Rumor New Monorails Coming Soon?

[wishiwere@wdw]

Very true.

I have talked to a monorail driver that said when looking back on the Epcot line you can see the train bounce along the track. Of course the Epcot beams were built onsite and not as sound as the MK line built off.

For what it’s worth, the much newer Vegas monorail bounces and wobbles around like crazy. It makes the currentDisney lines seem almost luxurious lol

It is ironic how much nicer the ride is on the older beams though.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Random question. Instead of lengthening the stations couldn’t they just design the cars so that passengers pass through the first and last cars and just feed thru doors that fit in the station?

This would require a different type of bogie that, as publicly exists, is too tall for the system which is why people talk about the size constraints of the Contemporary.

 

[Jonathan Wang]

I guess I should have said, "No, my crazy idea is a second inline station each at TTC and MK." Or "No to the first question and yes to the second, my crazy idea is a second inline station each at TTC and MK".

Let me see if I can come up with some text art to clarify.

|------MK1--MK2----|
|-----TTC1--TTC2----|

Are you mocking me? lol

No? was there something i said that was mocking you? genuine question.

you had mentioned safety switching so i was thinking you meant for them to have switches swap the trains onto the lines.

Modern switches are much faster. Even quick. In the Las Vegas line the system does not Loop. The train pulls into the End of Line Station, and in the time it takes it to unload and reload the switch has been made and it departs out in the opposite direction it came in, switching to the other beam. It is very quick.

If Walt Disney World still had a slow season it would probably be advantageous for them to shut down the line for a month or so to replace the switches with modern day switch tracks.

now question to that, is the beam itself modified in any way to support the faster switching? besides motors, like is it more lightweight or different material to withstand so much movement over time? also how much maintenance does it require.

 

[msg7]

No? was there something i said that was mocking you? genuine question.

you had mentioned safety switching so i was thinking you meant for them to have switches swap the trains onto the lines.



now question to that, is the beam itself modified in any way to support the faster switching? besides motors, like is it more lightweight or different material to withstand so much movement over time? also how much maintenance does it require.

I'm thinking EE flip track style but that would take up too much space...

 

[s8film40]

Unless its changed, the top speed on the trains was set at 40mph. Go too fast on a curve (even one thats banked) and you get axel contacts galore...

The Mark VI trains have a top speed set for each section of the beam, so it's pretty much impossible to get axle contacts on curves because it just won't let you go fast enough.

What I mean is that due to the ways that trains get transferred between lines, if the cab was only on one side they'd be forced to run the trains in one particular direction on each line or to creating a reversing roundhouse or spur.

It doesn't matter what end the cab is on or even if there is a cab at all. If they get new trains personally I would rather see them just have no cabs at all with an observation area at each end. Also the trains can't be flipped a different direction they pick up positive power on one side and negative on the other.

now question to that, is the beam itself modified in any way to support the faster switching? besides motors, like is it more lightweight or different material to withstand so much movement over time? also how much maintenance does it require.

Changing a switch would likely mean replacing the beam for that section. This is what they did when they added the Epcot switch. The beam is not continuous it's made of of 6 piece segments that are once in place all one piece. There are expansion joints at each end so they interlock but don't really touch.

 

[Cesar R M]

One day, just not today. LG’s OLED tech points the way.

go beyond.. go 3d..



for @Mike S

 

[Brad Bishop]

Confirmed: Bob Iger stated this evening that the Monorail project has been delayed in order to pay for a new Maleficent float.

Funny aside: After I saw it my daughter pinged me out of the blue about it and stated, "I'm hope that they don't just scrap the Maleficent float."

She's 24 so it's not like she's 8 but I don't discuss things with her with regards to my comments on this site but she immediately picked up on: They'd scrap the float rather than fix it.

She's hoping that they don't but it's the sign of the Disney times.

 

[msg7]

@Rteetz, based on the way things appear to be moving, would you be able to give us an estimate on when the contracts and everything will be finalized?

 

[smile]

I'm hope that they don't just scrap the Maleficent float

hopefully with glorious, fancy projections of fire instead of dangerous, tacky real fire

She's 24 so it's not like she's 8 but I don't discuss things with her with regards to my comments on this site

odd; shared interest ...must have your reasons

 

[mikejs78]

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 wonder if they could, for example, just shut down the express line to do the upgrade, and run everything on the resort line. Then switch.

