Employee Killed by Monorail at Disney World
- Thread starter ciallkennett
- Start date
Screaming Coasters
Strata Poster
Aren't those things self-driven and the driver is only there to monitor?
Swat
Hyper Poster
A link to TPR where there is a video taken seconds after the crash and some pictures.
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51545
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51545
ciallkennett
Strata Poster
Ouch! It's not surprising the guy was killed, he would have been badly injured.
What I want to know is why the person took the video instead of seeing if anybody was hurt! The things some people do in emergencies...
What I want to know is why the person took the video instead of seeing if anybody was hurt! The things some people do in emergencies...
Ollie
CF Legend
Screaming Coasters said:
Read this that someone posted on TPR.
"Initially this sounds like MAPO system failure, and not pilot (human) error. The monorails are programmed to remain at least two blocks apart from each other, or about 500 to 1000 feet apart. When they come within two blocks of each other (regarded as a dangerous distance), I believe there's a system override feature which is supposed to apply emergency brakes.
It's all just speculation on my part, but it seems like that system failed. "
From what I have been reading the driver does drive the train.
If he goes through a check point and the next section is not clear the train is meant to stop, this did not happen.
He probably did slam on the brakes when he saw the other train but trains do not stop like cars and they take some time to completly stop.
Thats my understanding anyway. But the drivers do drive these trains. "The monorail is rather simple to control: push the lever forward to control direction and speed; backward to reverse"
This is the 1st crash in 38 years of operation, and the rail will be shut until they understand what happened.
Disney are going to put in extra buses but getting from the car park to the Magic Kingdom is going to be a problem. It was either the rail or boat, even the Disney buses dropped you off at the car park. I suppose thats the least of their worries at the moment.
This explains a bit more.
http://www.dgshi.cn/content/200907/05694.html
If he goes through a check point and the next section is not clear the train is meant to stop, this did not happen.
He probably did slam on the brakes when he saw the other train but trains do not stop like cars and they take some time to completly stop.
Thats my understanding anyway. But the drivers do drive these trains. "The monorail is rather simple to control: push the lever forward to control direction and speed; backward to reverse"
This is the 1st crash in 38 years of operation, and the rail will be shut until they understand what happened.
Disney are going to put in extra buses but getting from the car park to the Magic Kingdom is going to be a problem. It was either the rail or boat, even the Disney buses dropped you off at the car park. I suppose thats the least of their worries at the moment.
This explains a bit more.
http://www.dgshi.cn/content/200907/05694.html
'Realityland' by David Koenig is an awesome book and has a really good section on the monorails.
"Ride operators had to train for 80 hours to drive the monorail, and the vehicles themselves were equipped with an artillery of saftey mechanisms."
"A two-way radio sysetm kept the driver in contact with the maintenance barn. If a tire went flat, the vehicles were to glide to a gentle stop. To prevent a runaway train, the pilot had to hold down a "deadman's switch;" if the button was released, the monorail slowed to a stop."
"Most importantly, an anti-collision system would stop the vehicles if they got too close to each other. "
However, this is not the first incident like this to happen. In 1974 a driver collided his empty Monorail Blue into Monorail Red (which was filled with 200 guests). This was in the Magic Kingdom station, and happened "before Monorail Red had a chance to leave." The driver had fatal injuries, and the train was only going 15 miles an hour. Obviously these trains aren't designed for impact for that slow speed to cause such catastrophe (unlike cars, for example).
Question is, how does that happen if the monorails are equipped with these saftey features?
Well, to the press the driver insisted that it was a brake failure, however, 'witnesses' heard him during his hospital stay talking about "overriding the automatic braking system". "He knew the locations of various switches and circuit breakers and how to gain normally locked electrical panels behind him. He also knew how the saftey circuits were wired. The kid was termed 'brilliant but bored.' He put a toothpick into a control console button to jam it into a held position while holding two controls with his hands. He removed a sock and shoe, twisted his leg back behind him into the electrical panel, and physically held a relay switch closed, thus defeating the wayside anti-collision signal commanding the train to stop as he drove past a red light into the train-ahead zone. He was a contortionist. He didn't realize the outiside of those monorails are made of Reynolds Wrap." These are words from the investigator for that particular case. According to Wikipedia, Reynolds Wrap has a thickness of "less than 0.2mm".
Post the incident, Disney got the two undamaged sides from the two trains, connected them together, painted the entire stirp blue and thus had a perfect monorail (to "minimize the press coverage"). The only other monorail collision to ever be reported at WDW was just after they opened, when maintance teams shut down the saftey system so monorails could get close together for an advertisement to be filmed. Unfortunately, the monorails ended up getting too close and "Monorails Blue and Yellow rolled into each other". Despite this just being a "roll", the entire front end of the monorails were destroyed. This surely shows how the thin chasis cannot cope with collision.
These are the only two incidents ever reported for monorail collisions, and they both have perfectly good explantations of why they happened. But none of them help us solve the issue of why this happened. I highly doubt the driver was attempting to overide the system at 2 in the mornign after July the 4th, with a (predictably) very busy train.
I feel so upset for the guy, it is such a terrible, terrible thing to happen. Fact is, it shouldn't have, and my money is on something causing the first ever failure to occur to the WDW monorail system. But what could impair Walt's flawless transportation system?
