Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Right, I forgot the direction. It's the last stop on the return trip.
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Please fix the monorail!
- Thread starter TQQQ
- Start date
montyz81
Well-Known Member
Has there ever been a study to prove that it is $100m/mile? That figure has been tossed around since the Epcot expansion. I know inflation and all that, but it would be really interesting to see what the real cost is. Even if it is $1b, the cost of improving the customer experience would be well worth it. Happy customers bring back more customers and equals greater revenue.
Henry Mystic
Author of "A Manor of Fact"
I think if Disney replaces their monorails they would also want to elevate the stations to not require a Cast Member to provide handicap assistance which would be an expensive but worthy change.
Also having the ability to walk from one end of the train to the other like many modern trains have would be a nice change.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
The Las Vegas monorails (also built by Bombardier and operate on the same size beam) do have level boarding - it can be done!
The open walk-through design is not possible with this style of monorail I don’t think. The Alweg monorail in Seattle is open - but that’s a very different design.
Eric Graham
Well-Known Member
I never actually went on the monorails in Vegas, just did the old-fashioned way and walked everywhere. Are they nice. And didn't go on the monorail in Seattle either when I dated someone from there. Guess I was missing out
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
The monorails in Vegas are nice - I like them. They are really only useful when going from MGM to the middle of the strip (harrahs, linq, etc.) or up to the Westgate or Convention Center.I never actually went on the monorails in Vegas, just did the old-fashioned way and walked everywhere. Are they nice. And didn't go on the monorail in Seattle either when I dated someone from there. Guess I was missing out
They are very similar to the WDW monorails, but completely automated. It’s a nice system.
If they could have expanded to the airport they could have been very successful- the taxi drivers put a stop to that apparently which is quite sad.
Eric Graham
Well-Known Member
One time we had a taxi driver that drove us some roundabout drive in Vegas and it costs us quite a bit. We went to MGM and saw Copperfield, so much fun! He really puts on a show! I gather you like trains. We just returned from Dollywood and rode the train as part of the park. It was so much fun. They have two coal/steam trains that use 5 tons of coal a day. Pretty impressive! I wanted to take the train home with me kind of like Walt had in his back yard. I love trains too!
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Yes I’ve seen Copperfield in Vegas as well! Great show!
And Dollywood has the closest thing to a “real” steam train experience you can get in a theme park. Not only are the locomotives still coal burning, but they really give them a work out climbing out of the station on a 3% grade!
Eric Graham
Well-Known Member
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Most conventional rail projects in the United states currently clock in around $100 million per mile. Monorail guideway construction is a lot less efficient than rail construction, and the whole project would suffer from the lack of economy of scale — not a lot of monorail customers in the world compared to conventional rail.
Laketravis
Well-Known Member
But.....that's typically the cost for municipal/governmental designs and manufacture. It includes a massive cost for the acquisition of imminent domain and extreme over-engineering.
The WDW monorail originally cost $1m per mile. Compare the pilings and beams to those of a governmental design. In inflation adjusted values, what WDW built in 1972 for $1m per mile would be $7.4m per mile today.
The only true comparison of cost would be for the trains themselves which are produced by the same manufacturer.
Twirlnhurl
Well-Known Member
I would also expect the station buildings and the electrical infrastructure to be significantly more expensive than a simple inflation adjustment from ~50 years ago.
Twirlnhurl
Well-Known Member
Several years ago I did an armchair imagineering project to determine a full build out of the WDW monorail system and calculate ridership on each segment of the network.
You can read about it here. It would require 24 monorail trains with 13 cars each, platform level boarding at all stations, and 33 miles of additional track.
Brad Bishop
Well-Known Member
One thing I wish that they'd do, which they won't, would be to cross the Express and Epcot tracks just after the TTC. If they did that it'd make a lot more sense: Board at MK, get to TTC. If not getting off at TTC, then head for Epcot, which is likely what you'd be doing at that point.
Epcot would then head to TTC, stop, and then (after the cross over) head for the MK - again, making quite a bit of sense.
Epcot would then head to TTC, stop, and then (after the cross over) head for the MK - again, making quite a bit of sense.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
Today, its probably 100 million a mile. That would put the cost at 3.3 Billion dollars.
And this system, riders would have to pay to ride I am sure.
That said, I would love to see this.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
I’d do a “streetcar” loop to New Orleans and Key West and peoplemover to all-stars and Animal Kingdom.
Monorail to springs would be nice too.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
I am no expert but I suspect the Skyliner is a fraction of the cost of monorail beams.
(It wasn’t really a question
)