Breaking News, Monorails at WDW collide

[rtobe]

As others have said, we should not lose sight of the fact that a young person lost their life in this tragedy. My condolences to the young man's famly and the Disney CM extended family.

 

[PleaseStandClear95]

Theres a lot of theories floating around. Pink backing-up makes sense (in some regard). Coming into Concourse in reverse there's a curve which would block a visual sight. But then why would purple be in the station with the doors closed. You can see in the video that the door to the first car was manually opened using the little handle on the side of the train.

As for the "Central" command not being in their post. This is really not that big of deal. From that seat the only beam-way and stations that he/she could have visually seen was Concourse, and the two main track @ TTC. Don't forget there are the stations in Magic Kingdom, Poly, GF, Contemporary, and EPCOT. None of the switches (except for the ony just outside TTC on the way to the Contemporary) are able to be seen from this location. Yes -if someone would have been in the console then something may could have been done to kill the power.

Actually - I just had a thought. Back in the 90's when I was there on the 'rails a couple of us had to wear a little garage door opener type device on our belts. This device killed the power on in the station. It was required to have these operating and they were tested very often. The primary purpose was to kill the power for the safety of the guests but in this case...

If someone would have killed the power the Emergency breaks of the monorail would have applied and the stopping distance would have been quite short (at 15 MPH). Anyway - more what-ifs.

While we're all thinking about Austin and his family lets not forget the other driver and all of the other cast and guests who were witness.

Chris

 

[zulemara]

Theres a lot of theories floating around. Pink backing-up makes sense (in some regard). Coming into Concourse in reverse there's a curve which would block a visual sight. But then why would purple be in the station with the doors closed. You can see in the video that the door to the first car was manually opened using the little handle on the side of the train.

As for the "Central" command not being in their post. This is really not that big of deal. From that seat the only beam-way and stations that he/she could have visually seen was Concourse, and the two main track @ TTC. Don't forget there are the stations in Magic Kingdom, Poly, GF, Contemporary, and EPCOT. None of the switches (except for the ony just outside TTC on the way to the Contemporary) are able to be seen from this location. Yes -if someone would have been in the console then something may could have been done to kill the power.

Actually - I just had a thought. Back in the 90's when I was there on the 'rails a couple of us had to wear a little garage door opener type device on our belts. This device killed the power on in the station. It was required to have these operating and they were tested very often. The primary purpose was to kill the power for the safety of the guests but in this case...

If someone would have killed the power the Emergency breaks of the monorail would have applied and the stopping distance would have been quite short (at 15 MPH). Anyway - more what-ifs.

While we're all thinking about Austin and his family lets not forget the other driver and all of the other cast and guests who were witness.

Chris

they still wear those garage door looking devices to shut down the power...which makes you wonder, why wasn't it shut down when it was apparent a collision was going to happen?

 

[Superjoint_Ritual]

I was more concerned about this than Michael Jackson.

 

[carmie3377]

I was more concerned about this than Michael Jackson.

I know, me too. When I heard Michael Jackson died, I did a quick google to confirm and that was it. I've been reading updates all day long about the monorail incident. So tragic that someone so young had to lose his life. My heart aches for his family.

 

[LudwigVB]

Theres a lot of theories floating around. Pink backing-up makes sense (in some regard). Coming into Concourse in reverse there's a curve which would block a visual sight. But then why would purple be in the station with the doors closed. You can see in the video that the door to the first car was manually opened using the little handle on the side of the train.

As for the "Central" command not being in their post. This is really not that big of deal. From that seat the only beam-way and stations that he/she could have visually seen was Concourse, and the two main track @ TTC. Don't forget there are the stations in Magic Kingdom, Poly, GF, Contemporary, and EPCOT. None of the switches (except for the ony just outside TTC on the way to the Contemporary) are able to be seen from this location. Yes -if someone would have been in the console then something may could have been done to kill the power.

