The Roosevelt Island tram continues to sit still as the NY State Department of Labor investigates what Tuesday night when it just stopped working...and the two backups systems didn't work. And the culprit for the problems that caused people to be stuck midair for hours? The air brakes didn't work properly, according to DoL sources, though Roosevelt Island officials disagree. The AP reports DoL will check out the first backup system - a diesel one - at Roosevelt Island today to figure out if it would have worked if the brakes worked; the DoL will also review ConEd's doings, to see what caused the initial power surges that downed the system. Ah, when in doubt, blame ConEd!
Even though the Swiss company that made the trams (hey, they make yummy chocolate, great cuckoo clocks, and amazing watches) dispatched someone to fix them, the trams still aren't working: Roosevelt Island officials hope to reopen the trams when they are fixed, but can't set a date for when that'll be. Hmm, when they reopen, we can't imagine business will be that great...except for those thrillseekers and people trying out for Survivor who want to test their endurance.
Let's take a walk through memory lane when people were trapped in the tram for a wee bit of time (relatively speaking) last September and when there was a Fear Factor stunt on the tram in 2004.
Photograph by rion nakaya
