EGO General Directorate of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality made a statement regarding the news about Yenimahalle-Şentepe Cable Car Line published in some newspapers and social media accounts recently.
The statement made by EGO is as follows;
“The Ropeway Management, which has been serving on the Yenimahalle-Şentepe line by the Ankara Electricity, Coal Gas and Bus Operation Institution (EGO General Directorate), was closed to service on March 21, 2020, within the scope of the measures of the central administration, taking into account public health during the coronavirus pandemic period. With the transition to the normalization process, heavy maintenance of the line was carried out to ensure passenger safety and system security, and it was put into operation again on April 8, 2022.
Before the Cable Car Line is put into operation again:
- 3.070 m of transport-towing rope in the first stage was procured by tender,
- The damaged areas of the 3.960 m carrying-towing rope in the second stage were repaired and shortened,
- Heavy maintenance-repairs of 20 ropeway mast batteries were made,
- 105 Cabin Terminal systems were renewed,
- Signaling and Communication infrastructure of the line was renewed,
- Maintenance-repairs of 6 Drive-Turn-Deflection Wheels have been made,
- The replacement of 4 synchronization tires in 573 stations has been completed.
Out of these preparatory works, only 3.070 m of transport-towing rope was procured as a result of the tender held by our Authority. All other maintenance and repairs are covered by the insurance company.
Of the total cost of 26.699.562 TL, which is the total cost of all heavy maintenance/renewal expenditures made during this period, only 4.848.228 TL was covered by our Institution, while 21.851.334 TL was covered by the insurance company.
As a requirement of our open and transparent management approach, we would like to present the data regarding the investment and operating costs of the Ropeway System to the public. The investment cost of the Cable Car System, which cost 2014 TL (51.600.000 USD) in 27.750.000 prices, is 424.762.719 TL in today's prices.
The operating cost of the Cable Car System is 2.233.714 TL per month and 26.804.568 TL per year. On the other hand, the income of the enterprise is 750.000 TL per month and 9.000.000 TL per year.
As a result, the Cable Car Management loses approximately 18 million TL per year.
As it can be seen, in addition to its high investment cost, the ropeway is a system with high operating costs due to frequent breakdowns during operation and dependence on a single company as a monopoly in its maintenance.
It was decided to conduct a very comprehensive examination and evaluation on the system before the Ropeway Operation, which was suspended during the pandemic period, is reopened with the normalization process. In this context, it has been reported in the examinations carried out by experts with international certificates that operating the system in its current state will pose a great risk to the life safety of our citizens. Since the cable car is closed, it is not broken. Already in the current situation, it has been determined by experts that there are significant damages in many parts of the system. The fact that the size of the repair was very large and that heavy maintenance and repair work of this scale had not been carried out until today caused the duration of the work to be prolonged. Because, even if the Cable Car Operation had not been closed during the pandemic period, it was necessary to carry out a heavy maintenance of this magnitude in order to prevent accidents that could lead to disastrous results.
In addition, as a result of the examination of the past statistics of the Ropeway Management, it will be seen that a more efficient, safe and trouble-free service was provided after its opening on April 8, 2022. In previous years, for example, the line was closed due to maintenance-repair work carried out in the whole of April 2015; 2016 months in August, September and October 1 due to the 3st Stage engine replacement and heavy maintenance works; Since the 2017nd Stage engine replacement and heavy maintenance works were carried out in January, February and March of 2, the ropeway system was never operated for 3 months. Again in September 2017, the total waiting time of the system due to a malfunction reached 791 minutes (more than 13 hours). In most of this, we have records that the passengers could not be evacuated and were held in the air.
There are intense complaints from the people of the district about the ropeway system, which is stated by experts and professional chambers that it is not suitable for Ankara topography and public transportation principles. It has been the subject of complaints and various judicial proceedings that the roads caused by the location of the poles in the neighborhood, which are a requirement of the cable car system, to narrow and negatively affect the traffic, to be in the residential area and very close to the houses, thus causing zoning problems in the areas where the ropeway passes, with the violation of security and privacy during the cruise. . In addition, considering the fact that passengers transported by cable car can be transported very easily with two or three articulated buses, it is considered that the cable car system is not a suitable public transportation alternative.
Despite all this, with the effort not to cause public loss and to continue an investment, the ropeway operation is operated under the most appropriate conditions, with all our means, by prioritizing the life safety of our passengers, instead of being completely terminated. It will continue to work with the same effort in the next period.
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