Monorail breakdowns?

[sotoalf]

I've read a couple of posts in which monorail breakdowns or malfunctions have occurred with greater frequency. Is this true? Let's read more details.

 

[HappyMommy2]

I haven't heard anything about that but I imagine if you post your question on the Disney Rumors and News board you might get some interesting responses.

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

It was brokendown for a whole day in February 2002 when I was there...it was a mess..I stayed at the Contemporary and got "stuck" at Epcot because they had no backup plan for people at monorail hotels.

But, that was the only time it ever happened to me.

 

[sotoalf]

Stranded at Epcot? Odd. I'd imagine dispatch would send out extra buses to theme parks.

In the late 80s and early '90s, the monorail hotels were also serviced by a gold-flagged bus all day, which would pick up the slack from 11 pm (when the monorail stopped running) to 2 am (when Pleasure Island closed). This made late-night resort hopping a lot easier.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

As a former Monorail Pilot, I'll chime in here...

The monorails are extremely tempermental machines. Add to the fact that all the components are proprietary, and the companies that made them have all long gone out of business.

Our trains were designed by Disney, and manufactured by TGI, a subsidiary of Bombardier Transportation Group. Trains were manufactured between 1987 and 1989. The new Mark VI trains officially took over in 1991, when the last Mark IV train was retired.

Since these trains were essentially custom built, there were no solid state off the shelf parts that they could use. So, companies were contracted out to built proprietary systems for the trains. Since then, most (if not all) of the contracted companies have gone out of business. As such, replacement parts are non-existant. Most parts have to be sent out for repair.

In the past 5-6 years, Disney has been trying to upgrade the trains, and convert them over to more solid state off the shelf type parts. Propulsion systems have been overhauled, communication and monitoring systems are currently in the process of being upgraded. Monorail Yellow has a new control system, and as soon as all the bugs and kinks get worked out, they will be installed on the other trains as well. In the mean time, all the trains recieved new carpets a few years ago, and are in the process of being repainted.

At any rate... because everything is so old and fragile, the trains aren't as reliable as they could be... once all the system upgrades go into place, and possibly a few others that I haven't mentioned, the trains should be quite a bit more reliable than currently.



On a side note, most downtimes are minimal. Most faults can be fixed by a quick recycle. (90 sec) If a train needs to go back to shop, the process only takes 10 minutes on average, depending on the beam.

As for that day in Feb 2002... I remember that day, and there was actually a good reason why the trains were down for awhile. However, I cannot really say.


When the trains are out of service, they do run buses instead. Buses run from Epcot to the Transportation & Ticket Center, internally known as the "Red Express." For the MK Resorts, the Gold route comes active. And when the monorail is down, or demand warrants, we run "Mouse House" which is MK <--> TTC.

 

[Parrothd]

Back in the early/mid-70s, I was there during the first, all-out power outage at WDW. It was late night, as the Magic Kingdom was closing. I was about 14 or 15 at the time and rode the monorail from the "Polynesian Village" over to the Magic Kingdom to get that one-last-souvenir that I forgot to purchase earlier in the day. It was our last day in the park (the only park at the time) before we left to drive back home.

I went in (with my hand-stamp), purchased my souvenir item and was walking back up the resort monorail ramp when it happened. Everything went dark. Obviously, confusion ensued.

I immediately weighed all of my options, turned around and walked over to the tram stop (what is now the bus stop). It was (at least) our 3rd trip to WDW and I knew the extremely simple (by today's standards) transportaion system like the back of my hand. I took the tram back over to the Transportaion & Ticket Center, then simply walked over to the "Polynesian Village" -- which was unheard of back then because there were no walkways connecting the two - and it seemed much farther because the newer 4 buildings (Tokelau, Tahiti, Rapa Nui and the Tangaroa Terrace) weren't built yet.

When I got there, everyone was walking around with candles (the kind in the enclosed glass holder like you find on a table in a restaurant - I think my dad later told me that the CMs were handing them out to the people that were walking around). Anyway, I made it to our room in Tonga (which is now Hawaii) to learn that my dad was up at the Great Ceremonial House, worried that I was stuck on one of those monorails that was stranded out on the tracks.

I walked back up to the monorail station to find my dad waiting for me with one of those candles in his hand. Since this was such a unique situation, we stayed there for awhile and watched as a small gas (or diesel) powered tow vehicle was towing each monorail into the nearest station so the passengers could get off. I don't really remember how long the whole "rescue operation" took, but the power was out for quite awhile......well into the night.

That was a night I'll never forget. Since then, I understand that WDW has incorporated quite an extensive back-up power system (or at least greatly improved the system they had at the time).

Ah, the memories!

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

I don't believe the back up power system can handle the load of the monorails. We've had several power outages that I can remember, and each time, the trains had to be towed to let the passengers disembark. (Although thankfully for one of them, through some miracle, all the trains were in stations at the time)

 

[sotoalf]

These posts have been very informative: learning about the monorail, how small WDW was in the '70s, backup options.

But this topic begs the question: does Disney foresee a time when the monorails will become obsolete? In other words, will the cost of repairing the monorails outweigh the cost of replacing the system altogether? I'm sure lots of guests (including me) would freak out, of course.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

The Mark VI trains have a projected lifespan of about 30 years. They're only about halfway into that, so I doubt anything will happen anytime soon.

But who knows... we might get a Disneyfied version of the new Las Vegas MVI trains. (Which are based on the Disney design, but with tons of modifications and improvements)

 

[Parrothd]

Where were the Mark VI trains made? Didn't I read once where it was a Swiss company that made them?......or, was that the Mark IVs? Or, am I totally off-base?

Where are those Vegas MVI trains made?

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Mark IV's were designed by Disney and manufactured by Martin-Marietta here in Florida. The Mark VI's were designed by Disney, and manufactured by TGI (subsidiary of Bombardier) in La Pocatiere, Canada.

The Mark V trains out in Disneyland were rebuilt off the Mark III chassis by Messerschmitt Bolkow Blohm in Germany.

 

[mikelan6]

More than likely, WDW would probably get driverless monorails like those found at the Tokyo Disney Resort.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Our current trains are capable of that option. However, the magical experience of being able to ride in the front with the driver allows for the Pilot's job security.

Also, Disney would prefer to have a driver, in the case of mechanical problem, or whatnot. Disney does a lot of things different than normal, for increased safety reasons.