Monorail Accident

[BadTigger]

First off dont be worried cars are still much more dangerous then the monorails. I would stil lride a monorail everyday over a car.

Also does anybody know the company who makes the monorails? Is this a disney engineered thing or is it a third party who made the system?

I think its Ted's Monorail company.

The Mark I built by Alweg

The Mark II by Alweg

The Mark III by Alweg

The Mark IV by Martin Marietta

The Mark V rebuilt by Messerschmitt Bolkow Blohm

The Mark VI by Bombardier

The Mark VII by Burke Design & TPI Composites

And I would ride in front of the monorail right now. If she doesn't want to go to WDW thats one less person in the lines.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Regarding the photo of the two monorails of the TTC esplanade, I'm hearing two conflicting reports. One was that the initial crash pushed to two trains out there from the station and that Pink then pulled the two trains forward into the station where the video was then shot. The other theory is that the trains came to rest inside the TTC area and that the photo was taken when the monorails were backed up so that an evacuation of the driver from Monorail Pink could be made. Both reports could be true, but I'm leaning toward the 1st since the doors of monorail purple had not yet been opened and you can see they were pried open during the rescue attempt.

-John
The Disney Blog

None of my sources (up to 6) support either of those theories.

All of my sources say that Pink went through the station and struck Purple south of the station, like in the photo.

 

[janoimagine]

I'd need someone from monorails to actually say where the hold point and blocks are for the Epcot beam. I'm not willing to speculate on things I don't know or have good sources telling me.

Either way, Two things:

1 - That photo shows it clearly overtop of a guest area south of the station. Somehow the trains were moved into the station, where they were still today.

I have read several reports that state the photo you are referring too, showing the trains outside the TTC was taken after the video. That would somewhat explain the confusion in the timeline between the picture and where the trains are now. The only reason I can think of was that they moved pink back into the TTC so the pilot could evacuate, which would have allowed the photo to be snapped with the impact point outside the TTC, but in order to do so, they must have determined the pilot of purple was already dead, because anyone knows you never move vehicles in an accident, specifically when you have injuries. My guess is after the pilot of pink was evacuated, they either towed or pushed the trains back under the TTC to hide the impact point from the public's eye. However this is just my speculation.

 

[jiminy.cricket]

OMG I just heard about this!

 

[lazyboy97o]

I have read several reports that state the photo you are referring too, showing the trains outside the TTC was taken after the video. That would somewhat explain the confusion in the timeline between the picture and where the trains are now. The only reason I can think of was that they moved pink back into the TTC so the pilot could evacuate, which would have allowed the photo to be snapped with the impact point outside the TTC, but in order to do so, they must have determined the pilot of purple was already dead, because anyone knows you never move vehicles in an accident, specifically when you have injuries. My guess is after the pilot of pink was evacuated, they either towed or pushed the trains back under the TTC to hide the impact point from the public's eye. However this is just my speculation.

To which reports are you referring? The supposed photographer, when interviewed on CNN, seemed to indicate that this photo came from almost immediately after the collision.

 

[BadTigger]

I have read several reports that state the photo you are referring too, showing the trains outside the TTC was taken after the video. That would somewhat explain the confusion in the timeline between the picture and where the trains are now. The only reason I can think of was that they moved pink back into the TTC so the pilot could evacuate, which would have allowed the photo to be snapped with the impact point outside the TTC, but in order to do so, they must have determined the pilot of purple was already dead, because anyone knows you never move vehicles in an accident, specifically when you have injuries. My guess is after the pilot of pink was evacuated, they either towed or pushed the trains back under the TTC to hide the impact point from the public's eye. However this is just my speculation.

If the picture was after the video the doors would have been removed. The picture occurred first, there was also CNN reports that people had to run from under the beam because of stuff falling off the trains, thats a few pages back in here.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I have read several reports that state the photo you are referring too, showing the trains outside the TTC was taken after the video. That would somewhat explain the confusion in the timeline between the picture and where the trains are now. The only reason I can think of was that they moved pink back into the TTC so the pilot could evacuate, which would have allowed the photo to be snapped with the impact point outside the TTC, but in order to do so, they must have determined the pilot of purple was already dead, because anyone knows you never move vehicles in an accident, specifically when you have injuries. My guess is after the pilot of pink was evacuated, they either towed or pushed the trains back under the TTC to hide the impact point from the public's eye. However this is just my speculation.

Like i said, I have no idea how the trains got from Point A - south of the TTC - to Point B - in the station, where they are now.

Clearly they moved north into the station at some point to evac the guests off Purple.

 

[HMF]

I think its Ted's Monorail company.

The Mark I built by Alweg

The Mark II by Alweg

The Mark III by Alweg

The Mark IV by Martin Marietta

The Mark V rebuilt by Messerschmitt Bolkow Blohm

The Mark VI by Bombardier

The Mark VII by Burke Design & TPI Composites

And I would ride in front of the monorail right now. If she doesn't want to go to WDW thats one less person in the lines.

Does anyone know how soon the Mark VIII's will come out?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Wow. Just wow. Just in from work where I got a message to this.

Lots of speculation. Lets not do that now. We all have theories. Let us just think of all those all involved, guests, CMs, families.

Exactly right.


However, is there ANY concrete information here? I'm not about to read 20 pages of theory. Sorry.

 

[majortom1981]

hmm

If a sensor on the track was to fail would all the trains stop ?

