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While all the odds may have been against the maintenance schedule for the iconic Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, systems are all go, weather dependent, this Monday.
"Planning a shutdown like this takes a lot of work, and it takes a lot of thought, and despite all that planning, there are always going to be things that you did not plan," shares Wahida Park, Managing Director of the Table Mountain Cableway Company.
Some of the challenges faced included delays in cargo shipments, a lack of key personnel due to illness, and, to add to the chaos, a fire that broke out above Kloofnek Corner in Table Mountain National Park last Sunday.
Andries de Vries, Technical Executive at Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, shared that the technical on-site team was present during the fire and assisted in extinguishing the flames alongside first responders.
"You know, the last cherry on the cake was a fire on Sunday. Some members of the press said it would be nice to have photographs of people on the ropes. They were on the ropes on Sunday when the fire broke out."
This year's maintenance's main project was to replace the Cableway's heel and haul ropes, the moving rope that pulls the cable cars up and down the mountain. This replacement has been carried out by the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company's technical team, alongside specialists from Doppelmayr Garaventa, the Swiss manufacturer of the Cableway system.
While this may form part of the annual maintenance, Andries shares that maintenance checks are done rigorously, daily, weekly and monthly.
"We don't do reactive maintenance; we only do proactive maintenance, always ahead of the curve, which is what we did two years ago when we replaced all the track ropes, the ropes where the car actually hangs from."
Fire safety
Given the location of the popular destination, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway infrastructure remains vulnerable to wildfires.
"Given how dry the season has been and the vegetation, I'm expecting us to be on high alert over the November to December period, which is traditionally known as high fire season," adds Wahida Park.
With this in mind, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company has put several measures in place to ensure the safety of the public and the cableway itself, working alongside other key entities.
"That would be the City of Cape Town, SANParks, and disaster management, to ensure that coordinated efforts are in place. At a very basic level, SANParks will ensure that there are fire breaks in place to prevent the fire from crossing over into more vulnerable sections. And then, of course, we do have a significant amount of water on site in the event of fires," shares Wahida.
Future maintenance and plans
Maintenance schedules are put in place long in advance to ensure that the infrastructure and services meet the required safety standards.
With each maintenance schedule informing the next, as Wahida points out.
"In addition, this particular maintenance work carried out now will give us an indication of where we need to focus over the next couple of years."
The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway will reopen on Monday, 10th August, weather permitting.
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