The real problem with the ideas he mentions about using a shuttle track zone with "hides" to allow for train passing, is that the Monorail system, by it's nature, does not allow for easy or efficient switch use, unlike light rail or the peoplemover systems in many airports.
There are 2 big issues that would pretty much make the idea of using regular switches a nonstarter.
1. a monorail train is very limited in it's speed when moving over a switch beam. The switch time is also a major factor since it takes longer to move the switch compaired to "traditional" rail systems.
2. It would basically break the existing MAPO system used to maintain train distances. The MAPO system utilized 3 seperate "tones" sent across the power bar that the trains can 'hear'. If it sees 3 tones, they are MAPO green and good to go. if they only see 2, then it's MAPO yellow and the train must stop at the next designated hold point. With only 1 tone, They go MAPO Red and the emergency stop is activated. (A train will "block" all the tones ahead of it in the line so the train following can't hear the tones beyond the preceeding train.). Because the power bar is alongside and part of the track, when the switch is thrown, it 'breaks' the continuity of the power bar and prevents the preceeding tones from behind heard..... (It also results in track sections going without power while a switch is performed).
Because of the fact these MAPO tones are broken during a switch operation, during current switch procedures, the Monorail operators must operate in what's known as a MAPO Override. It's this same Override that allowed the horrific accident to happen a couple years ago during the EPCOT Beam shutdown.... and why the switching procedures have changed so drastically as a result in order to add additional safeguards to prevent the chances of an incident in the future from occuring.
In General.... Running in MAPO override is something you don't want to do on any sort of regular basis because you are essentially turning off the built in safety features. It's one thing to do it during certain circumstances such as beam open/closes... but it'd be an entirely different thing to disable a key safety feature while operating with guests onboard.
