Monorail Teal Automation Update, Lime Update, Gray Update and Black Update

[NeonNinja]

A whole lot of updates from a Cast Member on Monorail red tonight. Here is an update on the colors that are in the title.

Teal
Rejected the new system so they are ripping out the system and putting it back on the track. Expected to be back in October or November.

Gray
Will be the next monorail to try the new system. So it is going off the track and will not be seen for quite a while.

Black
Black is curently in the shop getting a new fire supression system

Lime
Still in the shop won't be seen till well into 2015

 

[FettFan]

How does a monorail "reject" an automation system that is designed and programmed for it?

If anything I should think that if it doesn't work, they would leave the hard components installed and create a software patch, yes?

 

[R W B]

Yea, I'm not exactly sure how a solid object like a monorail can "reject" a totally new system that's installed??

What is taking so long for Lime to be repaired? I thought they were just using spare parts they alrady had and reprinting them?

 

[marni1971]

Going well then...

Good to know Thales are on top of things. Google them and "Manchester Metrolink TMS" for a recent example of their transit automation experience.

 

[NeonNinja]

Yea, I'm not exactly sure how a solid object like a monorail can "reject" a totally new system that's installed??

What is taking so long for Lime to be repaired? I thought they were just using spare parts they alrady had and reprinting them?

THat the whole front car needs to be repaired and rebuilt! As for teal it blew the circut breakers when it first came out with the new system but unfortunattly it didn't work.
SOurce from this was a Monorail Employee who I talled to last night on monorail red.

Oh yeah and one more thing I heard a new spiel today from tom kayne who is our monorail announcer.

3 beeps
Ladies and Gentle Men Our monorail is currently holding because One of our monorails which was gold is experiencing techinal difficulties

 

[nace888]

A whole lot of updates from a Cast Member on Monorail red tonight. Here is an update on the colors that are in the title.

Teal
Rejected the new system so they are ripping out the system and putting it back on the track. Expected to be back in October or November.

Gray
Will be the next monorail to try the new system. So it is going off the track and will not be seen for quite a while.

Black
Black is curently in the shop getting a new fire supression system

Lime
Still in the shop won't be seen till well into 2015

Well it's nice to know we'll essentially be down to 8/9 trains......

How does a monorail "reject" an automation system that is designed and programmed for it?

If anything I should think that if it doesn't work, they would leave the hard components installed and create a software patch, yes?

If something like that "rejects" the software, either it will crash or will cause malfunctions, whether it's designed for the train or not. The trains being as old as they are already fuss with the simplest stuff...

Yea, I'm not exactly sure how a solid object like a monorail can "reject" a totally new system that's installed??

What is taking so long for Lime to be repaired? I thought they were just using spare parts they alrady had and reprinting them?

Lime actually needs a brand new cab, like Peach did. They need to rebuild everything, and if anything is used from the old cab, it still needs to be transferred.

THat the whole front car needs to be repaired and rebuilt! As for teal it blew the circut breakers when it first came out with the new system but unfortunattly it didn't work.
SOurce from this was a Monorail Employee who I talled to last night on monorail red.

Oh yeah and one more thing I heard a new spiel today from tom kayne who is our monorail announcer.

3 beeps
Ladies and Gentle Men Our monorail is currently holding because One of our monorails which was gold is experiencing techinal difficulties

To expect Lime in 2015 is a bit much......... as well, did the announcement make the color anouncement or just the general holding announcement?? makes me wonder how a train will know if one in front will have technical difficulties...

 

[NeonNinja]

Well it's nice to know we'll essentially be down to 8/9 trains......


If something like that "rejects" the software, either it will crash or will cause malfunctions, whether it's designed for the train or not. The trains being as old as they are already fuss with the simplest stuff...


Lime actually needs a brand new cab, like Peach did. They need to rebuild everything, and if anything is used from the old cab, it still needs to be transferred.


To expect Lime in 2015 is a bit much......... as well, did the announcement make the color anouncement or just the general holding announcement?? makes me wonder how a train will know if one in front will have technical difficulties...

Sorry that was me who said the color not the annmoucner lol.

