Orlando International Airport spending $65 million on new trains

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Could they just do one thing for nostalgic reasons and put Jack Wagner's voice back on...That would be great!

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

Can I FastPass this?

 

[twilight mitsuk]

This is what they should've used for replacement trams

 

[Animaniac93-98]

You can call it whatever you want.

OK, I'm calling it Gary.

 

[Horizons78]

OK, I'm calling it Gary.

People certainly do have a lot of complaints about the Garys. It seems the Garys are dirty and rundown. The Garys apparently have a lot of breakdowns due to stress and old age. There's always somebody pushing the Garys buttons.

/loves the monorails
//things aren't as bad as they could be
///still want a bigger maintenance budget

 

[note2001]

Glad to see MCO keeping up with replacements as needed. Would be horrible to be stuck on one of those and miss the plane.

Would love to see Disney tend to their aging fleet. My Daughter and I were on the EPCOT line back around the start of July and our train was stranded momentarily. We sat for about 5 minutes, after which the driver announced the power was back and we resumed motion. The car we were in had been making some scraping noises from below on every bend in the track (I can only assume it was from below) not sure if the noise and power loss were associated.

 

[Figment2005]

Glad to see MCO keeping up with replacements as needed. Would be horrible to be stuck on one of those and miss the plane.

Would love to see Disney tend to their aging fleet. My Daughter and I were on the EPCOT line back around the start of July and our train was stranded momentarily. We sat for about 5 minutes, after which the driver announced the power was back and we resumed motion. The car we were in had been making some scraping noises from below on every bend in the track (I can only assume it was from below) not sure if the noise and power loss were associated.

Was the power loss near a station?

 

[Mike S]

Glad to see MCO keeping up with replacements as needed. Would be horrible to be stuck on one of those and miss the plane.

Would love to see Disney tend to their aging fleet. My Daughter and I were on the EPCOT line back around the start of July and our train was stranded momentarily. We sat for about 5 minutes, after which the driver announced the power was back and we resumed motion. The car we were in had been making some scraping noises from below on every bend in the track (I can only assume it was from below) not sure if the noise and power loss were associated.

Makes me wonder how accurate that Monorail quote from the WDW Modern Marvels special is today. "We operate at 99.9% efficiency and on our worst days 99.8%". Seems a little dated given current events.

 

[note2001]

Was the power loss near a station?

Edit: reread what you wrote... no, it was not near a loading station.

I'm not sure where the power stations are located along the line, so I couldn't say if it was near one of those. I'd guess it was about 1/4 - 1/2 mile out from the turn into the EPCOT parking area (inbound to EPCOT)

 

[MaryJaneP]

Gary or MonoBEAM seems like viable naming options.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

FP+ available yet for this?

 

[Rob562]

How is it that MCO has been able to keep these things reliably running 20 hours a day for over 35 years, transporting cars packed with people, without serious downtime --- and WDW's monorail system has been plagued with trains in disrepair, reduced operation and downright failures during a much smaller tenure (The Mark VI trains are approx 10 years younger)?

I think it's a difference in scale.

Each train on the airport tram runs by itself on a single stretch of track, shuttling back and forth between the same two stations. It gets a "go" signal from the control system, closes its doors, starts driving at one speed and it keeps driving until it gets to its slow down point, where it starts to slow down and then stops at its pre-determined stopping point and opens its doors.

There are no anti-collision systems to deal with having to avoid the train in front of it. There are no sharp curves or switch tracks that it has to navigate. If a train breaks down, the system doesn't grind to a halt like Disney's. It just means that the capacity for one group of gates is cut in half until Maintenance can repair it. Might create a few backups at peak periods, but not as big of a deal.

EDIT: On a related note, I hope they renovate the "stations" while they're replacing the trains. I think the glass-enclosed stations on the newer Airsides are much prettier than the dated "silver box" older ones. (I was a bit sad when Jetblue switched sides in the airport)

-Rob

 

[FerretAfros]

Makes me wonder how accurate that Monorail quote from the WDW Modern Marvels special is today. "We operate at 99.9% efficiency and on our worst days 99.8%". Seems a little dated given current events.

