THE Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company takes the safety of its passengers extremely seriously and has a number of back-up generators and often-practised rescue procedures in place to ensure that passengers are brought down safely in the event of an electricity cut in the city.

This is the word from ceo, Sabine Lehman, who said in total there were five back-up generators (two at the upper station and three at the lower station), which kicked in automatically minutes after a power failure. In addition, there was a large hydraulic system at the lower station with its own back-up generator, which could operate the cableway without any electricity at all and bring tourists safely down the mountain. If notice was given of an impending power cut, the company moved across to its generators before the actual blackout to avoid disrupting its service, she said. Eskom was not always sticking to its load-shedding schedule, but the Cableway Company was in daily contact with the power generator to avoid any surprise power failures. Lehman said a January 22 incident where tourists were stranded during an Eskom power outage was actually caused by a mechanical fault. The electricity cut resulted in a misalignment of moving platforms, which as a safety precaution caused the cableway to come to a halt with the cabins only metres away from both stations. Normally, passengers would not have been evacuated before the mechanical fault was repaired, but passengers in the upper cable car had begun panicking and it was decided to evacuate them. However, they ignored the cabin master’s instructions and climbed out through a window and leapt to a landing dock at the top station. To prevent a similar situation, cabin masters would be trained to be stronger and stricter with passengers in future. Lehman said power failures had happened numerous times since the energy crisis and tourists had been safely brought down the mountain, often unaware of the situation. The Cableway Company had operated safely for 78 years and had transported 18m visitors to date.