Haifa Cable Car Suffers Malfunction, Stranding Dozens

A malfunction in Haifa's cable car system on Thursday reportedly caused by a broken pulley on one of the cabins, halted operations for over two hours, leaving dozens of passengers stranded. The emergency stop was initiated to prevent collisions between moving cabins. According to sources familiar with the incident, the safety system automatically detected the fault and braked the cabins. Emergency services were dispatched to the scene while the operating company's teams worked to dismantle the faulty cabin for inspection. The investigation into the incident is ongoing. The malfunction occurred on line 27, just two days after the cable car resumed service following maintenance work. While the lower section of the cable car resumed operation after 90 minutes, the upper section remained shut down for an additional 30 minutes. Firefighters prepared for a complex rescue operation, but it ultimately proved unnecessary. Itzik Nahae, a resident of Ashdod, was on the lower section with his wife Karen when they became stuck for about 90 minutes, describing the experience as a "nightmare" with unpleasant moments. This is not the first issue for the cable car, which opened in April 2022 at a cost of over NIS 330 million. Six months later, an electrical fault stranded dozens of passengers for about an hour, though no danger was reported.