That's probably still accurate. Efficiency is a measure of how many passengers you can move with a set number of trains and cast members; it reflects the actual throughput when compared to the theoretical capacity. It is not a measure of how well maintained the system is or how often you hit a delay

It seems like almost every seat has a butt in it (and often folks standing in the middle), so the 99.9% number seems high but plausible, if they count the theoretical capacity as only the number of seats. Given that TDO is unlikely to use any more trains or manpower than absolutely necessary, I think it's safe to assume that they run the system quite efficiently with the available resources on any given day. Whether it's effective or enjoyable are completely different questions

 

[Mike S]

That's probably still accurate. Efficiency is a measure of how many passengers you can move with a set number of trains and cast members; it reflects the actual throughput when compared to the theoretical capacity. It is not a measure of how well maintained the system is or how often you hit a delay

It seems like almost every seat has a butt in it (and often folks standing in the middle), so the 99.9% number seems high but plausible, if they count the theoretical capacity as only the number of seats. Given that TDO is unlikely to use any more trains or manpower than absolutely necessary, I think it's safe to assume that they run the system quite efficiently with the available resources on any given day. Whether it's effective or enjoyable are completely different questions

I'll have to watch it again but looking back I think it was talking about the Monorails actually running, not the people riding.

 

[Jakester]

IMO, Disneys better off investing in Maglev technology for the monorail system. I personally don't think adding modern tech to "rinkydink" late 80s machines is wise long term.

 

[flynnibus]

I think it's a difference in scale.

Each train on the airport tram runs by itself on a single stretch of track, shuttling back and forth between the same two stations. It gets a "go" signal from the control system, closes its doors, starts driving at one speed and it keeps driving until it gets to its slow down point, where it starts to slow down and then stops at its pre-determined stopping point and opens its doors.

Except running in shuttle mode has known to be a HUGE stress on Disney's monorails overtime. Shuttle mode shortens the usable time between rehabs at Disneyland.

While no MAPO is needed, it would still have it's own anti-collision and safety interlock stuff.

And breakdowns while they do have a second shuttle... those are people that would have to be evac'd. Plus, there is no easy tractor near by to pull them. You just don't hear of people getting stranded at MCO on the peoplemovers. Their reliability record is pretty good.

Disney's system is larger no doubt.. but they also have more trains to cycle trains out of service. Disney's get more miles, but not necessarily more cycles.

I don't think it's a stretch to say the APMs have proven more consistent than Disney's monorail design in the last decade plus.

 

[flynnibus]

That's probably still accurate. Efficiency is a measure of how many passengers you can move with a set number of trains and cast members; it reflects the actual throughput when compared to the theoretical capacity. It is not a measure of how well maintained the system is or how often you hit a delay

No, operational efficiency here means 'available capacity online and ready for use' - meaning trains.. not how many people they move.

They can't simply measure how many people are carried vs the train capacity as their measure because the demand is not always there to fill the trains. The trains would be measured on always being ready for a pick-up on the required cycle times. A breakdown would interrupt that.

 

[twilight mitsuk]

I think it's a difference in scale.

Each train on the airport tram runs by itself on a single stretch of track, shuttling back and forth between the same two stations. It gets a "go" signal from the control system, closes its doors, starts driving at one speed and it keeps driving until it gets to its slow down point, where it starts to slow down and then stops at its pre-determined stopping point and opens its doors.

There are no anti-collision systems to deal with having to avoid the train in front of it. There are no sharp curves or switch tracks that it has to navigate. If a train breaks down, the system doesn't grind to a halt like Disney's. It just means that the capacity for one group of gates is cut in half until Maintenance can repair it. Might create a few backups at peak periods, but not as big of a deal.

EDIT: On a related note, I hope they renovate the "stations" while they're replacing the trains. I think the glass-enclosed stations on the newer Airsides are much prettier than the dated "silver box" older ones. (I was a bit sad when Jetblue switched sides in the airport)

-Rob

plus the walk from check-in to security

 

[twilight mitsuk]

I think it's a difference in scale.

Each train on the airport tram runs by itself on a single stretch of track, shuttling back and forth between the same two stations. It gets a "go" signal from the control system, closes its doors, starts driving at one speed and it keeps driving until it gets to its slow down point, where it starts to slow down and then stops at its pre-determined stopping point and opens its doors.

There are no anti-collision systems to deal with having to avoid the train in front of it. There are no sharp curves or switch tracks that it has to navigate. If a train breaks down, the system doesn't grind to a halt like Disney's. It just means that the capacity for one group of gates is cut in half until Maintenance can repair it. Might create a few backups at peak periods, but not as big of a deal.

EDIT: On a related note, I hope they renovate the "stations" while they're replacing the trains. I think the glass-enclosed stations on the newer Airsides are much prettier than the dated "silver box" older ones. (I was a bit sad when Jetblue switched sides in the airport)

-Rob

isn't that how hogwarts express works

 

[Rob562]

isn't that how hogwarts express works

Hogwarts' trains are not self-propelled. They're attached to a cable running between pulleys on either end. A motor turns a drum which propels that trains one way or the other. It's essentially a horizontal funicular.

-Rob