Driver killed in monorail crash....

[DisneyDadof3]

Anyone know why the EPCOT Monorail would be running at almost 2am if EPCOT closed at 10pm???

I too am thinking of my fellow CM and his family today!!!

Could be for people that find it much easier to park at Epcot and then hop to MK and then take the monorail back to Epcot.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

You're kidding, right??? Of course there are safeguards, and those safeguards probably have safeguards. But accidents happen...safequards fail. Happens every day. I have complete faith that Disney had done all that they could do. Inexplicable? Inexcusable?? Maybe so..if we were to find out that Disney dropped the ball in some way. If it were to be proved that it was something that could have been prevented, then fine, go ahead and use those terms. But until then, let's accept that nasty things happen.

amen, you took the words right out of my mouth. Look at Disney's track record. This is the first fatal monorail accident Disney has had in all the years of transporting people to and from places. I also have total faith in Disney, lets not jump to conclusions until we know ALL the facts and not just speculation.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Anyone know why the EPCOT Monorail would be running at almost 2am if EPCOT closed at 10pm???

I too am thinking of my fellow CM and his family today!!!

It's the same reason why you'll see the AK bus running at 8PM to/from Hollywood Studios when AK closed at 5PM... there are people who will park at one parking lot at a given park then park-hop via Disney Transport to another park. I don't know when they finally end the transportation, perhaps when the parking lot is finally clear or all four parks are completely shut down...

But it's very possible people who parked at the Epcot parking lot hopped over to MK.

 

[Sea-Donkey]

Info on the safety system:


For safety, trains must be kept at least two blocks apart during normal operation. A red MAPO indicates that train spacing has become unsafe. When a red MAPO occurs, the train's on-board computer locks out the pilot's propulsion control and applies emergency brakes. The pilot cannot resume control of the train until either the MAPO clears or the pilot presses and holds the MAPO override button.[4]

It is the pilot's responsibility to avoid a red MAPO during normal operation. When the MAPO switches from green to amber, this indicates that the monorail is approaching the train ahead. The pilot must stop the train before crossing into the next block of beam way and hence before the MAPO switches to red. Should a pilot cross the hold point and receive a red MAPO, this counts as a safety demerit against the pilot. If the pilot ever has three demerits on their record, then they will be transferred out of the monorails department and into a different role at Walt Disney World.[10]

Safety tests are performed daily to ensure that the MAPO system is working properly on each train. At the direction of the monorail station conducting the test, each train will intentionally overrun a hold point to verify that a red MAPO occurs and that the emergency brakes activate. Pilots perform tests in forward and reverse when bringing a train onto the system for the first time that day, and a forward test is again conducted mid-afternoon. The indications are called into Monorail Central with the emergency brake pressures.

A red MAPO will also occur when the pilot approaches a section of un-powered beam, a spur line, or a switch beam thrown in the direction of a spur line. Pilots must engage the MAPO override when moving trains through a switch to the spur line. MAPOs occurring due to safety tests, switching, or beam power loss do not count as demerits against the pilot.

 

[Sea-Donkey]

Previous incidents:

[edit] Incidents
On February 14, 1974, 7:23 am, a monorail train crashed into a train at Magic Kingdom station injuring three people.[13]

On June 26, 1985, a fire engulfed the rear car of a train en route from Epcot to the Transportation and Ticket Center at Magic Kingdom. The 40 passengers on board escaped through a side window onto the roof of the train requiring further rescue by fire officials. Seven people were treated for smoke inhalation and other minor injuries.[14]

On August 30, 1991, a train collided with a tractor near Disney's Contemporary Resort as the tractor drove closely in front of it during a commercial film shoot. Two cast members were treated at a hospital for injuries.[15]

On August 12, 1996, an electrical fire occurred while the train pulled into the Magic Kingdom station. The driver and five passengers exited safely.[14]

 

[MinnieGirl33]

His name has been released on the Orlando Sentinel site. He was only 21.

His poor parents

 

[Planogirl]

That fire that engulfed a car in 1985 sounds scary. I somehow missed that.

I feel so bad for this young fellow. Something somewhere failed, that's for certain, and that's really all we know right now.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

That fire that engulfed a car in 1985 sounds scary. I somehow missed that.

I feel so bad for this young fellow. Something somewhere failed, that's for certain, and that's really all we know right now.

