Last Saturday afternoon, what began as an ordinary ride on the Monongahela Incline quickly escalated into a situation requiring emergency intervention. As reported by WPXI, the rail cars suddenly halted around 2:25 p.m., trapping nearly 30 passengers between 30 and 40 feet from the stations. An initial attempt by Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) to restart the incline was unsuccessful, prompting a manual rescue operation.
Pittsburgh's Action News 4 learned from a PRT spokesperson that the predicament involved 22 passengers in the east car, near the lower station, and an additional five in the west car, which was closer to the higher station. After realizing the cars unexpectedly stopped working, rescue teams, comprising Pittsburgh paramedics, implemented a rope system and commenced a challenging extrication process. By 4:30 p.m., the west car's passengers had been safely rescued. The eastbound car passengers faced a longer ordeal, with four individuals extricated by 5:44 p.m.
A change in rescue strategy proved beneficial as crews employed a fire ladder truck, significantly accelerating the operation. This sentiment was echoed by Gary and Valerie Leikam, with Gary describing to WTAE the makeshift walkway used in the rescue as "kind of an obstacle course". By the end of the operation, all passengers had been safely brought to ground level.
In the aftermath of the ordeal, PRT announced the closure of the incline for investigation and repairs the following day, providing shuttle bus service in the interim.
