Chandragiri Hills gives cable car safety assurance

Kathmandu, July 30 : Chandragiri Hills has said that its cable car service is technically safe and secure. “If there occurs any technical problem in the cable car service, passengers can be rescued through an emergency drive,” the Chandragiri Hills said. 

There have been some incidents in which the passengers had to remain in gondola on the middle of the cable car and at Bhaleshwor, the top station of the cable car, for sometimes because of technical problems.

The company has said that such incidents would not happen now onwards and if such problems arose in the operation of the service, the passengers could be rescued immediately.

Chairman of the Chandragiri Hills Chandra Prasad Dhakal said that the cable car service is safe and secure because electricity, generators and emergency drives are being used for the smooth operation of the cable car.

The Chandragiri Hills on Friday orgainsed a press meet to inform the public about the situation of its cable car services.

Dhakal said, “There is no technical problem in the Chandragiri cable car. Yes, the cable car sometimes stops moving when there is load shedding. However, such problem does not last long. If any such problem occurs, we will solve it immediately.”

“We can rescue passengers stuck at Bhaleshwor by transporting them via road. 

We can also keep them in our resort bearing their expenses by ourselves,” he said.He said that due to the lack of proper knowledge about the technical problem and its solution, there was some confusion among people, including the passengers.

The Chandragiri cable car is operated through three systems, he said, adding, "We operate the cable car using electricity, generator and emergency drive."

“If the electricity is out, a generator with a capacity of up to one megawatt is used. If there is a problem also in this, we have an emergency drive for that, and we will bring it into operation immediately.”

He claimed that the company has not made any compromise on safe services.

Founder member of Chandragiri Hills Ambika Prasad Paudel said that the company was providing the safest and secured cable car service through a fully automated technology.

“This cable car service was developed by an Austrian company Doppelmayr and more than 20,000 cable cars are now operating using the technology of this company around the world,” Paudel added.

General Manager of Chandragiri Hills Sanjeev Thapa said that the company was well aware of the need for emergency rescue. 

“We have been solving all problems as soon as possible. We will rescue the stranded passengers within 40 minutes through an emergency drive,” he said.

Emergency drive is a system attached to the machine, which is normally used for rescuing the passenger in emergency, especially when they get stranded in gondolas because of load shedding and other technical issues, he said.

“If there is a problem of electricity supply or the available generator does not function and even when any mechanical problem  that causes a halt to the cable car is not traced, we use this emergency system to rescue  passengers,” he told The Rising Nepal.

The system is run by battery, he said, adding that the system is normally used when other system could not work. “While operating the cable in emergency drive system, the speed of the gondola is slow.” 

Since the cable car service came into operation in August 2016, technical problem has been nominal, he said.There are 38 gondolas in Chandragiri cable car and a gondola has a capacity to carry eight people.

Even though the internal technicians are frequently maintaining the cable car, technicians from Doppelmayr also audit the technology once in one or two years, the company said.