I sounds very scary.... Fire scares me a lot, I don't like it at all- I'd probably FREAK out.

Somehow I missed that also. No wait, I was -2 years old

 

[Amy162]

I don't know about Disney phone policies but isn't texting the reason why that big train crash happened in Los Angeles? And didn't they speculate that's why the trains crashed outside of DC? I think they did a little story on this... a lot of transportation crashes happen while people are texting.

Personally, I would love to see all phone related activities completely banned while driving with a HUGE fine ffor getting caught. It's not fair, it's just as bad as driving while intoxicated.

Texting had nothing to do with the crash in DC, there wasn't driver error at all. A switch that tells the system when there are trains on the track ahead had just been replaced and was malfunctioning, so it showed that the track ahead was vacant.

I think we should give the benefit of doubt to the drivers before we start blaming them... let the investigations be done and let them rest in peace.

 

[Sabi]

In my anterior post:
God Bless CM Family.
I feel that Monorails are a most secure and safe transport system.
The Walt Disney World monorail system has been in continuous operation since 1971.
The current model of monorail began operation in 1990, with the full fleet of 12 in service by early 1991. The Mark VI has a higher passenger capacity as well as improved air conditioning, door systems and improved safety features.
The 13.6 mile monorail system will carry over 150,000 guests to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks on an average day.
More than 1000.000.000 guests from 1971, only 1 tragedy ends bad.

 

[phalynx]

This from micechat.com from a poster. It does make sense.

Hi guys,

I'm a former Mark VI railie, and I stay in touch with a fair number of folks in the department. Here's what I've heard. I'm going to stress that it's what I've heard, and I can't represent this as absolute fact. Take that for what it's worth.

The short, short version is that Monorail Central cleared Monorail Pink in reverse into the Concourse (the Epcot side of the TTC) station without being aware that Monorail Purple was still in the station. Pink was cleared with MAPO override, meaning that the driver would have disabled the anti-collision system (there are a variety of legitimate reasons for doing this), and would have been acting on faith that Central wouldn't have cleared him into a dangerous situation because it sometimes is difficult to see everything you'd want to in the cab mirrors, particularly at night on a curve such as the one he was backing along. For whatever reason, Purple just sat in the station without attempting to avoid the accident, and was struck by Pink moving at the full 15 mph allowed during MAPO override. From what I understand, the driver of Purple was a new transfer from another department. Why Central would not have made sure the station was clear before moving any trains is a bit of a mystery, but I've heard that no one was actually in the control console (the control tower-looking place at Concourse) at the time. To my knowledge, there were no electrical or mechanical problems in play here. Again, I have to stress that I'm relating what I've heard, and I was not there. This is a second-hand account from others more familiar with the situation.

This would explain everything if true. It also would mean that the safety systems did what they were supposed to do and would have been disabled. It would be human error causing the accident and a possible freaked out driver of the other train not able or being able to move the train backwards. Either way, I would call it an accident. Dumb if human error, but not unbelievable. We are human, we make errors.

 

[Traveliz]

Anyone know why the EPCOT Monorail would be running at almost 2am if EPCOT closed at 10pm???

I too am thinking of my fellow CM and his family today!!!

The monorail hours for yesterday were until 2:30 AM for Epcot and 3 AM for MK - in certainly had to do with the fact MK closed at 1 and even though Epcot closed at 10 it was almost 10:30 before Illuminations was over and a long time after that before people were out of the park. When we rode the monorail back to the TTC at 11 many got off and headed right to the Ferry indicating they were going to MK until close.

Even though parks close at a certain time its in actuality alot longer time to get everyone cleared out and on their way.

Liz

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Texting had nothing to do with the crash in DC, there wasn't driver error at all. A switch that tells the system when there are trains on the track ahead had just been replaced and was malfunctioning, so it showed that the track ahead was vacant.

I think we should give the benefit of doubt to the drivers before we start blaming them... let the investigations be done and let them rest in peace.

But it was initially thought to be the reason why they crashed in DC until they found out the real cause.

 

[MusicalDisneyDreams]

This is a horrible thing to have happened. My prayers go to the family of the driver and everyone involved in the accident.

