Oh lord.
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Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?
- Thread starter iHeartDisneylandCats
- Start date
Oh lord.
msg7
Well-Known Member
Who knows... Maybe they'll use the tractors to tow the monorails into the roundhouse during the installation phase...
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
"Hypothetically."
Would each line not be on its own independent power source to prevent all from going down if one failed?
If that’s the case, why couldn’t the power be transitioned line by line?
Rteetz
Well-Known Member
That’s my question. I honestly don’t know a lot about the power system.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I have to ask... can you define "down a majority of the time" so that we don't misinform the new person that isn't able to quickly identify hyperbole when it is written out?
msg7
Well-Known Member
Haha... Simply put, the automation system that Disney implemented back last year combined with the old, aging Mark VI fleet does not make for a good combination.... The monorail used to be way more reliable then it is right now....
imarc
Well-Known Member
Also, according to this thread, Bombardier is like 10 years behind on orders right now. Do they really want to get more?
s8film40
Well-Known Member
I assume you’re alluding to a change from DC to AC or a change to 750VDC?
In any case I really don’t have an answer, but just a guess maybe they could have a new system in place alongside the old one. Then switch between the two. Possibly get all their testing in at night while they build up the fleet and then make the switch.
BalooChicago
Well-Known Member
I suspect monorails and subway cars are made in different plants.
s8film40
Well-Known Member
Not necessarily.
Creathir
Premium Member
Gonna guess the issue here is a voltage change.
I’m sure the desire is to get on the industry standard 750v to make part availability an easier thing to handle, plus it gives a little more juice to the motors.
I wouldn’t think they would be able to keep everything up and running with such a major change, unless they did something even more drastic, like build out a new roundhouse. If that were the case, say hanging off the epcot line, they could run the new trains off Epcot, get the kinks worked out, then start bringing the others online.
Another option would be to make the new trains capable of operating with reduced functionality, perhaps slightly slower or maybe with one less car, while the new stock is added. Once enough is on the system to take the old out, you then remove the last train, and do a cutover to the new voltage system in totality.
Not sure if that second option is even technically feasible though...
I’m sure the desire is to get on the industry standard 750v to make part availability an easier thing to handle, plus it gives a little more juice to the motors.
I wouldn’t think they would be able to keep everything up and running with such a major change, unless they did something even more drastic, like build out a new roundhouse. If that were the case, say hanging off the epcot line, they could run the new trains off Epcot, get the kinks worked out, then start bringing the others online.
Another option would be to make the new trains capable of operating with reduced functionality, perhaps slightly slower or maybe with one less car, while the new stock is added. Once enough is on the system to take the old out, you then remove the last train, and do a cutover to the new voltage system in totality.
Not sure if that second option is even technically feasible though...
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
The Automation System and age attributes to the lessened reliability, but, that doesn't make it "down for the majority of the time". It is still very reliable, but, also very tired.
Bender123
Well-Known Member
I think the trains are in the mid 80% range for uptime. Its a far cry from "down a majority of the time", but its still a massive drop from the heyday. The issues with the monorails can be adequately discussed and shown with honesty and they don't really require the BS level we see all too often.
They look old, they are definitely falling in reliability, they are no longer adequate for the traffic flow, they have easily identifiable show issues that impact the look of the parks. No exaggeration needed.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Can't help but thinking how much energy and physical reliability I had when I was young. I know that it is not like buying a car when it comes to cost, but, letting it go this long was just a very bad management/accounting decision to not periodically automatically replace trains. One or two a year after the first 10 years or so would keep the fleet relatively young. They do that with buses now, they didn't in the beginning. The old buses were tried and true, the design never changed and they could squeeze a lot of miles out of them, but, then more modern design started showing up, but, the RTS buses with almost completely interchangeable parts were on line for years. That spoiled them, I'm guessing that they figured that since buses that only cost them about a hundred grand, at the time, lasted all that time, million dollar trains should last forever. They now have the choice of maintaining basically the same design to accommodate what must be a huge warehouse full of spare part, or quickly changing the entire fleet completely and restocking the parts room or maintaining two separate inventories until they can finally get rid of the current fleet. All is costly, but, they have no one to blame but themselves for dragging their feet on upgrading through the years.
Bender123
Well-Known Member
It was just WDW over the past decade or two...The idea that things could endlessly be extended and could stay the same seemed like the entire strategy. Uni seems to have kicked them into gear with their increase in competition and show quality.
The entire mess that is currently the Studios, the upgrade plans at Epcot, etc...are all things that could have been spaced out over time, but early 2000s WDW seemed content to just close rides, do subpar replacements and let things endlessly rot. Now they are struggling to get 20 year of upgrades and refreshes done in five years and the parks are suffering for it.
Kamikaze
Well-Known Member
Listen, I think the monorail system should be scrapped altogether for something that better fits guest flow. But 'every word of what you just said is wrong' or at least not entirely accurate.
They look old - looks are subjective. They certainly still fit the retro-futuristic theme that Disney most commonly uses.
they are definitely falling in reliability - They still run in the high 90s for uptime. That is why whenever there is an issue, its a big deal. Its just a bigger deal because it brings getting to the MK to a standstill. Just doing some easy math - say the system is open for 14 hours per day - 8am to 10pm. Thats 840 minutes. 10% of that is 84 minutes, or basically an hour and a half. For the system to be below 90% uptime, it would have to be down (roughly) an hour and a half every single day. That is demonstrably false. Even 45 minutes a day (95% uptime) is also incorrect.
they are no longer adequate for the traffic flow - This has been true since open, really. Or at least since daily crowds were large enough to matter. WDW guest flow is large numbers of guests at peak periods. A system on a track with a limited capacity is not great for this. It makes it extremely difficult to increase any type of capacity with such a short looped system. A constantly loading and moving system is the correct solution. Its why the Skyliner will be fantastic, and why they should replace the monorail with a PeopleMover type system.
they have easily identifiable show issues that impact the look of the parks. - Show issues, sure. But they don't impact the look of the parks. Could they influence a guests OPINION of their day? Yes.
No exaggeration needed. - But included anyway.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Yea, woulda, coulda, shoulda are all fitting phrases, however, useless. We cannot change the past. I doubt that anything that Uni had any influence at all over the Monorail decisions, but, complaints and concerns from the public that have come to expect to see a sparkling iconic Monorail at WDW did a large heap of complaining and coupled with the probably mind boggling expense to continuiously repair and keep them running may have had a much bigger influence.
That said, however, we have yet to have official conformation that anything is being done at this point. Just our relatively reliable insiders hints and suggestions, so it is still pretty early to just assume that something is being done at all about it. We should know soon.
Bender123
Well-Known Member
That's my general thought...there is smoke, but no confirmed fire yet. Common sense and decades of Disney parks history says something should happen soon, but again, no confirmation, even though we all know they need to do something, at this point.