The Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh broke down during the morning commute on Monday, stranding seven riders.
No one was injured in the shutdown, which occurred just before 8 a.m.
The commuters - six in a car descending from Mt. Washington to East Carson Street and one in another car heading up the hill - were stuck for about a half-hour.
"Those things happen," said David H. Miller, president of the Society for the Preservation of the Duquesne Heights Incline, which operates the incline for the Port Authority of Allegheny County.
Miller said the problem was a broken contact in the electrical system that powers the incline. The break was tracked down and the parts replaced before 3 p.m.
"We had to disappoint some visitors," Miller said, but the incline did provide intermittent service throughout the day using a backup electrical system.
"It's been something like a year ago" since the last breakdown, Miller said. He added that the problem wasn't due to the age of the system, which was built in the 1870s and carries as many as 1,000 sightseers and commuters a day up and down the hillside.
"This is relatively new equipment which we go over all the time," Miller said.
