:

Roosevelt Island Tramway Emergency Stoppage Update

At 3:27 PM on Tuesday, April 9th the south cabin of the Roosevelt Island Tramway was halted mid-trip above the East River, for approximately 10 minutes due to the emergency stop button being activated by a passenger on the Manhattan Tramway station platform.

According to the Tramway operator, Leitner-POMA, the emergency button was manually released 3 ½ minutes after being activated. Before completing the trip to the station, it was necessary for the cabin to stop swaying (caused by the force stop), allowing the Tramway’s wireless receptor to re-sync. The receptor is the communication mechanism that enables the cabins to travel to and from the stations. After approximately five minutes, the Tram was re-started and the south cabin docked into the Roosevelt Island station at 3:39 PM. No injuries were reported. 

The Tram is back in service.

UPDATE 7:50 PM - Another Tram rider reported:

This EXACT thing happened last Monday (April 1) at about 10:30pm. Stopped mid-air. And heard the tram operator call & say “Hey, did anyone push the emergency stop button?” Station responded: “No, not that I know of.”