Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
And now Capital Chat on KINY, where we connect you with Juneau and Southeast Alaska's community organizations only on KINY.
Speaker 2:Cliff Toombs here. Good morning. Well, we all remember back on, April 30, the Goldbelt Tram here in Juneau experienced a mechanical malfunction when it was descending, and, few employees were hurt at the base station when the tram came to an abrupt stop. CEO and president of Goldbelt is here to talk about that, McHugh Pierre. McHugh, thanks for coming in this morning and letting everybody know the results of the investigation.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely. You know, Cliff, thank you very much for having me. I want to make sure that everybody knows that safety is the core component at the Goldbelt Aerial Tram and at all Goldbelt operations, whether it's in Juneau, Alaska or anywhere else around the world. And because that's our mandate, we take events, like what happened at April 30 at the tram very seriously.
Speaker 3:And so we've completed a rigorous investigation, and we've identified an operational event that occurred that triggered the safety stop, emergency stop system at the tram. And because of the proximity of where the cars were to the lower terminal in the Skybridge, each one of those cars made contact with that infrastructure. And so, we are, going through a very serious testing and evaluation of all of our equipment before we reopen to make sure that, we continue to stay focused and have a very clear mandate on safety across all of our systems. Goldbelt celebrates, the tram celebrates thirty years this summer of operation. And every year before we operate, so for thirty years, 30 times, the Goldbelt Tram has undergone a very rigorous evaluation and testing and certification before it opens.
Speaker 3:You know, moving lives, moving souls up and down the mountain is a very precious responsibility that we take very seriously. And, we are going through that process again, so we will go through it before we reopen this summer. And there's been some confusion, And I understand, you know, people are looking for some answers. We will reopen when we are safe and certified to reopen. Got it.
Speaker 3:And and I'm committed to being the first person to ride a tram car up the mountain. I'm very excited about that because I want to make sure that I can personally demonstrate the safety and the certainty that our loyal local customers have and our visiting customers have as well. And on that topic, we have refunded all of our season pass holders as a demonstration of thanks to their commitment and loyalty to us for thirty years. That doesn't mean they're not going to have access or that we're not going to open. It means that they're going to have access as a season pass holder through this season, when we reopen with all of their usual benefits and perks, but we're giving it to them for free for this disruption.
Speaker 3:And, you know, certainly we're grateful to have their business, and we wanna earn their business back this summer.
Speaker 2:Interesting. And I I didn't realize, and I I I think maybe we assumed that, prior to every season, there's this intense certification that has to happen. And like you mentioned, it's happened now every year for the thirty years. And that process takes how long, and what are they looking at as part of that process?
Speaker 3:You know, it's it's as detailed as inspecting welds on aluminum, on steel for stress fractures using an NDT process. We evaluate the haul cable that way. We evaluate the tow cables. We go through a very rigorous engineering, inspection to make sure that we are, safe to operate. You know, we have the manufacturer come to town to help us evaluate all of those, you know, motorized systems, the electric motor, the electric battery, all of those things, our diesel motors as well, our backup.
Speaker 3:That's the good thing about the Tram is that we do run on electric and so it's very quiet. I know a couple years ago people were certainly sharing their opinion when the electricity was out or electric motor was out and we were running on backup diesel. It changes the environment downtown dramatically. But no, we do this every year and it's something that, you know, is kind of quiet. A lot of people don't talk about, but every ski hill does the same thing.
Speaker 2:Of course. Okay. So you you did that this year in April, and now because of the incident, you're doing the entire thing all over again.
Speaker 3:Correct. We are doing everything again, and we are we are going so far to inspect all of the welds on the cabins, make sure that they are square and true, replace pieces that have been damaged and some pieces have to be fabricated. So, you know, the thing is is that when you walk by right now and you look at the tram, doesn't look like anything's wrong with it. And tourists say, Well, come you're not operating? Well, because we want to make sure that we're safe and we're gonna guarantee safety.
Speaker 3:And so that's what we're gonna focus on and we're not going to deviate from that. That's been our priority. It will always be our priority. It will be our only priority.
Speaker 2:Appreciate the update, McHugh. And, when you're ready to open, let us know. We'll let everybody else know.
Speaker 3:Excellent. Thank you very much for your patience and your understanding, and and we look forward to providing a a safe and reliable, operation for everyone to enjoy this summer.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Capital Chat on KINY, your connection to the people organizations making a difference in Juneau and Southeast Alaska. Subscribe to the Capital Chat podcast everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts and at kinyradio.com.