This tram car is stuck over 1st Avenue
Rescuers were seen practicing using the cages that would be use to rescue the passengers
Posted on 04/18/2006 7:31:44 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
Two Roosevelt Island Tram cars carrying dozens of people over the East River were left hanging Tuesday when the system lost power due to a mechanical problem, officials say.
Rescue crews have begun the process of using cages and baskets to get the passengers off.
Both cars stopped moving around 5:15 p.m., stranding about 80 people, officials say. The tramcars were still stalled after 7 p.m. while engineers worked to restore power.
One of the tramcars had about 50 people, the other about 30. We are told that there are nine children on board. No injuries were reported.
Eyewitness News spoke to a woman on board one of the tram cars. She says they are asking rescuers to supply bottles for babies on board, as well as water for some of the elderly passengers.
Parents waiting on the Roosevelt Island side are anxious about the rescue. Eyewitness News reporter Lucy Yang spoke to a woman whose children are on board, trying to stay calm.
Shannon Sohn is in NewsCopter7 above the scene with late details.
One of the trams is stuck above the East River. It has made some movement. They did get some power back from their generator system and were able to move these trains just a little bit, but not quite enough.
Officials are telling Eyewitness News that they still have hope that they can get the back up generator working to get these people off the trams. If they can't do it in a timely fashion, police are setting up basket rescues. They are basically going to drag the baskets across the cables one at a time to take people off and bring them back across the cables.
The people have already been on board for nearly four hours so you can imagine it must be a tense situation up there.
The tram system, which opened in 1976 to carry Roosevelt Island residents to and from Manhattan, is the only commuter cable car system in North America, according to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.
Tramcars on the system stall occasionally, the last time around Labor Day.
Please tell me there's a potty!!!
Whoops! The first caption should go with the second picture. The first picture was taken this afternoon, when the tram was still over the East River.
It's right below them.
The breathless coverage by the New York Fox5 team is hilarious! They're trying to get the people on the trams to panic and they just can't do it. My chest is hurting from all the laughing I've been doing! Priceless.
~ Blue Jays ~
So agree with you. Changed to channel 7 ABC and it seems little better but oh the speculations are ridiculous. NYPD and NYFD are in control- Not to worry.
Fox5 is using words like "peril, fear, frightening, and terror" so that one would think they were dangling by a single strand of steel thousands of feet above a crevasse in the Austrian Alps or something. The coverage is too funny.
~ Blue Jays ~
As long as I wasn't in danger of a cable break, I would rather just wait until they got power back. Just drop me a diet coke and a paperback.
yup , I changed stations when Rosanna Scotto[Ch5] asked if they were feeling ill from the rocking motion
... 1010WINS asked a passenger if "the children wiil be restless"...soon
to all of you FReepers around the nation,and abroad , this is NYC TV "journalism" doing it's giddy , loopy wallTOwall coverage of a minor event , ... Bill Ritter [Ch7] said that passengers were "plucked" from the car,...
There is no way I'll change the channel from Fox5 News because there might be boring sane coverage on other channels! It is like the comedy amateur hour here. I can't remember the last time I busted a gut laughing like this so hard. Oh, I'm howling with the drama!
~ Blue Jays ~
According to local news reports, they tried to restart the power twice, and it worked for a little bit and failed again.
The NYPD has practiced rescuing people using this basket system before. The basket goes above the tram, and people in the tram climb a ladder to the rescue basket (and I think are attached to a safety rope while climbing out). There's little chance of passengers falling into the river.
They keep on talking about the "dangerous lack of food and water" as if starvation and thirst are even remote possibilities. A nice book and Diet Coke would be perfect companions for this very minor inconvenience.
They're chattering about how one of the trams was "lucky" to have a airline flight attendant aboard to maintain calm. You can't make this stuff up!
~ Blue Jays ~
so , I expect some of the "print reporters" will have fun with the gaffes by TV news readers
They just used the word "anguished" to describe the feelings of people aboard the trams. Classic!
~ Blue Jays ~
LOL (rolling eyes)
[snicker] the AlreadyRescued are being "debriefed"[LOL!!]
... back in the studio , the newsReaders are prompting the FieldReporter to get an interview
oh THE Joy , Mayor Mike is doing a "standup"
Guess Ernie and Rosanna never watched CSI and heard about the rule of threes.Three minutes without oxygen; three days without water; three weeks without food. Seriously there is a report of a baby on board who requires a special formula.