 

[Monorail_Red]

Those spiels have been around for a long time, but they are rarely used. The two spiels manually triggered by the pilot most often are the boarding call and holding spiel (there are buttons for those two hard-coded on the touch screens). There are a ton more that can be used, the one with the train ahead having technical difficulties is one of them. There is a spiel for deadheading (unloading a monorail completely, so it can go back to Shop for example), operating at a reduced speed, maintenance checks and key off key on (restarting systems on the monorail which causes interior lights to go out and A/C units to stop - basically sounds like monorail shut down or completely lost power) just to name a few. If you really wanted to have fun while on Resorts you can trigger an Epcot spiel, for example.

When I was there Joe Hursh was still doing the spiels - and actually at the time there was one spiel which was not updated when they transitioned from Matt Hansen to Joe Hursh in mid/late 2004. I believe it was the "monorail ahead of us is experiencing technical difficulties" spiel. Obviously they didn't miss that one when updating the spiels this time around.

It makes sense Silver is the next train to get the new equipment. Teal may be having other electrical issues. When I was on my CP, Silver was out for a few months for a total re-wire. I'm not sure if Teal received the re-wire yet, maybe that is playing a role in the "rejection" but just a guess. I'm sure other trains received the re-wire since then, but I'm not going to try understanding the "reaping" process of trains when it comes to selecting a train for the next project.

 

[Monorail Lime]

All of the trains will need the automation system eventually so it doesn't make much sense that they would "give up" on Teal instead of continuing to troubleshoot.

They've been working on Teal for what, at least six months now? At this rate the whole fleet will not be automated until into the 2020s...

 

[MaryJaneP]

Can someone explain to us the logic of spending time and money on wiring the entire old fleet with automation when it seems to make much more sense in planning for a new fleet that is already wired and functional with the automated system? We know that the new fleet is merely a hope but if the refitting of the existing fleet may not be completed until 2020, is the current refit plan a smart one?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Can someone explain to us the logic of spending time and money on wiring the entire old fleet with automation when it seems to make much more sense in planning for a new fleet that is already wired and functional with the automated system? We know that the new fleet is merely a hope but if the refitting of the existing fleet may not be completed until 2020, is the current refit plan a smart one?

New trains are far more expensive and the existing infrastructure beyond trains still has to be upgraded to work with automation. New trains also wouldn't be all that different from the existing trains.

 

[MaryJaneP]

New trains are far more expensive and the existing infrastructure beyond trains still has to be upgraded to work with automation. New trains also wouldn't be all that different from the existing trains.

New trains are very expensive, we agree. We disagree that new trains won't be all that different than existing fleet. New trains should be very different than existing trains at least in as much as automation. Does it make sense to buy new versions of decades-old technology?

Absent "upgrading" one test train to ensure compatability with other portions of "existing infrastructure", we still fail to see the cost (reduced monorail employees) or improved safety (zero incidents) that would justify outlay of money to piecemeal a refit of current fleet, especially since the old fleet, now upgraded for significant money and inconvenience, will be, or should be, soon retired.

Maybe this is just an example of the nextgen type of fiscal insanity. Somewhere we hear Carl Sagan saying "billions upon billions".

 

[DManRightHere]

Those spiels have been around for a long time, but they are rarely used. The two spiels manually triggered by the pilot most often are the boarding call and holding spiel (there are buttons for those two hard-coded on the touch screens). There are a ton more that can be used, the one with the train ahead having technical difficulties is one of them. There is a spiel for deadheading (unloading a monorail completely, so it can go back to Shop for example), operating at a reduced speed, maintenance checks and key off key on (restarting systems on the monorail which causes interior lights to go out and A/C units to stop - basically sounds like monorail shut down or completely lost power) just to name a few. If you really wanted to have fun while on Resorts you can trigger an Epcot spiel, for example.

When I was there Joe Hursh was still doing the spiels - and actually at the time there was one spiel which was not updated when they transitioned from Matt Hansen to Joe Hursh in mid/late 2004. I believe it was the "monorail ahead of us is experiencing technical difficulties" spiel. Obviously they didn't miss that one when updating the spiels this time around.

It makes sense Silver is the next train to get the new equipment. Teal may be having other electrical issues. When I was on my CP, Silver was out for a few months for a total re-wire. I'm not sure if Teal received the re-wire yet, maybe that is playing a role in the "rejection" but just a guess. I'm sure other trains received the re-wire since then, but I'm not going to try understanding the "reaping" process of trains when it comes to selecting a train for the next project.

The monorail trains have touch screens now? I remember riding in the cab in the 90's when I was little. It seemed like just a little center console with a dozen and a half buttons. I got to press one to start an announcement.

