Table Mountain aerial cableway paused for extensive maintenance

Table Mountain’s famous cable cars have been halted for routine maintenance and inspections which include tests on brakes and the long-serving track ropes.

To get to the summit mountain enthusiasts will need to rely on boots or ropes until August 28, rather than enjoy the relative luxury of the cableway service which has carried nearly 30-million visitors over the years.

Details of the five-week shutdown were shared at a briefing on Wednesday by Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company MD Wahida Parker. “The process this year is extensive and involves various complex tasks undertaken by teams consisting of internal technical staff and specialist technicians from the equipment manufacturers,” the company said in a statement.

“The work requires a complete shutdown as it is impossible to co-ordinate and execute this type of work while the service is operational.” 

Parker said cable car operations were suspended at the end of July for annual safety maintenance: “The five-week-long shutdown allows for the maintenance of the cableway’s upper and lower stations and the cabins. Some construction work is also taking place.”

She said industry safety standards required a more comprehensive and all-encompassing shutdown this year.

Some of the tasks performed on the two cabins:

• The two track-ropes on cabin 2’s side (western side) have been shifted to eliminate the most frequently stressed sections moving along the supports at the lower station, and 38m of previously unused rope has been fed into the system for each track rope at the top station, while 38m of each rope has been removed at the lower station and reattached to the 130-tonne counterweights.
• Non-destructive testing and inspections on critical loadbearing components.
• The wood supports for the track-ropes for cabin 2 at the top station have been replaced.
• The slack carriers for cabin 2 have been overhauled and inspected for structural integrity.
• The loadbearing brackets from which cabin 1 is suspended, have been replaced successfully.

Upcoming tasks include critical tests for the emergency brakes and on critical loadbearing components.

“The focus for this year is on the track ropes which carry the majority of the weight of the cable cars, along with the brackets from which the cabins are suspended,” said Emile Streicher, executive manager of technical.

“Servicing is done according to a service schedule which is time, usage and condition-based. Many of the specified service intervals are more than six years and servicing tasks usually differ from year to year.”

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