Actually - I just had a thought. Back in the 90's when I was there on the 'rails a couple of us had to wear a little garage door opener type device on our belts. This device killed the power on in the station. It was required to have these operating and they were tested very often. The primary purpose was to kill the power for the safety of the guests but in this case...

If someone would have killed the power the Emergency breaks of the monorail would have applied and the stopping distance would have been quite short (at 15 MPH). Anyway - more what-ifs.

While we're all thinking about Austin and his family lets not forget the other driver and all of the other cast and guests who were witness.

Chris

The report I've heard is that Pink was trying to back up onto Express, and that Shop misinformed Central that the switch was on. Without further speculation as to what procedures were violated and who is to blame, this seems to be the most logical explanation as to how this accident could possibly have happened. The loss of a life, the trauma of those who were involved and who witnessed it, the shock of us watching the news, and the reality check for those seeking an escape while on vacation in the world of magic that Walt promised them make the story so sad.

 

[JeniferRabbit]

I know everyone is saying 'thank god no families were in the cockpit', but my thought was, if there were, they would have very likely been able to stop it. If he fell asleep, they could've woken him up, or if he went unconsious, they could've figured out how to stop the train and avoid the crash.

Such a tragedy - thoughts go out to the family.

 

[noladave]

am I the only person that sees something wrong with constantly overriding the safety system?? To me, overrides are for rare uses, not constant (maybe daily, or even multiple times a day) events.

While I don't drive a monorail, or pretend to be a safety officer that is responsible for procedures at a giant corporation, I think Disney needs to re-think their procedures.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but going with the backing up theory - would you really do this without some kind of visual aid, especially when the collision/safety system is being overridden??

Lot's of questions to be answered. It will be interesting to see just how much information gets out about this. The family of the young man should see a complete investigation, and be able to have their own legal representative present during the investigation.

 

[Thumper & Bambi]

I was more concerned about this than Michael Jackson.

AMEN to that! I thought I was the only one who felt this way!

 

[kpadalik]

If Monorail Pink was only backing up at a max of 15 MPH, would it really have been able to cause so much damage to Purple? Also, if the poor driver of Purple saw Pink backing up towards him, wouldn't he have tried to at least get out? I don't know...just some thoughts on this horrible tragedy. Prayers to his family

 

[andrewilley]

We all know you can't get to other cabin. but if they were going to do this move, someone should of got on the other end at the last stop.

Yes, that did occur to me too. Personally I'm rather uncomfortable with a routine procedure of driving a monorail backwards with the MAPO system disabled, and with the driver located in the front cabin essentially 'blind' to the track that the vehicle is traversing.

As one poster has said, a simple 'reversing' camera located at both ends of the train and viewable from both pilot seats would be a minimal cost solution that might make such procedures a lot safer.

Andre

 

[PleaseStandClear95]

Quick remark on the constant disabling comments.

Typically the system is only By-passed during switching operations. The switches and spurs don't have the MAPO responders on them which means the system must be bypassed. I won't go into the technical details, but it wouldn't be possible for the current system to work with switches open or during switching operations.

There's a reason a person is driving the train, and safety is that reason. It appears in this case we had a cascading failure of multiple people and non-people safety systems.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

If Monorail Pink was only backing up at a max of 15 MPH, would it really have been able to cause so much damage to Purple? Also, if the poor driver of Purple saw Pink backing up towards him, wouldn't he have tried to at least get out? I don't know...just some thoughts on this horrible tragedy. Prayers to his family

15 mph on a train weighing several thousand tons equals a ton of kinetic energy. Think of the analogy that it's easy to stop a fast moving feather or raindrop, but nearly impossible to stop a slow rolling car down a hill.

The ends of the monorail trains are mostly plexiglas and fiberglass-not a lot to absorb all the energy of a train, which is why it's so crunched.

That video will be very helpful to the castmember's family as they pursue legal proceedings against Disney.

For those of you who think it's tacky to take videos-recording the truth of an incident and making as many people aware of it as possible is always a good thing. Remember, Disney is magic second, corporate behemoth first.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Quick remark on the constant disabling comments.