It's crazy how many upgrades they can do.

 

[nace888]

I'd imagine the new trains (if and when they come) would look similar to the current fleet, but ALMOST guaranteed they won't keep a Mark VI look. They'll more than likely still have a console, with a way to control the train BUT only in exponential situations, otherwise leaving them in automatic run. I'd imagine with them keeping pilots in a more standby position, they'll allow for custom (but trained and officiated) announcements, as well as the upgraded start-stop-door controls... noone's gonna know how the new fleet will be, but what they're doing NOW is testing trains on a new system to see if they operate, then allowing for new trains to be plopped, tested, and sent out no problem. To have an automated system means to be sure that the automation works before even spending more money on brand new trains and they don't work.

 

[lazyboy97o]

New trains are very expensive, we agree. We disagree that new trains won't be all that different than existing fleet. New trains should be very different than existing trains at least in as much as automation. Does it make sense to buy new versions of decades-old technology?

Absent "upgrading" one test train to ensure compatability with other portions of "existing infrastructure", we still fail to see the cost (reduced monorail employees) or improved safety (zero incidents) that would justify outlay of money to piecemeal a refit of current fleet, especially since the old fleet, now upgraded for significant money and inconvenience, will be, or should be, soon retired.

Maybe this is just an example of the nextgen type of fiscal insanity. Somewhere we hear Carl Sagan saying "billions upon billions".

We know what new trains would probably be like because the trains are still sold by Bombardier as the INNOVIA 200 series. Are you unaware of the fatal accident that really created the impetus to move towards automation?

 

[Monorail_Red]

The monorail trains have touch screens now? I remember riding in the cab in the 90's when I was little. It seemed like just a little center console with a dozen and a half buttons. I got to press one to start an announcement.

Back in 2003 Yellow was the guinea pig train for this, and I believe it was between 2005-2008 the rest of the fleet received the touchscreen interfaces.

 

[nace888]

We know what new trains would probably be like because the trains are still sold by Bombardier as the INNOVIA 200 series. Are you unaware of the fatal accident that really created the impetus to move towards automation?

There's actually no guarantee that it would be the Innovia 200 series to come to WDW. They may be similar, but for all we know, it's the Mark VIII, and Bombardier will probably release a new train after, known as the M-VIII...

 

[donsullivan]

It may be buried somewhere in this thread but I can't find it. When I was at Epcot yesterday I noticed some new (to me) additions to the monorail beam that appear to be a part of this. There are large vertical pipes that rise up from the side of the beam along the way to an square device (sensor?) at the top of them around the level of the stripe on the monorail train.

Are these permanent structures that would be there forever, or just a quick implementation during the initial testing phases that would be adjusted to a different location/level later? The concern comes from the messing with the clean visual lines of the monorail beam by having these sensors sticking up in the air all along the way. I have no idea how pervasive they are along the beam but I saw 2 of them over by Imagination yesterday and it made me curious.

 

[nace888]

It may be buried somewhere in this thread but I can't find it. When I was at Epcot yesterday I noticed some new (to me) additions to the monorail beam that appear to be a part of this. There are large vertical pipes that rise up from the side of the beam along the way to an square device (sensor?) at the top of them around the level of the stripe on the monorail train.

Are these permanent structures that would be there forever, or just a quick implementation during the initial testing phases that would be adjusted to a different location/level later? The concern comes from the messing with the clean visual lines of the monorail beam by having these sensors sticking up in the air all along the way. I have no idea how pervasive they are along the beam but I saw 2 of them over by Imagination yesterday and it made me curious.

Those were probably the speed sensor/triggers... I'd hope that they can put it around skirt level, so as to hide it a bit.

 

[lazyboy97o]

There's actually no guarantee that it would be the Innovia 200 series to come to WDW. They may be similar, but for all we know, it's the Mark VIII, and Bombardier will probably release a new train after, known as the M-VIII...

The most radical differences that exist amongst monorails that would be a true benefit of new trains (walk through trains) would require far more than just new trains. The existing trains can get new wiring, new motors, new bodies, just like has been done twice at Disneyland. It doesn't matter if they're not specifically INNOVIA 200 trains, they'll still be incredibly similar in design. The big changes between the Mark IVs and the Mark VIs were standing room and powered doors. New trains were needed due to the new larger size.