Tatev aerial railway halts operation for 10 days

YEREVAN, March 4. / ARKA /. The world’s longest aerial tramway built to transport visitors to the Medieval Monastery of Tatev in southern Armenia, said today it will halt operation from March 4 to 14  to allow specialists from the Austrian-Swiss Doppelmayr-Garaventa company to conduct annual examination of its electronic and mechanical systems.

The 5.7-kilometer-long aerial tramway transports visitors from the village of Halidzor across the Vorotan gorge to the village of Tatev, within walking distance of the monastery, allowing tourists and visitors to bypass a 90-minute drive in and out of the Vorotan River Gorge. The cable car travels at a speed of 37 kilometers per hour (23 miles) and a one-way journey takes 11 minutes. 

At its highest point over the gorge, the car travels 320 meters (1,056 feet) above ground level. It has two cabins, each capable of carrying up to 25 passengers.  The cable car is part of a $45 million-dollar public-private effort to develop tourism at Tatev and in the overall region of Syunik.

The aerial tramway was officially registered by a representative of the Guinness World Records October 23 who arrived in Armenia for that ceremony. -0-