Third Back-Up Generator for Tram Broken Since September

By
Arun Venugopal
WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

The state official appointed to run the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation says the tram is "an intimate part of the Roosevelt Island mystique," but Mayor Bloomberg seemed ambivalent about the tram's future yesterday, saying the subway is quicker.

Meanwhile, the tram is still out of service today as an investigation into why the tram stalled on Tuesday afternoon. State investigators are trying to figure out how two separate power sources for the tram failed.

After the primary system went down, possibly because of a power surge, engineers turned to a diesel generator, but that didn't work either. They then spent 3 hours trying unsuccessfully to repair the generator, before fire and police enacted their midair rescue.

RIOC says that a 3rd power source, an electric generator, was unavailable. It's been out for repairs since last September. That's when state officials ordered upgrades to the tram's electrical system after a shut down left passengers stranded for an hour.

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Arun Venugopal

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