Monorail Track Damaged by Cold Weather?

[Whazzup]

Evidently this is circulating around on some blogs. Could this really happen?
Anybody know if this is true?

Last night [over the weekend] Orlando suffered extremely low temperatures which has caused monorail beam damage between the Grand Floridian Resort and the Magic Kingdom. Apparently due to cold weather a beam joint was damaged and forcing the monorails to slow to a crawl as they cross that section of the route, reducing capacity and slowing service times. The Epcot line hasn’t been effected and is running normally.

[Zazu]

Evidently this is circulating around on some blogs. Could this really happen?
Anybody know if this is true?

Last night [over the weekend] Orlando suffered extremely low temperatures which has caused monorail beam damage between the Grand Floridian Resort and the Magic Kingdom. Apparently due to cold weather a beam joint was damaged and forcing the monorails to slow to a crawl as they cross that section of the route, reducing capacity and slowing service times. The Epcot line hasn’t been effected and is running normally.

I have no idea if it actually happened, but I suspect. The beams expand and contract with temperature. That's why there are expansion joints every fourth pylon (they look like aluminum combs).

If it's cold enough, these expansion joints could open up all the way, and then fail to fit back together when it warms up again. Considering the weather that beamway has been through, I'd be surprised to hear that it happened, but I've learned not to say "never".

Could be a major bitch to fix, too, seeing as we aren't likely to have another cold snap any time soon. Glad it's not mine to fix!

[hobie16]

Major temperature swings, especially in a short time frame can do some pretty dramatic damage. Throw in some water to freeze and it gets really interesting.

[CujoSR]

If it can be built, nature can break it down pretty quickly. This might be one time nature got the upper hand on maintenance.

[figment1986]

I have no idea if it actually happened, but I suspect. The beams expand and contract with temperature. That's why there are expansion joints every fourth pylon (they look like aluminum combs).

If it's cold enough, these expansion joints could open up all the way, and then fail to fit back together when it warms up again. Considering the weather that beamway has been through, I'd be surprised to hear that it happened, but I've learned not to say "never".

Could be a major bitch to fix, too, seeing as we aren't likely to have another cold snap any time soon. Glad it's not mine to fix!

is there an expansion joint over the water in that bend? I remember thats where the monorails were going the slowest when they had to reduce speed..

[WEDFan]

Major temperature swings, especially in a short time frame can do some pretty dramatic damage. Throw in some water to freeze and it gets really interesting.

The water part was what I was wondering about. If it was cold enough to freeze, and there was enough water in there it could be a problem.

[Big Wallaby]

Happened several times while I was driving. It's annoying, especially when they take a couple days to get enough time to fix it and let it set.

Interesting that any guests were allowed to know that that's why they were slowing down...

[NemoRanger]

This is another reason I avoid taking the monorail when I can. I rarely ride the express monorail to or from the Kingdom when it has not had to dramatically slow down or stop and sit for some time.

I love the ferry boats. Its so nice being on the water

[Whazzup]

Thanks for the comments, guys. That post had a lot of skeptical responses so I'll summarize some of your comments and just let them know it could have happened as described.

[figment1986]

Happened several times while I was driving. It's annoying, especially when they take a couple days to get enough time to fix it and let it set.

Interesting that any guests were allowed to know that that's why they were slowing down...

When I was on resort the pilot did mention it was for safety reasons due to the freeze the night before... (we were crawling from Grand right to down hill into MK) didn't mention anything about the expansion joint though.

I guess whoever posted that knows someone really good to get that info and then post it the way they did.