Chongqing to rebuild passenger cableway across river

CHONGQING -- A cableway across the Jialing River in southwestern Chongqing Municipality will be rebuilt to boost tourism, its operator announced Saturday.

Construction of the project will start next year and finish in 2019, bringing back scenes from when cable cars moved across the river, said a manager with Chongqing Passenger Cableway Corporation.

Operating since 1982 until 2011, the 740-meter-long Jialing River Cableway was China's first urban transport facility of its kind, designed to suit the terrain of the mountainous city.

It was a major mode of transport for local residents. A total of 100 million passenger trips were delivered by two cars running in opposite directions, with a daily passenger flow of 25,000 at peak times.

The cableway was suspended in March 2011 as its operation affected the construction of a bridge and light rail project. In 2013 the ropes were demolished.

Another river cable-crossing in the city, the Yangtze River Cableway still operates, drawing 2 million tourists every year.