Print media probably isn't getting too much because they're too busy laughing on the floor and holding their stomachs.
They just announced the "rescuers are gaining confidence after successfully bringing two adults and eight children" to safety. The bored cops are riding back and forth on an orange basket with "HO-HUM" plainly written across their faces.
An easy 98% of all skiing chairlifts are more exciting than this tram...stalled or not. Now they're asking bystanders who live on Roosevelt Island "if they'll ever be comfortable taking the tram" again.
They're even trying to get Mayor Bloomberg to comment! Family members just came downstairs at my house and we're all laughing at Fox5's intentional nail-biting coverage.
~ Blue Jays ~
What the heck is Bloomberg saying other than that he is there and is reviewing everything. Bloomberg said in the new conference it could take until early morning to get everyone down. My Gosh, what about potty! What about the little babies and the elderly. I think this could be a huge problem in the selection process. OH Boy. the Press will love this one.
Why are those "victims" waiting on the MTA bus to be debriefed? Once I was on the ground I'd be hailing a taxi to drive my butt home so I wasn't too tired for work tomorrow. What would the police do if someone refused to stay anyway, shoot them?
~ Blue Jays ~
What the heck is Bloomberg saying other than that he is there and is reviewing everything. Bloomberg said in the new conference it could take until early morning to get everyone down. My Gosh, what about potty! What about the little babies and the elderly. I think this could be a huge problem in the selection process. OH Boy. the Press will love this one.
I have the audio on our TV quite low[wife and kids asleep]
... quite comical , inDEPTH sidebar stories ,...
... I'm amazed they didn't dig up the little league stats on the stranded boy ,LOL!!
It's been 5 or so hours now. I'm sure the people on the tram have figured out a potty plan. These are Americans.
Maybe they're looking for Sly Stallone, Bill Dee Williams and Rutger Hauer. Seriously, did anybody think of the golden opportunity to decapitate NYC leadership tonight. Bloolie, Ray Kelly, the Fire Commish and the head of OEM all at the same location observing a rescue effort for a mechanical breakdown. It's probably nothing, but something doesn't feel right.
yup , I'm sure to NYPD boats below , in the East River , were advised to stay upwind ,LOL!
Yeah. I was just thinking cranky, cramped babies would probably be the hardest part about this.
"...Little League stats on the stranded boy..."
You're killing me! 
As much as I would like to stick around for the hilarity, I'm going to eventually have to call it a night pretty soon. I wonder if Roseanne Scotto and Ernie Anastos are getting paid overtime for this silliness?
~ Blue Jays ~
ping
Sorry for the double entry. I'm thinking that it is going to be pretty cold up there.What I am wondering is where was all this media frenzy from the time this all started until it was NEWS TIME. Me think the channels on TV waited until the regular TV programs were finished.
This is good practice. Maybe they are just are watching for problems that might occur and how this system could be used in a real emergency. It doesn't have to be a tram.
Roosevelt Island is a strange place, so near NYC yet so isolated from NYC. However, the times I have been there it seemed to be a nice place with plenty of great and friendly people. Almost like in small town in the middle of Metropolis.
... [Ch7] Liz Cho , "the sway,from the breeze"
I actually like Ernie and Rosanna , but "wingin' it" for something like this is an odd situation ,...
... too grave and its jusy goofy , too schmaltzy, and we wonder why they're doing this WallToWall , preempting regular programs[?!!?]
Fox News just Interrupted an LA Police Chase for Breaking News on the stalled Tram. Apparently, Greta has a source who says that Natalee Holaway is on board.
Interviewing the daughter of a tram conductor now! They're beating on this story like it's a rented mule!
If we had known this story was going to get dragged-out like this, we could have made bets on when the news outlets would cease coverage for the evening.
~ Blue Jays ~
What are you thinking? Are you thinking investigation?
yup , and a Rove crony will have the "legal actions" for the entire group of strandees
... "hey Karl , go get'em Tiger!"
yup , just think if this had occured in the winter , or just a storm now!
Lisa Evers is probably the worst reporter, ever!
~ Blue Jays ~
Bloomberg said some won't get out until early morning. You are so right if there was a storm or strong winds they would be in huge problems.
My guess for going off the air with this inane story was going to be 1:30 a.m. and then they thankfully pulled the rug out from under the crew just now!
... its time to wake the lawyers
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