Two hundred rail ties. Eleven hundred feet of rail. Heavy-duty cable nearly a mile in length.
After a recent wildfire put the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway out of commission, the months of repair work ahead — and the materials required for it — are coming into focus.
Insurance companies have been engaged, a CARTA official said. The on-call engineering firms have repeatedly been on site. A rail installation vendor and a vehicle manufacturer have visited too.
That heavy-duty cable was ordered four days after the fire broke out, though the official said it will take some 12 weeks to manufacture, and at least another three to install.
“Suffice it to say, we’re working diligently to bring the system back online safely and as quickly as possible,” Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority CEO Charles Frazier told the agency board Thursday.