JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A Kansas City infrastructure engineer is set to review an “action plan” aimed at replacing sheave wheels and guide rims needed to get the Johnstown Inclined Plane operational again, Cambria County Transit Authority officials said this week.
That portion of the project has kept the work idled, at 92% complete, for the past seven months.
But if all goes well, HNTB Corp.’s review and approval of the plan will allow construction work to resume and be completed this fall, CamTran Executive Director Rose Lucey-Noll said. That includes work on the Incline’s metal sheave wheels and guide rims, she said.
“The plan is to have all remaining work completed this fall so the new ropes can be installed, and final safety inspections and certifications can be conducted this winter,” Lucey-Noll said.
She said six months of government-mandated inspections, certifications and approvals will need to occur before the completed funicular railway can reopen. A review by state rail safety officials is part of that process.
“No one more than CamTran wants to see the Inclined Plane reopen,” CamTran board Chairman Tim Whited said in a letter to The Tribune-Democrat. “But we must make sure that it’s completed in compliance with the technical specifications and that all safety certification procedures, processes and requirements have been met for our community.”
The $15 million project was initially scheduled to be completed in 2023.
But it has been stalled by supply chain issues and parts problems, particularly with the metal sheave wheels that guide the rope used to raise and lower the Inclined Plane’s cars up and down the hillside between downtown Johns-town and Westmont Borough.
The wheels were part of the original 1890s design of the Incline, and had to be individually cast to recreate the 130-year-old components.
The initial sheave wheels were rejected, and after new ones were fabricated and installed, it was discovered late last year that two weren’t compliant with safety standards.
The Inclined Plane’s estimated reopening remains on track for 2025, a date CamTran officials previously announced in May.
Other elements of the project have been completed this summer, including the Edgehill Drive observation deck next to the Incline’s upper station, which has been reopened to the public.
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