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All Georgia Chiatura The Cable Cars of Chiatura
AO Edited

The Cable Cars of Chiatura

These Stalin-era industrial 'death traps' hang lifeless above the city

Chiatura, Georgia

Added By
Max Cortesi
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The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Sarah Murray on Flickr
The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Max Cortesi
The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Max Cortesi
The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Max Cortesi
The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Max Cortesi
The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Max Cortesi
The Cable Cars of Chiatura   Sarah Murray on Flickr
Stalin and Lenin insignia above the doorway to a cable car station   WanderLush / Atlas Obscura User
Cable car station in Chiatura   WanderLush / Atlas Obscura User
Hand-written signage inside a cable car station   WanderLush / Atlas Obscura User
Chiatura   pauldickerson / Atlas Obscura User
One of the new cable cars in Chiatura   WanderLush / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
Chiatura   pauldickerson / Atlas Obscura User
Chiatura   pauldickerson / Atlas Obscura User
Going up.   lpridatko / Atlas Obscura User
1953 Soviet Cable Car   lpridatko / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
  Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez / Atlas Obscura User
Blue cable cars   WanderLush / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The city of Chiatura, Georgia was founded among otherwise uninvitingly steep valleys and deep gorges thanks to a healthy vein of manganese that was ripe for the mining. However, the treacherous terrain was too difficult and inefficient for miners to traverse on foot, so the Soviet government installed a precarious network of dangling cable cars.

Amazingly, some of the original cable cars – rusted and deteriorating – were still running up until a few years ago. Now they have been retired, their stations shuttered and wagons hanging lifeless on the lines.

Founded in the late 1800s as a mining colony, Chiatura quickly became a popular source for manganese and iron that was being taken from the rich mountains in the area. Unfortunately, having workers travel from their communities at the bottom of the hilly gorges and canyons up to the various mining sites each day was incredibly time consuming.

So in an effort to get those bodies into those mine tunnels faster, a criss-crossing system of cable cars was installed in 1954 by the Stalinist government. The productivity and output in the mines dramatically increased with the high-flying "metal coffins," which were also able to carry the ore itself directly to waiting factories.

After the collapse of the USSR, many of the mines closed down and yet the ubiquitous cable cars remained in use. Alas, upkeep of the lines and stations wasn't quite adequate and the old ropeways were finally retired in 2018. Some of the 17-plus old stations will now be restored as cultural heritage monuments.

Meanwhile, as of September 2021, a new set of modern ropeways built by French company Poma ferries commuters and visitors around Chiatura. There are four new lines: Mukhadze, Lezhubani, Sanatorium and Naguti.

Related Tags

Transportation Industrial Mines Soviet History

Know Before You Go

The old Chiatura cable cars are now retired and will be restored. A few of the stations are closed off with barricades, while the old wagons hang motionless on their lines.

Four new cable cars are fully operational and depart from Central Cable Car Station in the centre of the city. The lines are open from 8am-8pm with a break from 2pm-3pm. Tickets cost 50 tetri one-way.

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Community Contributors

Added By

Max Cortesi

Edited By

Martin, hrnick, WanderLush, AnnaEverywhere...

  • Martin
  • hrnick
  • WanderLush
  • AnnaEverywhere
  • EricGrundhauser
  • lpridatko
  • pauldickerson
  • Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez
  • rudimarnitz

Published

January 23, 2015

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Sources
  • http://totallycoolpix.com/magazine/2013/10/the-cable-cars-of-chiatura
  • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2430793/Stalins-cable-car-Death-defying-metal-coffins-miners-using--despite-riddled-rust.html
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiatura
  • https://wander-lush.org/kutaisi-to-chiatura/
The Cable Cars of Chiatura
Gomi-Sachkhere-Chiatura-Zestaponi
Chiatura
Georgia
42.290905, 43.29109
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