"Ride operators had to train for 80 hours to drive the monorail, and the vehicles themselves were equipped with an artillery of saftey mechanisms."
"A two-way radio sysetm kept the driver in contact with the maintenance barn. If a tire went flat, the vehicles were to glide to a gentle stop. To prevent a runaway train, the pilot had to hold down a "deadman's switch;" if the button was released, the monorail slowed to a stop."
"Most importantly, an anti-collision system would stop the vehicles if they got too close to each other. "
However, this is not the first incident like this to happen. In 1974 a driver collided his empty Monorail Blue into Monorail Red (which was filled with 200 guests). This was in the Magic Kingdom station, and happened "before Monorail Red had a chance to leave." The driver had fatal injuries, and the train was only going 15 miles an hour. Obviously these trains aren't designed for impact for that slow speed to cause such catastrophe (unlike cars, for example).
Question is, how does that happen if the monorails are equipped with these saftey features?
Well, to the press the driver insisted that it was a brake failure, however, 'witnesses' heard him during his hospital stay talking about "overriding the automatic braking system". "He knew the locations of various switches and circuit breakers and how to gain normally locked electrical panels behind him. He also knew how the saftey circuits were wired. The kid was termed 'brilliant but bored.' He put a toothpick into a control console button to jam it into a held position while holding two controls with his hands. He removed a sock and shoe, twisted his leg back behind him into the electrical panel, and physically held a relay switch closed, thus defeating the wayside anti-collision signal commanding the train to stop as he drove past a red light into the train-ahead zone. He was a contortionist. He didn't realize the outiside of those monorails are made of Reynolds Wrap." These are words from the investigator for that particular case. According to Wikipedia, Reynolds Wrap has a thickness of "less than 0.2mm".
Post the incident, Disney got the two undamaged sides from the two trains, connected them together, painted the entire stirp blue and thus had a perfect monorail (to "minimize the press coverage"). The only other monorail collision to ever be reported at WDW was just after they opened, when maintance teams shut down the saftey system so monorails could get close together for an advertisement to be filmed. Unfortunately, the monorails ended up getting too close and "Monorails Blue and Yellow rolled into each other". Despite this just being a "roll", the entire front end of the monorails were destroyed. This surely shows how the thin chasis cannot cope with collision.
These are the only two incidents ever reported for monorail collisions, and they both have perfectly good explantations of why they happened. But none of them help us solve the issue of why this happened. I highly doubt the driver was attempting to overide the system at 2 in the mornign after July the 4th, with a (predictably) very busy train.
I feel so upset for the guy, it is such a terrible, terrible thing to happen. Fact is, it shouldn't have, and my money is on something causing the first ever failure to occur to the WDW monorail system. But what could impair Walt's flawless transportation system?
There are so many storeis going round, people recon that they heard the radio communication but they are no allowed to say. Ollie you will know what that is like 
If though the reports are true it sounds like a cock up in the control room. The driver was told the station was clear and he should over ride the saftey system, only it was not clear.
Maybe we will find out one day.
If though the reports are true it sounds like a cock up in the control room. The driver was told the station was clear and he should over ride the saftey system, only it was not clear.
Maybe we will find out one day.
Those monorails must really take a long time to stop as the driver must have been able to see the other one parked in the station a good distance back. But I guess even a slow speed impact on one of those would still do a great deal of damage especially with the huge weight involved.
Maybe something happened to the driver as it appeared he was still in the cab when the impact happened. Its very sad to see especially when you can see the damage on video.
Maybe something happened to the driver as it appeared he was still in the cab when the impact happened. Its very sad to see especially when you can see the damage on video.
If it was on override then it would have been going 15mph.
Have you ever been on an underground train when it has done and emergency stop? well years ago the driver all I can say is got his braking wrong into a station. He then must have really put the brakes on but we slid all the way through the station and stopped just entering the next tunnel.
Due to the wait of trains the back just pushes the train on, so even at 15mph it would still take a good 50 meters to stop that train. By then its top late.
I feel bad for the driver and his family. Reading reports of people that worked with him it was his dream to drive these trains and had only moved onto them a while ago.
I could post all the links I have read, but tbh most are on google in the news section.
Have you ever been on an underground train when it has done and emergency stop? well years ago the driver all I can say is got his braking wrong into a station. He then must have really put the brakes on but we slid all the way through the station and stopped just entering the next tunnel.
Due to the wait of trains the back just pushes the train on, so even at 15mph it would still take a good 50 meters to stop that train. By then its top late.
I feel bad for the driver and his family. Reading reports of people that worked with him it was his dream to drive these trains and had only moved onto them a while ago.
I could post all the links I have read, but tbh most are on google in the news section.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Ahh yah I read about this on TPR yesterday.. So sad, too, like, who would think someone would be killed on a monorail? I'm sure it could have been worse, but it's still sad enough as it is.
Screamscape has posted the "explanation" of the incident.
It is quite long so I'll just post the link HERE.
In short, the driver of Monorail Pink thought that the track had been switched to the EPCOT line, but it hadn't, therefore when he reversed it crashed into Monorail Purple. Goes down to a really serious communication error.
It is quite long so I'll just post the link HERE.
In short, the driver of Monorail Pink thought that the track had been switched to the EPCOT line, but it hadn't, therefore when he reversed it crashed into Monorail Purple. Goes down to a really serious communication error.
