Posted on 04/19/2006 9:38:43 PM PDT by neverdem
The problem started when the primary electrical system failed. Sixty-eight people were trapped in the air aboard two red-and-white gondolas. Sunset was still three hours off.
The tramway's supervisor of operations drove in from Westchester to get it going again. When that proved impossible, he turned on a diesel-powered hydraulic backup with just enough power to pull the gondolas back to shore. For a moment, it worked: the gondolas moved. But then the hydraulic backup failed, too.
The supervisor, Armando Cordova, was out of options — beyond talking to the engineers at the European company that built the tramway and seeking their advice.
That is because a crucial piece of equipment that might have saved the day was out being fixed.
Of all the technical mishaps that led to Tuesday's breakdown of the 30-year-old Roosevelt Island Tramway, the most glaring appears to have been the absence of a secondary electrical system designed to restart the tram in seconds.
It is a system that state officials had ordered the operators of the tramway to get up and running several months ago after the gondolas stalled in September. But it is in California being repaired.
Officials with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, which runs the tramway, noted that they were not required by law to have the second electrical system in place and that it might have failed, too. But one tramway engineer said yesterday that it was common to have such a system in place.
In September, 100 passengers were trapped above the East River between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan for two hours after a similar power problem. Mr. Cordova was rushed to the site by helicopter from his home in Westchester Country and managed to restart the system without using the diesel backup.
On Tuesday, an electrical surge knocked out...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
WEAPON RAP FOR SELF-DEFENSE PAIR
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