Power loss traps visitors in the Arch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/22/2007
Hundreds of people were trapped inside the Gateway Arch after an apparent electrical failure Saturday evening.“We think it is in their equipment,” Mike Cleary, a spokesman for AmerenUE, said. “We have people there to assist them.” He said he could not provide any additional information.At a news conference shortly before midnight, Capt. Steve Simpson, a spokesman for the St. Louis Fire Department, said power went out to both legs. He said the officials do not know what happened to equipment or why.There were no reports of injuries. The Arch was calm as people streamed out of the north leg.Mike Maris, deputy superintendent of the Gateway Arch, said the power went out at 8:45 p.m. He said one of nine cables on the south tram may have broken. There were 40 people in each tram, about 100 at the top.Maris said the evacuation of the south tram took about two hours.Workers restored service on the north tram. He said the Arch would be open Sunday with only the north tram running.Several people who had been in the Arch said emergency lights went on as did air conditioning after the power failure.People at the top had to walk down 300 feet of steps to a freight elevator that brought them to the bottom, evacuees said.Simpson said that after workers got the north leg tram working, visitors no longer had to go down via stairs.Shortly before 11:30 p.m. more than 30 people walked out of the north leg toward the Arch’s underground lobby. They hugged each other and friends in relief.Meanwhile, park service workers were taking bottled water to the north leg.The Arch is 630 feet tall. Electrical fires had forced the closing of the Arch in 1998 and 2003.Marcia Ingalsbe of Caulfield, Mo., waited for hours for her husband and two grandchildren to return from a ride in the Arch. They were on a tram that left at 7:55 p.m. She talked to a reporter after 10:30 p.m.She said her husband, Robert, called told her that he and their grandson Robbie, 11, and Stephany, 5, were all right.One firefighter said that the children “are going to have a story to tell when they get back to school.”
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. 
On Saturday at 8:45 p.m. (CST), a power outage due to equipment failure at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri trapped 40 people in the two arch trams and 100 people in the observation center at the top of the Arch.

It took about two hours to evacuate the south tram after one of the nine cables supporting the tram car possibly snapped because of a power failure. The north side tram and people in the observation center had to walk down approximately 300 feet of steps to a freight elevator to be taken to the bottom of the Arch. They were met by anxious families who had been waiting for hours outside the Arch. Two people needed treatment for minor injuries.

The Gateway Arch will be back open Sunday with only the north tram operating. The National Park Service opened the Gateway Arch in 1966 and is one of the region's most popular attractions.