'Angels Flight' On The Fritz Just Days After 'Historic' Reopening

LOS ANGELES – Angels Flight, the 116-year-old funicular billed as the world's shortest railway, is on standby once again, just four days after a grand re-opening ceremony presided over by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The Angels Flight website says the railway is closed "for maintenance on Labor Day and for several days thereafter. Check back here for notice of resumption of regular service." Attempts to reach the company that runs the railway were not immediately successful.

A sign posted in a window reports that "recent extreme weather conditions" caused mechanical issues, adding that service possibly would resume Thursday.

Angels Flight, which runs on Bunker Hill from 351 S. Hill St. to California Plaza at 350 S. Grand Ave., re-opened Thursday after a 3-year- closure for modernization and safety upgrades. Some $5 million in renovations were made through a partnership between the nonprofit Angels Flight Railway Foundation, ACS Infrastructure and the engineering firm Sener, which formed the Angeles Flight Development Co.

Garcetti announced in March that the railway would undergo a renovation and reopen by Labor Day following its closure in 2013, when one of the two rail cars came off the tracks.

"Six months ago, I stood here and said that we will have Angels Flight up and running by Labor Day. And we are here to say we are going to deliver on that promise," Garcetti said at last week's news conference celebrating the reopening. "Two Cars, Oliver and Sinai, are ready to take passengers on the world's shortest railway."

"This is certainly a historic day for a historic rail line," L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar said. "And in a city with as storied of a history as we have, Angels Flight is a treasure that captures us here, and continues to captivate us not only in Los Angeles but throughout the world."

The Metro Board of Directors approved a motion by Garcetti in 2015 to study ways to re-open Angels Flight. Service is scheduled from 6:45 a.m. until 10 p.m. One-way fares are $1, or 50 cents for Metro tap card holders.

The railway, which reopened in 1996 after being closed for three decades, has had a troubled history. No one was injured in the 2013 accident, but it did trigger its closure.

One person was killed in a 2001 accident that caused it to be closed for nine years. It reopened in 2010, but the CPUC shut it down for a month in 2012 over safety concerns, and it operated until it was closed again in 2013 following the minor accident.

Col. J.W. Eddy first opened a funicular rail up Bunker Hill on Dec. 31, 1901, when rides cost a penny.
It was dismantled and put into storage in 1969 because of the Bunker Hill urban renewal project, then rebuilt and reopened in 1996, a half-block south of the original site.

"This funicular dates back to 1901, when Bunker Hill was one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in Los Angeles and the cars, Olivet and Sinai, ferried prominent citizens up and down the steep slope between Hill and Olive streets," the railway's website states. "As short as it is (298 feet), Angels Flight is an essential Los Angeles experience."

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--City News Service contributed to this report/Images from Aug. 31 opening ceremony via Mayor's Office