Most of us cannot believe this happened, but this just proves that anything can happen at any moment. None of us knows when we will die, when a tragedy will strike. So we need to spend time with loved ones, live life to the fullest, and do what we can when we can. That could have been anyone we knew on that monorail. It could be someone we know in the future. So, my advice is: Don't just let life pass you by. Live it to the fullest

 

[Tinks1984]

Just seen this over on our UK boards, but had to come across here also to leave my thoughts and prayers for the CM's family, friends and for everyone who works at Disney... tragic accident.

R.I.P to the wonderful Cast Member

 

[ms.ojo]

This from micechat.com from a poster. It does make sense.

Hi guys,

I'm a former Mark VI railie, and I stay in touch with a fair number of folks in the department. Here's what I've heard. I'm going to stress that it's what I've heard, and I can't represent this as absolute fact. Take that for what it's worth.

The short, short version is that Monorail Central cleared Monorail Pink in reverse into the Concourse (the Epcot side of the TTC) station without being aware that Monorail Purple was still in the station. Pink was cleared with MAPO override, meaning that the driver would have disabled the anti-collision system (there are a variety of legitimate reasons for doing this), and would have been acting on faith that Central wouldn't have cleared him into a dangerous situation because it sometimes is difficult to see everything you'd want to in the cab mirrors, particularly at night on a curve such as the one he was backing along. For whatever reason, Purple just sat in the station without attempting to avoid the accident, and was struck by Pink moving at the full 15 mph allowed during MAPO override. From what I understand, the driver of Purple was a new transfer from another department. Why Central would not have made sure the station was clear before moving any trains is a bit of a mystery, but I've heard that no one was actually in the control console (the control tower-looking place at Concourse) at the time. To my knowledge, there were no electrical or mechanical problems in play here. Again, I have to stress that I'm relating what I've heard, and I was not there. This is a second-hand account from others more familiar with the situation.

Okay, speculation time.

Why would Purple have just sat in the station and let himself get hit? Well, it was a new driver from what I understand, and when Pink got close enough to trigger Purple's MAPO system, it's quite possible that the driver of Purple freaked a little bit (any time a driver gets an unexpected red MAPO light, it gets their attention), and was so intent on looking at his console trying to figure out what was going on that he simply did not see Pink barreling down on him. I suppose it's also possible that the Concourse station didn't have power at the time, preventing Purple from leaving, but I rather doubt that was the case.

Why would Central clear a train into an occupied station? Inattention, most likely. As I said, I'd heard that Central was not at the console at the time of the accident. IMO, if this is the case, it's the root cause of the accident and whoever was Central should be strung up.

Oh my goodness. Am I reading this right? Are you saying the driver who was killed, was actually in the purple train stopped at the station while the other pink train slammed into him backing into the station? How horrible.

 

[BellaDomani]

This is an awful, awful tragedy and my heart goes out to the CM as well as his family.

If the account provided is true and pink backed into purple and purple was unable to move, it would explain everything. And I'm wondering if perhaps purple couldn't back-up because people were getting onto or off of it. If that was the case, it would mean Austin sacrificed his life to save the lives of the guests boarding or deboarding his train. Because there was a family on board, it would seem that perhaps they had just boarded.

 

[FlyingPegasus]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the CM and his family, and also to the family that was on the monorail at the time of the accident.

I was very shocked when I woke up this morning and my daughter told me about the accident.

My DD got her first and last monorail license on Friday night. I told her no more riding with the driver.

They have the monorail entrance at the Contemporary blocked with plants and a guard standing there telling people to take the buses. They said it would be shut down all day today and he did not know if it would be open tomorrow or not.

I went out on the 4th floor observation deck and noticed the lime green monorail is parked at the Contemporary station.

I feel bad for the people at MK today when they go to leave the park tonight. It will be a long wait to get on one of those boats.

That being said we have 4:30 reservations for dinner in Epcot, and I think we will just pile into our van and drive over there, as I am sure the buses will be packed as well.

Last night after watching MK fireworks from our balcony, we went to the other end of the resort so we could watch the Epcot fireworks. We were right over the monorail tracks, and I remember commenting that there seemed to be more monorails on the tracks, and they were coming by one after the other.

Again, my thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected by this tragedy.

FlyingPegasus & qruthie, CR CL MK view 7/2-12/09

 

[Lil Bo Peep]

Sending out my thoughts and prayers to the CM family.

 

[Hardy]

I have not posted in quite awhile, but just wanted to add I am thinking of the driver and his family, what a terrible tragedy.