My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Austin Wuennemberg. It is such a tragedy. He was so young and seemed to love his job. I am sure he will be dearly missed.
I looked at the monorail past accident records. They only have five incidents (including yesterdays):
(from wikipedia.com)
On
June 26, 1985, a fire engulfed the rear car of the six-car Mark IV Silver monorail train in transit from the Epcot station to the Transportation and Ticket Center. This fire predated onboard fire detection systems, emergency exits, and evacuation planning. Passengers in the car kicked out side windows and climbed around the side of the train to reach the roof, where they were subsequently rescued by the Reedy Creek Fire Department. Seven passengers were hospitalized for smoke inhalation or other minor injuries. The fire department later determined that the fire started when a flat tire was dragged across the concrete beam, heated due to friction, and ignited.
In
1974, a monorail train crashed into the train ahead. One driver and two passengers were injured.
On
August 30, 1991, a monorail train collided with a diesel maintenance work tractor near the Contemporary Resort as the tractor drove closely in front of the train to film it for a commercial. Two cast members were treated at a hospital for injuries.
An electrical fire occurred on a train pulling into the Magic Kingdom station on
August 12, 1996. The driver and the five passengers onboard exited safely. Two bus drivers who witnessed the fire and assisted were overcome by smoke and treated at a nearby hospital.
On
July 5, 2009, a 21-year-old cast member from Kissimmee, Florida, was killed when the monorail train he was driving collided with another monorail train. The incident happened on the Epcot line at the Transportation & Ticket Center station around 2:00 a.m.as one train was being transfered from the Epcot monorail line to the Magic Kingdom line. Two employees and five guests who were on the trains were uninjured. OSHA and park officials inspected the monorail, and the monorail reopened on July 6, 2009, after new sensors and operating procedures were put in place.
It is pretty amazing how efficient the system has run for so many years without an incident. Personally, I have no problem riding it again. It was an accident. Disney is not in a safety bubble. An accident can happen there too. Just look at the car accident records recently on Disney property.
I listened to an interview with a past Monorail Pilot (he wanted to remain anonymous). What he said made allot of sense and may be what happened in this case. He said they have to pull the monorail past the station at TTC and then a switch is hit to put it on a separate line and then they
back up to get onto the other line to where they take the monorail for the evening. To do this they have to override the safety system onboard. From reports of the recent accident, it is "speculated" no one hit the switch to change tracks. So, the monorail pilot drove back into the other monorail. Note, this is just speculation. But, sounds very close to what happened on Sunday. Only an "official" report will tell the true story. I am curious why the media seems to be blaming the deceased for the crash. Why do they do that? If the above ends up being true, the other driver seems to be at fault. I assume the other pilot was in the train going backwards since he came away with minor injuries. Then again, the blame game will not bring Austin back to his family. Such a shame and tragedy.
Jennifer
