Monorail Update January 2015

WeekendGM

WeekendGM

Active Member
Original Poster
Rumor:
Pipes above the resort monorail line in the Contemporary resort are leaking and damaging the ceiling. The work will require that the resort monorail station be closed for a period to fix the issues in the ceiling above the station. The resort monorail will go into a shuttle configuration with one train starting from the Polynesian continuing to the Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom before reversing back to the Polynesian. This is just currently a rumor without a set date for starting but training begins next week for new shuttle procedures.

News:
Many noticed Monorail Lime returned at the beginning of December with a brand new cab. That's it though for all the time it sat in the shop the only part repainted was the damaged part of the cab. The entire rest of the train was not repainted or overhauled except for Car 1 which received new carpets. Also while Teal got an entire overhaul for its suspension while sitting in shop, Lime returned as loose as ever.

Monorail Teal returned close to Halloween last year after going for automation installation early last year. That installation was only supposed to take a few months. It was tested on Epcot after returning with the new TCS (train control system) active for a short period afterwords. Relations between Disney and Thales can be described as strained with Disney being as accommodating to Thales as possible with Thales still needing more. The TCS was supposed to be active this month. Currently Teal is the only train with the new equipment onboard. Soon Monorail Silver will be the next train to go back for the new TCS upgrade. This one assuredly is only going to take a few months also.

Monorail Black is currently the testing for a new Fire Suppression System. Replacing an original Alison heat detection system with a system that along with heat detection also has the capability to suppress one fire onboard the train. The system has one charge of water mist that can be dispersed in a selected area. The areas can be in the cars, wheel wells and other onboard systems. The dispersal points are the small black nodes around the top of the interiors of the cars.
 
wdw71fan

wdw71fan

Well-Known Member
as Bombardier and Hitachi laugh in the corner.


As far as replacing the trains goes... and I know I'm opening a can of worms repeating this.. The opinion at TDO is "The Steam Trains are older"..
 
K

KYWDW

Active Member
wdw71fan said:
as Bombardier and Hitachi laugh in the corner.


As far as replacing the trains goes... and I know I'm opening a can of worms repeating this.. The opinion at TDO is "The Steam Trains are older"..
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So dissapointing and shows they completely don't understand the steam trains. Lilly Belle is still gone too.
 
W

WDW Monorail

Well-Known Member
hpyhnt 1000 said:
So basic mechanical maintenance is still suspect, no plans are underway to upgrade the interiors, and complete automated control is still years away (if it happens at all maybe).

Could the people in charge of this stuff be any more incompetent?
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Are you kidding??

The mechanical and electrical integrity of the system is of the utmost importance. The interiors are actually really good for 24-26 year old trains which have had interior modifications performed over the years.
 
Monorail_Red

Monorail_Red

Well-Known Member
Sped2424 said:
Can someone tell me at this point of spending if it would be cheaper to just buy new a new fleet of monorails? At least in the long run.
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If that were the case they would not be doing the upgrades they are currently undertaking.

lazyboy97o said:
No. The same sort of upgrades are carried out on transit systems around the world.
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Exactly. A monorail train or any other transit vehicle is much different than your regular automobile. With a regular automobile, once you get 100k miles or more, not all but in many situations it is more cost effective to replace the vehicle. Not the case with large-scale transit. As long as the underlying structure/chassises are in good shape, which they are for the most part, the trains are good. They're built to last and as I've said here and on other forums many times, for the amount of mileage these trains see on a daily basis, they are serving extremely well.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Monorail_Red said:
Exactly. A monorail train or any other transit vehicle is much different than your regular automobile. With a regular automobile, once you get 100k miles or more, not all but in many situations it is more cost effective to replace the vehicle. Not the case with large-scale transit. As long as the underlying structure/chassises are in good shape, which they are for the most part, the trains are good. They're built to last and as I've said here and on other forums many times, for the amount of mileage these trains see on a daily basis, they are serving extremely well.
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The Mark VIIs at Disneyland are using Mark III chassis and Mark V bodies. Those chassis date back to the 1960s, much older than the Mark VIs.
 
hpyhnt 1000

hpyhnt 1000

Well-Known Member
WDW Monorail said:
Are you kidding??

The mechanical and electrical integrity of the system is of the utmost importance. The interiors are actually really good for 24-26 year old trains which have had interior modifications performed over the years.
Click to expand...

Not denying the electrical systems are important. But this automation process has been going on for years and only one train as of now has the equipment? And to not do something to spruce up the interiors while individual trains are out of service is shortsighted (I also disagree that the interiors are currently "really good.")

Maybe incompetent is too harsh a term. But certainly there seems to be some questionable decisions/outcomes made regarding the monorail fleet.
 
W

WDW Monorail

Well-Known Member
hpyhnt 1000 said:
Not denying the electrical systems are important. But this automation process has been going on for years and only one train as of now has the equipment? And to not do something to spruce up the interiors while individual trains are out of service is shortsighted (I also disagree that the interiors are currently "really good.")

Maybe incompetent is too harsh a term. But certainly there seems to be some questionable decisions/outcomes made regarding the monorail fleet.
Click to expand...

Delta airlines has budgeted X amount of dollars for the refurbishment of the flight deck instruments of it's MD-80 fleet which it plans on retaining until the mid 2020s. Keep in mind all of the planes of that model are between 18 and 30 years old right now. The flight decks will become glass flight decks similar to the somewhat newer MD-90s in the fleet. They've been going at it for a couple of years now with the supplier/ integrator and to my knowledge not a single aircraft has been modified.

An aircraft's cockpit may be more complex than a monorail cockpit but the principal remains the same.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
hpyhnt 1000 said:
Not denying the electrical systems are important. But this automation process has been going on for years and only one train as of now has the equipment? And to not do something to spruce up the interiors while individual trains are out of service is shortsighted (I also disagree that the interiors are currently "really good.")

Maybe incompetent is too harsh a term. But certainly there seems to be some questionable decisions/outcomes made regarding the monorail fleet.
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Automation has been talked about a lot, but actual work has only rather recently begun. There is also some logic to not redoing interiors and the automation at the same time. It's more concurrent changes to track and troubleshoot.
 
A

andyman8

Member
WeekendGM said:
Rumor:
Pipes above the resort monorail line in the Contemporary resort are leaking and damaging the ceiling. The work will require that the resort monorail station be closed for a period to fix the issues in the ceiling above the station. The resort monorail will go into a shuttle configuration with one train starting from the Polynesian continuing to the Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom before reversing back to the Polynesian. This is just currently a rumor without a set date for starting but training begins next week for new shuttle procedures.
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Any idea of how long it will take to repair the pipework?
 
bfox1183

bfox1183

Member
erstwo said:
I wish they would also do something about the interior of the trains!!!
I love Disney, not usually a complainer, but the El in/ around the loop in Chicago is cleaner and better maintained than the interior of a WDW monorail train. Sad.
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Most of the EL lines in Chicago are fairly clean, but if you try linking the Blue line in there, you are sadly mistaken...
 
Brian

Brian

Well-Known Member
71jason said:
Or build a garage within walking distance of MK, make the fleet resort/EPCOT transfer service only.
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I don't think a garage would happen. Part of the point of WDW was that guests didn't have to see large structures like that while in Magic Kingdom, like they do Disneyland. It explains quite well why they put the parking lot so far away from the park entrance.
 

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