Monorail Crash

[nnanciejean]

My son said that the trains involved in the accident were no longer at concourse when he showed up for work this morning. Hopefully that means that the monorail is up and running again. Hope this helps.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have deleted all links to that video. If anyone wants to view them, then it is best to just head to youtube or such. But, out of respect for those involved, I think it's best to not have that link here. Thanks for understanding.

 

[FigmentChick]

My thoughts are with the family, WDW family, and friends of the Monorail CM who passed away. I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

My thoughts too are with the family of the 21 year old. So tragic. So sad.
It is wishfull thinking that Disney is without accidents, but unfortunately it does happen there too. I've been sad about this since I found out yesterday. We vacationers of course hold the well being of CM's above our vacation comforts. I always thank bus drivers and such.

This makes me think of the people that do not listen to CM's. It makes me so mad as the CMs are trying to avoid accidents.

 

[Brer Chump]

I have looked at many articles regarding this accident. Every one of them state that "Disney authorities" are investigating the incident. No local, state or federal agency is investigating this? I know that Disney property is private (actually it is its own government subdivision) but some other agency should also be looking into to this. I have a hard time trusting a company investigating itself in an incident when civil litigation is likely to result. It's not that unlikely that if they were to determine that they were negligent in upkeep of the system, they would just rule it operator error to mitigate their responsibility.

 

[lilmissdisney216]

Just got home last night from Up North vacay and couldn't help but to feel so shocked over the news of this incident at the parks. Deeply saddened and shocked that a young man died and was around my age (that fact sent chills up my spine, it was either that or the coldness that the fan is creating my room or it could be both). Prayers go out to the family and anyone else involved.

DBF and I are planning our WDW visit for next year and he's now a bit hesitant of riding on the monorail now that that has happend. I told him that Disney should have the issue resolved long before we even get to the World and that stuff like this rarely happens and when it does they make sure to take every precaution to make sure its safe for future riders. very thankful that the children and others involved were able to make it out safely uninjured.

 

[DizBelle]

Saw it on CNN, considering how many miles these things run every day, week, month, year, its amazing how safe these are. There are many fortunate things that happened like there was no families sitting in the front nose.

Maybe its time to upgrade the monorails to new ones too, maybe losing to front compartments (yes tragically) will encourage Disney to replace them (still doubtful).

New monorail trains were recently put in place at Disneyland. Perhaps new trains at WDW was going to happen anyway.

 

[DizBelle]

My husband is a seasonal monorail driver and he is shocked and saddened by this news. The monorails are designed with an emergency feature that stops them within so many feet of each other, so clearly something went horribly wrong.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the driver.

I'm curious, does this system require human intervention or is it all automatic?

 

[Missytara]

My heart goes out to the family and friends of the young man that was killed in the accident. Also, the cast members, who must really be grieving. May you know that people out there are thinking of you all today.

 

[andrewilley]

I'm curious, does this system require human intervention or is it all automatic?

The MAPO breaking system is automatic, however it can be overriden manually in very specific circumstances (such as, as seems to be the case yesterday, when reversing over the connecting spurs).

Andre

 

[DizBelle]

As the mother of a monorail cast member, I am so saddened by the news of the accident. It's great to see so many on here that are supportive of why the monorail system was shut down for a day. On the other hand, it is also heartbreaking to see others who worry only about their travel being slightly interrupted due to such a tragic circumstance. The cast members work at Disney because they truly love being part of the magic that the guests experience on their vacations. As many know, Disney isn't the top payer in the area, but many still feel honored to work there. I know that's how my child feels. Cast members are encouraged to let children look and touch the controls during their ride. This is no way affects the safety.

The accident that happened wasn't under normal circumstances. The wdwmagic.com website has a very good detailed drawing of what went wrong and why the accident happened. Different procedures are put in place at the beginning and the end of each day to get the trains to and from the shop. This is why it happened.

The monorail cast members are hurting deeply to lose such a wonderful young man. Working at Disney appears different than your other normal job. These people are part of a family and feel the pain and joy in what their fellow cast members are going through.

So yesterday as I was getting updates about the happenings, my husband and I couldn't help but shed some tears for this young man and his family. Although we did not know him, our child did.

Can you provide a link to this drawing? I can't find it.

 

[madge]

Can you provide a link to this drawing? I can't find it.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showpost.php?p=3615832&postcount=826

 

[madge]

The entire monorail system is down. It most likely will remain down until they know that it is safe to run the monorail.

I've seen a couple of reports on the Theme Park board that the monorail will be operational sometime today (if it isn't already).

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Oh my--the drawing makes it more clear. But it concerns me--not that I would fault Austin--but where was the chain of command that permitted him to radio to someone to get the train to stop. You can see in those stations--he would have seen the train coming.

Maybe he expected it to stop?

There's a missing link somewhere.

 

[nnanciejean]

Can you provide a link to this drawing? I can't find it.

I wish I could post the link but it won't let my since I have fewer than 10 posts. But go to wdwmagic.com, look on the home page and go to where it says Monorail Accident - view. Double click on that and go to page 56 for the drawing.
If you go to earlier pages there is also a very good explanation of what most likely happened. It seems to have been written by a monorail driver.

Also, to answer a concern that someone has out there about Disney investigating this accident alone, I'm hoping that isn't true. However, I do feel that Disney monorail operations will be the ones to solve the mystery and need to keep the proper authorities in the loop.

 

[poohbear95]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the young man's family and his Disney family.

 

[safetymom]

I hearing that also that the monorail may go back into service today.

 

[ncsbracergp94]

Not to put fault on anyone just yet because we are all really speculating at this point but based on that drawing.

I've seen posts from people regarding the lack of visibility using the mirrors on the cabs and others blaming control for allowing him to back up without verifying the track switch and or the station being clear to sensor malfunctions etc etc.

Based on this drawing though it seems to me that if the driver of pink was paying attention, he would have noticed immediately that he was on the wrong track because there would have been a track outside his left window when it should be outside his right window. I think there were a lot of failures on the part of multiple cast members. Again I say this ONLY if what has been speculated here is accurate.

Aside from all of this though. Who would design a safety system that needs to be overridden in order to move backward? Why would it not just change the direction of the MAPO to look the other way?

 

[mrsksomeday]

Disney World monorail crash: Monorail will reopen with extra safety features - OrlandoSentinel.com

Jason Garcia Sentinel Staff Writer 11:02 AM EDT, July 6, 2009


Walt Disney World is reopening its monorail system today -- with new safety sensors added to monitor track switches, according to a note to employees this morning.

The move comes a little more than 24 hours after a predawn collision killed one monorail pilot. The collision occurred as one of the trains was being transferred off the system's Epcot line, which ferries guests between the Magic Kingdom and Epoct, according to Disney's note.

Disney told its employees that investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have "released" the monorail system back to the resort.

"We have completed a thorough safety inspection and system checks to verify that it is safe to operate the monorail for our guests and cast," Disney said. "We've added additional verifications of these track switch positions, supplemented our safety procedures and protocols for these operations, and communicated these changes to our Transportation partners."

A Disney spokeswoman said the resort had no immediate comment.

 

[walt's assistant]

Several alleged eyewitnesses told the media they saw Purple ram into Pink. We don't know if this is true or not.

From the photos and video we've seen, Purple would have been the train arriving from Epcot. Pink would have been the one that transferred (or was transferring) off of the spur...provided that the transferring theory is even true.

Terrible, just terrible...