Typically the system is only By-passed during switching operations. The switches and spurs don't have the MAPO responders on them which means the system must be bypassed. I won't go into the technical details, but it wouldn't be possible for the current system to work with switches open or during switching operations.

There's a reason a person is driving the train, and safety is that reason. It appears in this case we had a cascading failure of multiple people and non-people safety systems.

I think that's what bothers me the most-how much internal decay is going on there that we don't see until something like this happens-where not one thing messes up, but there are fundamental screw ups all the way down the line that suggest lack of maintenance, lack of training AND lack of oversight...

Actually what bothers me the most is that a young man had to die for the truth to come to light here.

 

[Schrute Farms]

That video will be very helpful to the castmember's family as they pursue legal proceedings against Disney.

For those of you who think it's tacky to take videos-recording the truth of an incident and making as many people aware of it as possible is always a good thing. Remember, Disney is magic second, corporate behemoth first.

It's telling that the cast member working the platform was most concerned with "no cameras" than anything else once he realized it was being filmed.

 

[SpaceMtnFan]

I saw this story on the news this morning. I am sad for the family of the Monorail Pilot. Still the Monorail is the safest way to get around Walt Disney World. This was serrious accident that had Tragic death that was terrible. My prayers go out to the family of the Monorail Pilot and the passengers that were hurt on both Monorails

 

[LudwigVB]

The monorail reopened today after an inspection by OSHA. Disney has added additional verification procedures for switch positions (which substantiates the version I heard of what happened) and supplemented their safety protocols.

 

[lugnut33]

first of all, there was general confusion at the time, so no one knew what was flying....you can see they're all a bit slow to react....

second, about the taping..

i'm sure the investigators will be very happy to have that videotape to look at...

no doubt there are also security cameras in the area, but that film will certainly help them to know exactly what the trains looked like before the trains were cut open to release the driver...and to see exactly what state the passengers were as they got off the train that was hit...

i wouldn't have filmed it, but that's mostly because i never film anything and rarely take pictures, even when there's a camera in my hand...
but i'm not going to criticize the guy for doing it....some people just automatically start to photograph whatever they see....in order to document it....it's a reflex...without thinking about it..

Just some comments:

My condolences go out to the family of the cast member, very sad indeed.

I quoted the above because while the video may have been intense, I agree with what the poster has to say. The NTSB will be very happy to have that video not only from a what happened stand point, but from a safety training stand point. It's obvious the Disney cast member next to the train had no training whatsoever in regards to safety. The guests were doing more than him.

I also believe this is going to come down hard on Disney:

In his online profile, Wuennenberg referred to working 12- and 14-hour shifts at Disney recently. Park spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez would not say how long Wuennenberg had worked the day of the collision, calling it personnel information and citing the ongoing investigation.

That doesn't mean the driver was at fault, but anyone along the line working that those long shifts could be at fault.

I expect the NTSB to also thoroughly examine the maintenance logs. I'm sure OSHA will also be right on this.

Now to my opinion and my opinion only: This will ultimately come down to human error caused by all the cutbacks happening in the name of shareholder value. I truly believe cast members at WDW and DL are really overworked and underpaid, whether that be monorail pilots, monorail maintenance personel, or even monorail station attendants.

 

[disneyholic family]

The monorail reopened today after an inspection by OSHA. Disney has added additional verification procedures for switch positions (which substantiates the version I heard of what happened) and supplemented their safety protocols.

given that version of what happened - basically human error - it makes sense that it would have been permitted to reopen...
accidents do happen....and hopefully lessons are learned and appropriate procedures implemented to prevent them from happening again....
but how awful for everyone who was directly involved, especially that poor boy and his family....terrible...

 

[safetymom]

For all those people that criticize the CM standing on the monorail platform he could have been in shock!! I think we need to give him the benefit of the doubt until we have walked in his shoes.