A lot of the ones that are closed did because of accidents in the past. That happened here and in Armenia. Though some of them just got abandoned as the Soviet Union collapsed and the funding dried up. There was even an old abandoned one in Borjomi. But that was clearly left as a result of funding. There wasn't much money in that one, and it was definitely for the few people that lived higher up in the mountain to get down and up easily. Cars in general now just replace them.