Figment2005
Well-Known Member
I can't go into any details sadly.
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Hearing news of a monorail crash today.
- Thread starter raven
- Start date
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
I understand that. I have to be vague to protect people's jobs with what I post as well.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
I'm well aware of Thales and it's reputation (I know them from their defense electronics group) and that they BUILT the system, I'm not sure however that THALES is actually doing the integration work which is where the screwups seem to be originating from.
You can have the finest hardware on the planet but if the intergrator has no idea what they are doing, Well the results are never pretty.
Thales staff are working onsite. Other than the usual sub-contracting of work installing the system along the beam itself, which has been completed for quite some time, I believe Thales is doing the rest. It's really a pretty minor project from their perspective, 12 trains isn't much.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Guess Disney never heard of magnafluxing, x-rays or ultrasonic inspection for load bearing components
Starting to see a grassy-knoll-magic-bullet kind of conspiracy theory starting to happen here.
daveywilks
New Member
View media item 972
Monorail Ducktape
Monorail Ducktape
ExMonorailCM
New Member
WOW. That must have been extremely frightening for whoever was driving the monorail (as well as the tractor). I'm just now hearing about this after seeing some friends posts on Facebook, I can't believe they're going through this againExcuse my crude drawing but here you can see where the work tractor was in relation to the monorail from the marks on the roof. I certainly wouldn't want to have been sitting in that seat. I suspect the tow hook, which is the first part of the monorail frame came in contact with the tractor and that's what stopped it.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
No, we just may be off on the narritaive of how this happened.
Two prevailing theories, gotta work it back and figure out which one is right
Tom
Beta Return
I believe in the philosophy that the simplest answer usually suffices.
That said, given that the tractor was intentionally on the rail, the power was likely off. It was likely sent out because Coral went down during the test, and could no longer operate under its own power.
And based on how far into the cab the tractor went, it would seem more likely that the tractor was pushing the train and either the train seized up (brakes locked) or a tow rod of some sort broke. The tractor is gas-powered, and would have kept driving into a train that no longer had any momentum or was stopped entirely.
Or, the tractor was pulling the train, stopped for some reason, and the train's momentum caused it to rear-end the tractor. Perhaps it was coming down the hill and the train overtook the tractor.
One way or another, something was obviously not thought completely through. They've towed trains hundreds of times, but never when an automation system was supposedly in charge. And if they were pushing the train, rather than pulling, physics is not in their favor.
Regardless, a very costly mistake, and likely a big setback in the automation trials, since I don't believe every train has been outfitted yet, right? Wasn't it just a couple trains that had the full computer system installed? With Coral now out of service, this severely limits their testing abilities.
That said, given that the tractor was intentionally on the rail, the power was likely off. It was likely sent out because Coral went down during the test, and could no longer operate under its own power.
And based on how far into the cab the tractor went, it would seem more likely that the tractor was pushing the train and either the train seized up (brakes locked) or a tow rod of some sort broke. The tractor is gas-powered, and would have kept driving into a train that no longer had any momentum or was stopped entirely.
Or, the tractor was pulling the train, stopped for some reason, and the train's momentum caused it to rear-end the tractor. Perhaps it was coming down the hill and the train overtook the tractor.
One way or another, something was obviously not thought completely through. They've towed trains hundreds of times, but never when an automation system was supposedly in charge. And if they were pushing the train, rather than pulling, physics is not in their favor.
Regardless, a very costly mistake, and likely a big setback in the automation trials, since I don't believe every train has been outfitted yet, right? Wasn't it just a couple trains that had the full computer system installed? With Coral now out of service, this severely limits their testing abilities.
Monorail_Red
Well-Known Member
Ditto.
Nubs70
Well-Known Member
If tug was pulling the monorail and the tow bar broke or became unhitched:
The tug would accelerate at the same time the monorail would decelerate, therefore no crash.
If tug operator panicked and hit the brakes, yes their would be a crash. A pretty good crash due to the kinetic energy of a moving monorail.
The tug would accelerate at the same time the monorail would decelerate, therefore no crash.
If tug operator panicked and hit the brakes, yes their would be a crash. A pretty good crash due to the kinetic energy of a moving monorail.
Disone
Well-Known Member
WDW is self insured. They don't have to pay for insurance because they have the financial means to cover any losses they may incur. Still, this is a set back for the monorails if this was just due to the automation test.
Now I don't want to sound like a plant, but I hear it was a weather balloon.
French Quarter
Well-Known Member
It's just a flesh wound.
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
I'd say order a dozen completely new modern day design monorails - prices keep going up I'm sure they could pay for it and it be cheaper than all the lawsuits and freebies they have to give away from monorail "issues"
French Quarter
Well-Known Member
That is certainly what I have heard reported.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Even if they self-insure there is usually a reinsurance carrier who is on the hook for really large losses, Many companies self-insure to 1-10 million and reinsurance covers losses beyond that. BUT you still need to meet underwriting criteria.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Still makes you wonder who is running this show , But I guess that's what happens when a CPA is making decisions an engineer would be making in the real world. Pre-Iger the monorail had a flawless safety record for decades, Post Iger at least 3 major crashes (major defined as damage to trainset taking longer than 30 days to repair and the death of an pilot.