 

[s8film40]

Funny aside: After I saw it my daughter pinged me out of the blue about it and stated, "I'm hope that they don't just scrap the Maleficent float."

She's 24 so it's not like she's 8 but I don't discuss things with her with regards to my comments on this site but she immediately picked up on: They'd scrap the float rather than fix it.

She's hoping that they don't but it's the sign of the Disney times.

Disney:
If we can dream it we can do it.
If it breaks we can’t fix it.

 

[ChrisFL]

Random question. Instead of lengthening the stations couldn’t they just design the cars so that passengers pass through the first and last cars and just feed thru doors that fit in the station?

As an aside, I think this is sort of how the Tokyo Disneyland monorail works (can't remember how many doors it has but you can pass through the entire monorail IIRC), but it's a completely different track setup

 

[Lensman]

No? was there something i said that was mocking you? genuine question.

No worries. It just seemed to me that the reply about switching taking a long time seemed a bit snide (as in implying childlike ignorance). I was probably being too sensitive! Don't worry, I get accused of this all the time by my wife regarding things I'm an expert on that I'm incredulous that she doesn't understand. We're still married so far.

you had mentioned safety switching so i was thinking you meant for them to have switches swap the trains onto the lines.

Ah! That's a total mistake by me. I meant *signaling*.

I think the downside to the crazy additional inline station idea is the following, say at closing:
Step 1: Train 1 approaches the MK stations A & B. Both are empty. It bypasses station A and goes straight through to stop at station B.
Step 2: Train 2 approaches MK stations A & B. It stops at station A.
Step 3: Train 1 completes boarding and departs for the TTC.
Step 4. Train 2 completes boarding and departs for the TTC. Note that it bypasses station B.

The safety questions are:
1. How close can MK Station A and MK Station B be?
2. How soon after Train 1 stops at Station B can Train 2 pull into Station A? This is mostly a question of how closely it can be to Train 1 while in transit from TTC to MK. The smaller the signaling zones on the track between the TTC and the MK, the closer they can be and the sooner it can pull in.

Those answers combined with the boarding time of the trains gives us the increase in throughput that one could get from the crazy double-station idea.

Zoned and signaled properly, I could imagine Train 2 pulling into Station A just 10 seconds after Train 1 pulled into Station B. If this is possible then it would be (mostly) comparable to having two parallel stations with a beam switch that operated in 10 seconds. And if it takes 60 seconds for a train to fully board, this is only 20% less efficient than having a double-length train.

 

[Rteetz]

@Rteetz, based on the way things appear to be moving, would you be able to give us an estimate on when the contracts and everything will be finalized?

I would think sooner than later. I don't have anything specific.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

hopefully with glorious, fancy projections of fire instead of dangerous, tacky real fire




odd; shared interest ...must have your reasons

If the do the fire projections, maybe they'll do the parade at night...... Naaaaa that would be asking too much. LOL

 

[msg7]

I was browsing through Twitter to see if anything new has came of the monorails and I found this picture (below)... It appears that they have added some sort of screen above the pilot's seat. Does anyone know what this is for?
​

EDIT: It appears that the control panel has been modified also....​

 

[networkpro]

I was browsing through Twitter to see if anything new has came of the monorails and I found this picture (below)... It appears that they have added some sort of screen above the pilot's seat. Does anyone know what this is for?
​

View attachment 284658​

Death Ray

 

[Figment2005]

I was browsing through Twitter to see if anything new has came of the monorails and I found this picture (below)... It appears that they have added some sort of screen above the pilot's seat. Does anyone know what this is for?
​

View attachment 284658

EDIT: It appears that the control panel has been modified also....​

The screen is the backup camera, been in place since 2009'ish. The console was updated beginning of last year.

 

[msg7]

The screen is the backup camera, been in place since 2009'ish. The console was updated beginning of last year.

Never noticed it... Interesting...

 

[Jonathan Wang]

Never noticed it... Interesting...

Now I’m deff gonna look when I’m at Mk next



Edit2: saw the backup cam, mounted super high up. And noticed when the monorail was creeping in the pilot was tapping something on the screen on each creep up. Still super misaligned with the gates tho.

Bright side monorail orange looks like it got new paint