Ethiopian Review

The Angels Flight railway will once again ferry passengers beginning Monday, nine years after a rail car broke loose and killed a man and injured several other people.

The California Public Utilities Commission last week approved the safety certificate for the historic downtown L.A. rail line, which runs up and down Bunker Hill.

Passenger service will resume at 6:45 a.m. Monday from the lower station on Hill Street. Service runs daily until 10 p.m. The 63-second ride costs 25 cents.

The funicular was closed in 2001 after a car broke loose and sped backward for almost a block before smashing into another rail car at the bottom of the hill. The accident killed an 83-year-old man and injured seven other people. Federal investigators concluded that faulty mechanical and brake systems, combined with weak oversight, were to blame.

Last week, the PUC concluded that it had no major safety concerns regarding the rail line, which is operated by a nonprofit foundation.

Angels Flight was designed to connect downtown with the residential community on Bunker Hill. But the city demolished that neighborhood as part of a 1960s redevelopment push and the railway foundered. The funicular was revived in 1996 after years of effort by preservationists.

–Julie Cart