I know on roller coasters if a sensor stops working it estops all the cars on the track . so on the monorail if a sensor stops working do all the monorail trains stop ? If this happens can a monorail driver over ride this and manually controll it?

 

[EpcotFanForever]

One more oddity - if the driver of Pink was indeed trying to back-up to switch beams, he would only have to go as far as the station to clear the switch. Regardless of whether or not the switch was thrown, there is no reason he would need to back-up as far as the plaza.

In any event, crash analysis in general shows that multiple failures must occur for an accident to happen. Rarely is an accident the result of one thing going wrong. So it appears that 1) the switch between tracks may not have occurred, 2) Pink overran the station (if it indeed was backing up), and 3) Purple was possibly either moving forward or in the wrong place.

As Lee has stated several times, we need to wait to hear more.

 

[majortom1981]

One more oddity - if the driver of Pink was indeed trying to back-up to switch beams, he would only have to go as far as the station to clear the switch. Regardless of whether or not the switch was thrown, there is no reason he would need to back-up as far as the plaza.

In any event, crash analysis in general shows that multiple failures must occur for an accident to happen. Rarely is an accident the result of one thing going wrong. So it appears that 1) the switch between tracks may not have occurred, 2) Pink overran the station (if it indeed was backing up), and 3) Purple was possibly either moving forward or in the wrong place.

As Lee has stated several times, we need to wait to hear more.

From what i have been reading the computer system shoulding allow this to happen though. Unless the driver can override an error which i think should be a big no no

 

[janoimagine]

To which reports are you referring? The supposed photographer, when interviewed on CNN, seemed to indicate that this photo came from almost immediately after the collision.

I was referring to a couple of reports I read on Theme Park Insider and The D Report. Like I said in my post, it was all my speculation ... mainly me thinking out loud, it does make sense to me that the events could have transpired in that order, however without seeing the meta data on the picture or video, I don't know which one came first. I will defer to those who are more connected within the parks.

 

[hrcollectibles]

Wow just wow

When I was a sophomore in high school, a kid hung himself and we learned about it the next day. Many of the students in class were friends with the kid and were very upset over his untimely passing. We were all deeply saddened but the whole class moved on nobody needed therapy or anything like that.

This is a very sad event no doubt but to say adults and children are going to need therapy for this is absurd and is almost as bad as the people saying the family should SUE SUE SUE

I never thought I would say this But I do agree with you...

 

[HMF]

I don't mean to point fingers but I think the concenses is it was Monorail Pink's fault.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Exactly right.


However, is there ANY concrete information here? I'm not about to read 20 pages of theory. Sorry.

Yes. I have multiple/many sources that say that Pink was in the middle of trying to switch from the Epcot Loop to the Express loop.

For reasons unknown, Pink went backwards on the Epcot Loop, through the station and struck Purple south of the TTC (as shown in the photos).

Somehow the trains were moved into the station where the guests were evac'd.

 

[majortom1981]

hmm

I saw this on wikipedia about the monorails.

"For safety, trains must be kept at least two blocks apart during normal operation. A red MAPO indicates that train spacing has become unsafe. When a red MAPO occurs, the train's on-board computer locks out the pilot's propulsion control and applies emergency brakes. The pilot cannot resume control of the train until either the MAPO clears or the pilot presses and holds the MAPO override button.[4]"

If this is true maybe the pilot used override? I dont see how else the train would have been allowed to go past a red mapo unless a sensor failed which means it didnt even detect the first train go over it.

IF its the sensor that died i would think the whole section should shutdown.


PS if one of the trains backed up into the other one how come the system didnt stop the trains before this happened? They shouldnt be in the same block.

 

[haveyoumetmark]

What a horrifying incident. Obviously my condolences go out to the family and friends of the victim as they begin the morbid grieving process.

I'm as stunned as all of you are.... how could this have possibly happened? Over 50 pages of thread and 22 hours have passed, yet there is no conclusive information, other than the passing of the pilot.

I'm almost sure death was on impact -- looking at the photos. I'm still pretty surprised the trains changed position from being outside to in the station, or vice versa. That most definitely could have aggravated the already maimed pilot's injuries.

And what a bizarre mix of people here. Many too sensitive, others far too insensitive.

Just a terrible situation.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Yes. I have multiple/many sources that say that Pink was in the middle of trying to switch from the Epcot Loop to the Express loop.

For reasons unknown, Pink went backwards on the Epcot Loop, through the station and struck Purple south of the TTC (as shown in the photos).

Somehow the trains were moved into the station where the guests were evac'd.

Aha. Thank you, Dave. Sad...but very interesting.


Do we have any idea if legal proceedings have been made? Also...Any idea on the Mono reopening?

 

[majortom1981]

What a horrifying incident. Obviously my condolences go out to the family and friends of the victim as they begin the morbid grieving process.

I'm as stunned as all of you are.... how could this have possibly happened? Over 50 pages of thread and 22 hours have passed, yet there is no conclusive information, other than the passing of the pilot.

I'm almost sure death was on impact -- looking at the photos. I'm still pretty surprised the trains changed position from being outside to in the station, or vice versa. That most definitely could have aggravated the already maimed pilot's injuries.

And what a bizarre mix of people here. Many too sensitive, others far too insensitive.

Just a terrible situation.

I am thinking there has to be a computer error somewhere. the two trains shouldnt have been in the same section .

THis could leave the monorails down for a while it it is a ride safety problem.