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Kathmandu, October 5 — The Manakamana cable car, a key access link to the Manakamana temple in central Nepal, will be closed all day on Tuesday, October 6, for scheduled maintenance. The operator, Manakamana Darshan Pvt Ltd, announced the one-day shutdown in a public notice on Monday.
The notice described the work as routine and said it was being done on a regular schedule before the festival season. It did not mention any fault or emergency. The company said service should operate normally again from Wednesday.
The cable car connects Kurintar, a town on the Prithvi Highway, to the hilltop temple of Manakamana, one of Nepal’s most visited religious sites. The shrine is devoted to the Hindu goddess Bhagwati, and many Nepalis consider it a must-visit place during the Dashain and Tihar holidays.
Unlike some aerial lifts built mainly for mountain recreation, the Manakamana cable car was designed as practical transport to a place of worship. That means every normal day brings a broad mix of passengers: elderly pilgrims, families with children, school groups and foreign visitors. The system is run at high frequency, and keeping the terminal stations clean and dependable matters as much as mechanical readiness. A full-day pause gives staff time to review passenger-facing areas as well as cables, cabins and control equipment.
Since operations started in the late 1990s, the ropeway has become the standard way for most visitors to reach the temple. Before it opened, pilgrims usually had to climb a long hillside path, which could take several hours. Today, the ride takes roughly ten minutes, and on many days the system carries a steady flow of people through the forested hills between Chitwan and Gorkha districts.
The cable car also supports local tourism. It is often included in travel plans that cover Mugling, Kurintar and the nearby Trishuli River area. For many domestic travellers, a visit to Manakamana is a one-day outing from Kathmandu or Pokhara.
The company’s notice did not go into technical detail. It did not say which part of the system would be inspected or whether repairs were needed. Instead, it framed the closure as a routine precaution. That wording suggests the suspension was not connected to an accident, a breakdown or a sudden fault.
Maintenance of this type normally includes checks on steel ropes, the braking system, the tower structures and the carrier cabins. Operators also test power supplies and communication links. The work is intended to catch small problems before they become serious, especially ahead of a busy festival period.
By closing for one full day, the company can complete inspections without the pressure of moving passengers through the station. Ropeway systems often need time windows when no cabins are running, and a full-day closure gives the engineering team a clean schedule.
The service will pause on Tuesday, October 6. Anyone with plans to ride the cable car on that day will need to move the visit to another date. The temple itself remains open, but reaching it on Tuesday will be harder for those who depend on the cable car.
People who have booked through a hotel or tour operator should contact them directly to change their itinerary. Direct ticket holders should check with the operator’s office at Kurintar station. The company has not mentioned a specific refund policy for Tuesday, but one-day maintenance closures are common enough in the sector that most booking systems can transfer tickets to another operating day.
It would also be wise to confirm Wednesday’s reopening time before travelling. The company has said regular service will resume, but operating hours may vary on the first day after maintenance.
The announcement comes at a sensitive point in Nepal’s religious calendar. Dashain is the biggest annual festival in the country, and Manakamana temple is particularly busy in the days around the main celebrations. The surge in visitors usually begins in early October and peaks by the middle of the month.
A one-day closure in advance of that rush is a deliberate move. It lets the operator address maintenance needs before the busiest traffic period, reducing the risk of service disruptions during the holidays. The company said the work was being carried out on its regular schedule before the festival season, which suggests the shutdown was planned rather than forced by a technical issue.
Local businesses are likely to absorb the disruption without much difficulty. Kurintar’s tourist economy is built around the cable car, and local shops and transport operators have seen many such single-day pauses over the years. The decision to announce the closure a day in advance gives the market time to adjust.
Nepal has been expanding its use of cable cars in recent years, with ropeway projects operating or planned in several districts. Public discussion about cable car safety has also grown, especially after incidents in other parts of the region. That makes routine inspections more important for maintaining confidence in mountain transport.
Manakamana Darshan, the operator, has run the Manakamana line for a long time and has a record of carrying large numbers of passengers each year. Its habit of announcing service changes publicly is a positive signal for transparency. The latest notice fits that pattern, even though the company did not offer much detail about the maintenance itself.
No safety incident related to this closure has been reported, and the cable car continued to operate normally up to the day before the shutdown. Those factors, combined with the company’s account, point toward an ordinary technical stop rather than an urgent repair.
Operations are expected to return to normal on Wednesday, October 7. If the maintenance is completed on time and weather conditions are suitable, the cable car will be available for the first wave of Dashain travellers later in the week.
The company’s notice did not mention any additional closures in the coming days. The plan is a single-day suspension, with no disruption expected for weekend trips or the festival build-up.
Anyone heading to Kurintar later this week should still watch for further announcements. The operator has already shown it will give advance notice when schedules change, but a quick phone call to the office before arrival is always a reliable way to confirm that the service is running.
The Manakamana cable car will not operate on Tuesday, October 6, because of routine maintenance. The shutdown is scheduled well in advance of Dashain and appears to be a standard safety measure. Normal service will resume on Wednesday. Travellers who expected to use the cable car on Tuesday should adjust their plans in advance.
