Monorail issue again?

[donaldsgal]

I read this on one of the Disney blogs I frequent. Anyone else heard this?

ETA: Before people assume I'm saying the monorails are unsafe and are death on wheels, I'm not. I rode the monorail delightedly a month ago and will do so again. Just wondering about people's thoughts on the matter. The monorails do seem to be having more published issues lately, but again I'm NOT saying they are unsafe.

 

[bitohoney]

Hmmm...no I haven't heard about this. But, I'm still using the monorail next month. I feel I'm safer on that than in my car driving around Massachusetts.

 

[goofyernmost]

No...but so what. Mechanical equipment breaks down. Disney is not immune from that type of thing. Sounds like they very carefully got everyone delivered safely.

 

[BrettS]

I hadn't heard anything about that either and personally I suspect the issue was a bit less severe than a broken axle or anything like that. The turns on the monorail track are banked... especially out in the open on the epcot track where the monorail can go up to 40 MPH. If the monorail stops or goes slowly over one of thses turns you'll definitely be able to feel the banking.

I have no idea why it stopped or needed to be taken out of service, but I doubt that there was a mechanical problem causing it to lean.

 

[Dizfan4life]

Interesting..... too bad the monorails have been making headlines lately! On our most recent trip they were having monorail problems, the train was always "on hold", on a busy Saturday, but they didn't elaborate on what the problems were. I know it just took us a half an hour to go from the MK to Polynesian. My husband had to go back to our resort for something and upon returning they told him to take the boat across because the monorails were not working properly.

 

[Tiger926]

They were down several times last week - not sure if it was precautionary or if there were problems as CMs wouldn't tell us. There were a gazillion people everywhere and lots of ride/attraction malfunctions all week long too.

Tiger

 

[Cheshire Figment]

The very first line in the blog was "I received an e-mail report..."

If there had been any sort of major problem a couple of the local TV stations plus The Sentinel would have picked up and blown it out of proportion. And I can see the car tilting if they were stopped on a curve, as the beam does tilt in curves; it is just that the passengers do not notice the tilt when it is stopped. And a 20 degree tilt would be very unlikely anyway.

 

[indigo]

Hi

This is John from The Disney Blog. It was an emailed report, I get 3-5 of those a month. I don't post most of them. But for this report I had a collabrotive report. Plus with the other Monorail news, it became more newsworthy.

Safety first.

Best,

John / indigo

 

[mountdew1]

The monorails are old. That's about all there is to it. A 10 year old car tends to have more issues than a brand new car. Even if you maintain it correctly. Doesn't mean that the 10 year old car isn't safe to drive, just might have more problems.

 

[WUVmyDISNEY]

I am not a fan of the monorail, never have been so it is nothing to do with the events starting last summer. Having said that, in December I did ride the monorail and will continue to on future trips. I, just the other night told my husband I hate that part with the curve in the tracks because I always feel the banking and think I hope this thing doesn't fall off! lol

 

[doconeill]

It sounds to me like it was something as simple as a stabilizer wheelset, which pushes horizontally on the beam from the sides to keep the trainset centered on the beam and not sway, may have failed and allowed the car to tilt excessively. I believe they keep pressure on the beam with hydraulics like shock absorbers, so pressure could have been lost making it less stable.

I think 20 degrees is conceivable.

FYI, I am not a monorail engineer, and I'm applying general monorail design knowledge that may not apply to a WDW trainset.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We noticed that the monorails were down last week too. We had an ADR for Ohana and ended up taking the boat.

 

[cg1200]

I ride the NYC subways and Metro North Railroad fairly often. I'll take monorail any old day of the week...

 

[kaytieeldr]

Hmmm...no I haven't heard about this. But, I'm still using the monorail next month. I feel I'm safer on that than in my car driving around Massachusetts.

That's not fair. You're safer standing on an active airport runway than you are driving amid our Massachusetts drivers!!!

 

[Rora]

I try not to think about the dangers of riding the Monorail while I'm aboard. That blog post was rather scary (so was the recent crash, etc) but I'll continue to ride. It's just as safe as riding the busses, walking, driving my car, etc.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

This past December while my family and I were at WDW when there was some Monorail issues, with one of them not working or the whole Resort line going down. However in all the times we have been going to WDW we never had any problems with them before, so I guess last time was some bad luck and we will always continue to ride them no matter what.

 

[doconeill]

The monorail is going to have problems just because of its design similar to standard rail, if not more because of the lack of easy switching. One breakdown shuts down the beam and forces use of only the other beam or coordinating a back/forth shuttle system (which highly restricts the number of trainsets that can be used). There is no way to bypass the breakdown.

Whether breakdowns are more common now than 5, 10, 20 years ago is uncertain but probable to some level.

 

[TisBit]

As already mentioned from the editor of the blog, things happen all the time, but because of the accident last year, more minor reports will make the "news" because it is a hot topic. This kind of thing happens more often than we ever knew, but before no one cared. Now that there has been a fatality and it hit the headlines, the monorails will be under a microscope.

 

[Luvamouse]

That's not fair. You're safer standing on an active airport runway than you are driving amid our Massachusetts drivers!!!

I am with you there, kaytieeldr!! Simetimes I think the reason we drive to WDW from RI is to see how relaxing driving can be on the highways...once we get out of the North East that is