Driver killed in monorail crash....

[TheSilverTherapist]

Everything I've heard seems to indicate someone at control screwed up letting the purple monorail back into the station with the anti-collison off while the pink one was still there. That all clear should never have been given. This won't happen again, because Disney will almost certain add so many more layers of safety on top of what they already to make sure a mistake like this never happens again.

It was probably the 21-year-old guy's last run of the night when he got hit. May the Force be with him and his family.

As for riding in the front... I'm going down in September with my little brother and I fully intend to take him into the front. The monorails are ridiculously safe and a mistake like this won't happen again. Quite honestly, if it wasn't so late at night, I don't think this mistake would have happened at all.

 

[moburg]

Each Monorail's emergency braking process is tested twice daily - in the morning before the first station, and mid afternoon. I'm so surprised that MAPO failed.

Based on the story starting to emerge, the MAPO system was disengaged.

 

[kat3668]

My prayers go out to Austins family... what an awful tragedy.

 

[TJM1976]

I just can't grasp the reality of this happening.

Each Monorail's emergency braking process is tested twice daily - in the morning before the first station, and mid afternoon. I'm so surprised that MAPO failed.

My thoughts are that the driver must have fallen asleep, and somehow held down the MAPO override button. (if the pilot has not responded to the MAPO warnings, the train will cut off the pilot's control and engage the emergency brakes. It's apparently fool proof)

I can't imagine what could have happened. God bless his family. Was this a College Program student? Being that he was 21 and attending school?

Also, good thing there were no passengers riding in the front as well.

The driver was a local resident with family also residing locally.

 

[seashoreCM]

Come to think of it, backing a train can be done effectively with people standing on the ground to observe safe operation. There must be enough people on the ground so there is always someone in advance of the train's movement observing the track, or the train has to be going slow enough so the observer at the rear can walk along.

Ordinarly several hundred feet of track (several thousand feet for regular railroads) have to be clear from the rear of the backing train on out. Enough so another train coming down the track forward normally and coming upon the scene will have space to stop.

A yellow signal light means to be prepared to stop at the next signal. The train proceeding normally "owns" the track past the yellow signal. For backing purposes the signals have to be manually set so any train coming down the track normally encounters a yellow signal and doesn't come upon the backing train prior to reaching the next (red) signal.

 

[Cmbar]

My prayers are with Austin's family, with his soul in heaven and with all the CM's who have lost a co worker.

Everything I've heard seems to indicate someone at control screwed up letting the purple monorail back into the station with the anti-collison off while the pink one was still there. That all clear should never have been given. This won't happen again, because Disney will almost certain add so many more layers of safety on top of what they already to make sure a mistake like this never happens again.

.

I am pretty sure the PINK was backing into the stationary Purple. This would make sense because obviously the Purple's driver would have been the one killed and the Pink would have been reversing and not known that it was backing into the stationary purple letting people off the train. We will see more as the investigation continues. It does not appear that anyone was asleep. Both drivers were awake and if anyone was asleep it was at Central Control that gave the OK for Pink to back into the terminal. Very sad...

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I would have thought they had a camera in the rear of he monorail for something like this.

They will now.

 

[Kurby]

WOW - we've been in the garden all day and just came in and found this.

how very sad. i really wonder what on earth could have happened to make this happen.

i wonder if they'll find the breaks failed or if it was the driver at fault.

either way it's very sad that someone died

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I just can't grasp the reality of this happening.

Each Monorail's emergency braking process is tested twice daily - in the morning before the first station, and mid afternoon. I'm so surprised that MAPO failed.

My thoughts are that the driver must have fallen asleep, and somehow held down the MAPO override button. (if the pilot has not responded to the MAPO warnings, the train will cut off the pilot's control and engage the emergency brakes. It's apparently fool proof)

I can't imagine what could have happened. God bless his family. Was this a College Program student? Being that he was 21 and attending school?

Also, good thing there were no passengers riding in the front as well.

What likely DID happen is prominently posted in the thread. It would, however; require some reading of previous posts to discover it. It would likely end speculations to read the post as it is the only scenario that actually makes sense. It was posted by a former monorail pilot who has been in touch with contacts on site.

 

[nicknamy1996]

This is so sad... so many people including myself thought of the monorail as the safest way to travel.

I have only skimmed around clicking some of the pages of this thread, but I would say you are still correct. I doubt there is any safer mode of travel... possibly in history. How many millions of passengers and 1 death. That has to be the (if not one of the) safest on the planet. But even the one hurts for anyone connected with the young man! Such a pity, my thoughts are with the family.

 

[Poohbear123]

Wow...so sad to hear, prayers for his family.

 

[DoomBuggie]

I'm in absolute shock!

We just got back today from the world and saw this on the news while waiting for our flight to depart in Orlando. Scary thing is we were riding the monorail to Magic Kingdom on the 3rd and my BF mentioned how he was curious about the safety measures taken for this kind of transportation.

I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

My prayers are with Austin's family, with his soul in heaven and with all the CM's who have lost a co worker.





I am pretty sure the PINK was backing into the stationary Purple. This would make sense because obviously the Purple's driver would have been the one killed and the Pink would have been reversing and not known that it was backing into the stationary purple letting people off the train. We will see more as the investigation continues. It does not appear that anyone was asleep. Both drivers were awake and if anyone was asleep it was at Central Control that gave the OK for Pink to back into the terminal. Very sad...

The Pink mono was backing up expecting a switch to the MK Express track in order to be taken to the Monorail station for nightly storage. This is all SOP.

Apparently, the switch track was never engaged and apparently, it's very difficult from where the Pink Pilot was to really tell the switch wasn't made in the mirrors until it is too late. He didn't notice because control (whether automated or human) didn't put him where he was suppose to be.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I have only skimmed around clicking some of the pages of this thread, but I would say you are still correct. I doubt there is any safer mode of travel... possibly in history. How many millions of passengers and 1 death. That has to be the (if not one of the) safest on the planet. But even the one hurts for anyone connected with the young man! Such a pity, my thoughts are with the family.

Try over a billion. It's a simple math problem. I'd rather ride a monorail at WDW than cross the road in front of my house as far as safety is still concerned.

 

[copperbrick]

Do people really have no decency? The moderators have politely and respectfully asked that people not try to link to the video or to post about it on these threads. If people are desperate enough to check out the videos, I am sure they are quite capable of finding them on the internet, but this just seems unnecessary and tacky to promote a website just to "check out" this tragic video. This is a tragic event for WDW, as well as for the Castmembers' family and friends, and my heart goes out to them.

Bravo, Jaleaton.

I pray the family, the guests, and of course Disney will all get through this as smoothly as possible. I believe that all things happen for a reason . . . it is very hard sometimes to think of what the reason might be. Faith above reason can very often be a challenge, and this is one of those times.

Sending love to all whose hearts are as equally as saddened,
Copper

 

[queenmum2]

I'm sick to my stomach reading this story. It is so sad and my heart goes out to the family of the deceased, as it does to the driver of the other train.

Tracie

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Oh come on... I think there is a little bit of overraction here. What PP said wasn't wonderful but it wasn't the worst thing either.

 

[Feralpeg]

The local news has announced that the monorail system will be down again on Monday. The CM killed was a member of the college program.

 

[copperbrick]

oh come on... I think there is a little bit of overraction here. What pp said wasn't wonderful but it wasn't the worst thing either.

Forgive, what is pp?

 

[brighteyes]

Forgive, what is pp?

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