The Gulmarg Gondola, Asia’s highest aerial tramway in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district near the LoC and a major tourist attraction visited by thousands every week, was closed on Monday for inspection and maintenance work. Officials said services would remain suspended till September 17.

An official of the J&K Cable Car Corporation said the shutdown was part of routine maintenance and inspection work to ensure visitors’ safety. The cable car suffered a snag on May 24, leaving more than 300 tourists stranded mid-air for hours in 65 cabins and prompting a massive seven-hour, multi-agency rescue operation involving teams of the J&K Cable Car Corporation, Army, police and other agencies.

The authorities subsequently suspended operations for a few weeks to conduct a two-pronged inquiry — one by an internal committee of the corporation and another by French engineering firm POMA, the project’s developer, for an audit of the system.

In January 2025, another snag halted the cable car, leaving several tourists stranded mid-air for a couple of hours. In June 2017, the Gulmarg Gondola met with an accident that killed seven people, including four tourists from Delhi. A tree, reportedly struck by lightning, fell on the ropeway, causing it to recoil violently and leaving passengers in two cabins with fatal injuries.