CamTran chief eyeing end of year for Inclined Plane to reopen

Yahoo

29-03-2025

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The process of reinstalling the recently reviewed, polished and measured sheave wheels of the Johnstown Inclined Plane has gotten underway.
The new grooved wheels had to be individually cast in order to fit into the system that was designed in the 1890s. Multiple issues with the sheave wheels have slowed the renovation of the Inclined Plane.
In February, the Cambria County Transit Authority, which owns the historic hillside railway system, approved $1.68 million in change orders to repair the six sheave wheels and two safety sheave wheels.
CamTran did not need to use any of its funds to cover the extra expenses.
Getting the wheels in place is part of an overall plan to get the long-idled Inclined Plane, a Johnstown-area landmark that connects downtown Johnstown to Westmont Borough, operational again.
'Our target (to have the rehabilitation work done) is sometime in August,' CamTran Executive Director Rose Lucey-Noll said during an interview after the board's regular meeting Friday.
'Like the end of the summer, we would have the project completed, and then we start our commissioning process and then also our training, so it won't be until the end of the year that we would see the Incline reopen.'
'Happy to be able to help the community'
Also during the meeting, Lucey-Noll provided an update about CamTran taking over the county-wide Medical Assistance Transportation Program Tuesday. The service provides free rides to Medicaid recipients for medical purposes such as doctor visits and prescription pickups.
'We're very happy to be able to help the community out,' she said. 'Again, the opportunity to provide more efficient transportation in the community for services is very important in what we do and what we want to do to help people.'