The Darjeeling Ropeway is a ropeway in the town of Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. The ropeway is a popular tourist destination in the town. It consists of sixteen cars and plies between the "North Point" in the town of Darjeeling and Singla on the banks of the Ramman river. The journey on the ropeway offers beautiful views of the hills and the valleys around Darjeeling. The ropeway, which was started in 1968 and revamped in 1988, was stopped in October 2003 after four tourists died when the cable snapped causing two cars to plummet down the hill. In 2005, the state forest and public works department (PWD) ministers formed a three-member committee to oversee safety issues. The committee, which included a PWD engineer and two Kalyani Government Engineering College teachers, found the services unfit after a trial run. The ropeway was reopened on 2 February 2012. The ropeway was started in 1968 by the forest development department and comprised only a single car which ran one way before it was later upgraded to 16 cars. From an elevation of 2,134 m (7,001 ft) in Darjeeling’s North Point (Singamari), this bicable ropeway descends to 244 m (801 ft) at Singla on the banks of the Ramman river, which with Little Rangeet, meets the Great Rangeet. Stopping at Tukver, Burnesbeg and Singla tea estates, it takes 45 minutes to reach Singla Bazar, 8 km away. The ropeway passes over dense forests, mountain ridges, water falls, flowing rivers, green valleys and tea gardens. The Great Rangeet flows from the glacial elevation of Kabru, in the lower regions of the Kanchenjunga, meeting first the Ramman and then the Little Rangeet further down. Singla offers is a view of the valleys of these two streams. The Little Rangeet flows across the lush green Bijanbari valley. While the Little Rangeet is overflowing with trout, the valley has wildlife, flowers and butterflies. The passenger ropeway was operated as a joint venture of the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation and the Conveyor and Ropeway Services Private Ltd. It had been revamped in 1988.