The History of Penza in Stories: The Cable Car (September 2005)

Apparently, this will remain a traditional morning historical column — at least until someone tells me to stop. Apologies for the quality of some of the videos; we work with what we have.

Let’s go back 20 years. In autumn 2005, Channel 11 aired a report titled “The Cable Car Will Soon Start Working Again.”

The cable car was another symbol of Penza, much like the Intourist Hotel. It had stopped running in 2000. And in 2005, according to the report, a private entrepreneur purchased it and carried out major repairs. Test runs had already been conducted.

It was noted separately that “restoring the cable car would require more than 100,000 rubles.” By today’s standards, that was an astronomical sum. I wonder what price it was actually bought for back then.

The plan was for the first passengers to ride the cable car in spring 2006.

A personal note about the cable car.

When I was in primary school, my father worked as a district police officer somewhere in Zapadnaya Polyana. In those tough times, various municipal organizations supported law enforcement staff in different ways.

The director of the park then was Ivan Balalaev. As noted in an article by PenzaInform, under his leadership the park became the best in Russia, with delegations from all over the Soviet Union coming to learn from his experience.

Back then, my father, like many other officers, was given special cards that allowed unlimited free rides on all attractions. They worked for two people. A very pleasant childhood memory. We had no money at all, but at least in this, we weren’t restricted.

The cable car was one of my favorite attractions, although even then it only worked intermittently. But every time we managed to catch it in operation, I rode it with my mother. The most important part was to jump off in time. I was always afraid of that moment — as the cabins approached the stations, their lower part would lock into place, banging loudly and scarily against the platform. Unpleasant.

Rumor has it that one of the reasons for shutting down the cable car was the dissatisfaction of local residents in the private sector, over whose houses the line partially passed. Some of our fellow citizens not only threw trash and bottles down but even attempted to relieve themselves mid-ride.

📷 Photo source: PenzaSMI

Thanks to the staff of the Express holding, which now includes Channel 11, for preserving this material.