Monorail To Everywhere - How Cool Would That Be?

[Yellosno]

I think it would be really cool if they did this but it would be hard to do

 

[Sani]

I just got back from a stay at the Contemporary, and I really appreciated the monorail service. It would definitely be a benefit if it could be extended to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, but monorails are apparently the most expensive form of public transportation, for whatever reason. But I wonder: Could the monorail track be retrofitted to accommodate modern light-rail cars? I realize "The Walt Disney World Light Rail System" doesn't carry the same connotation of wonder and futurism that the monorail does now, but could it then be more easily maintained, upgraded and expanded?

 

[Oglet]

If you factor in all costs (beams, concrete, electricity, metalwork, labor, construction expenses, new platforms, new employees, and of course new Monorails), the projected cost PER MILE (yes, PER MILE!) of additional track would be approximately $20,000,000.

20 Million is nothing and if that's all it would take to build the track then they would be all over it.

I don't think anyone has any real idea how much it would cost (at least not on here anyway)

The numbers would have to be easily well into the hundreds of millions of dollars, who knows it wouldn't surprise me if it would be 1 - 2 billion dollars and i'm just pulling that number out of thin air.

 

[flicx]

Heck I wish they would just retain the old hours on the ones they are running now!

 

[doconeill]

I just got back from a stay at the Contemporary, and I really appreciated the monorail service. It would definitely be a benefit if it could be extended to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, but monorails are apparently the most expensive form of public transportation, for whatever reason. But I wonder: Could the monorail track be retrofitted to accommodate modern light-rail cars? I realize "The Walt Disney World Light Rail System" doesn't carry the same connotation of wonder and futurism that the monorail does now, but could it then be more easily maintained, upgraded and expanded?

The monorail is too unique to take advantage of commodity equipment and bidding processes. That's among the reasons why it is so expensive. But it's uniqueness is also a feature. I'm sure Disney's original idea expected the monorail technology to become more widespread.

Obviously to switch to light rail would require a wider deck on the beam (even if they could get narrow gauge equipment, which isn't common any more, and might not be desirable for stability on a narrow beam anyways), and depending on the weight of the equipment and the weight distribution, might required alterations to the beams and supports.

Not sure how capacity would be handled - I believe the "crush" capacity of current modern LRVs is about 200 per unit...WDW couldn't get near that with strollers, etc. so you could probably get close to the same capacity as a monorail with a three-unit train.

 

[iheartdisney]

20 Million is nothing and if that's all it would take to build the track then they would be all over it.

I don't think anyone has any real idea how much it would cost (at least not on here anyway)

The numbers would have to be easily well into the hundreds of millions of dollars, who knows it wouldn't surprise me if it would be 1 - 2 billion dollars and i'm just pulling that number out of thin air.

The imaginary $20 Million estimate is per mile. If you wanted to get from the TTC to Animal Kingdom, you are that is an 11 mile route. That is $200,000,000.
You want it to go to DHS? That is another $120,000,000.
There just isn't the payoff to entice them to spend that type of money, when a bus is working just fine. Disney isn't the visionary company it once was, it is a corporate machine. They aren't going to spend money without making it back, and extended monorail service offers no payback.

 

[tzvdmd]

I would like to see Disney fix what is there now before they added any monorail lines. But here is something to think about.

http://www.imagineeringdisney.com/blog/tag/monorail

 

[Silrana]

There is more than just the expense involved holding the monorail system back. A good portion of the WDW acreage is not suitable for the weight of the monorail track. The soil is soft and marshy, and a good chunk qualifies as wetlands and comes under environmental regulations.

We were told a story by a CM years ago that they started to lay track to the AK, but part of it sunk into the ground so the idea was abandoned. I remember laughing off the story, thinking that surely pre-construction testing would have prevented something like that. But recently in Tampa a newly built section of elevated highway collapsed because the support beams vanished into the ground, so maybe the story isn't so crazy after all!

 

[doconeill]

There is more than just the expense involved holding the monorail system back. A good portion of the WDW acreage is not suitable for the weight of the monorail track. The soil is soft and marshy, and a good chunk qualifies as wetlands and comes under environmental regulations.

We were told a story by a CM years ago that they started to lay track to the AK, but part of it sunk into the ground so the idea was abandoned. I remember laughing off the story, thinking that surely pre-construction testing would have prevented something like that. But recently in Tampa a newly built section of elevated highway collapsed because the support beams vanished into the ground, so maybe the story isn't so crazy after all!

Although it is doubtful that they began construction of any monorail beam to AK, the story is not far off a related one - and that is of the fabled Venetian/Mediterranean Resort on the Seven Seas Lagoon.

Along the monorail beam from the TTC towards the Contemporary, there is some prime resort real estate - a fan-shaped area. That was to be the location of the Venetian Resort, but like the Asian and Persian Resorts that were originally planned in the early days it was canceled due to economic issues.

Some years later they decided to build another resort, redesigned and called the Mediterranean Resort, at the same location. So they went to check the suitability of the land by driving test pilings in to the ground...and they sunk. So the plan was shelved again, hopefully for the day when the land had settled and firmed sufficiently.

Reportedly they revisited the site a couple years ago, but it was still found unsuitable.