Tatev Aerial Tramway Resumes Operation

YEREVAN, December 21./ARKA/. The world’s longest aerial tramway built to transport visitors to the Medieval Monastery of Tatev in southern Armenia has resumed the work after a week-long break, the facility’s director Tigran Ghazarian told ARKA.

The aerial tramway was halted from December 12 to 19 to adapt its electronic and mechanical systems to local climatic conditions. A press release issued by the managing company said until December 29 the tramway will be working from 10.30 am to 5.30 pm. Beginning from January 7 it will operate from 11 am to 5 pm until the end of winter.

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 on a dilapidated road in and out of the Vorotan River Gorge. The cable car travels at a speed of 37 kilometers per hour (23 miles per hour) 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. 

Local residents can o ride the cable car for free while others will have to pay 3,000 Armenian drams (eight dollars/six euros.). Residents of the villages surrounding Tatev can enjoy the tramway once a day for free. 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—