Fourth of July Monorail Incident

[Monorail_Red]

Unfortunately I think that the media is going to have a field day with this.

[DisneyMom]

very shocked about this tragedy.

[TomMorrow]

Sad news to see this morning. :( Thoughts and prayers to the pilot's family.

[glendalais]

I saw the advisory of a Monorail closure on The Hub this morning and immediately thought of our resident Monorail Pilots. Good to hear that they're all right.

However, it's such a tragedy to hear about the incident and that a CM has died as a result of it :( . My best wishes go out to the family, and I'm sure BW/Doctor and company will let us know if there's somewhere we can send flowers and/or donations.

[Shorty82]

Oh my God. What a tragedy. God rest the deceased's soul and be with his family.

Can a monorail expert explain to the rest of us *how* such a failure could happen? It was my understanding that if MAPO didn't seen enough unblocked hold point signals, it e-stopped, and an override would only permit P1.

Does this not also set off an alarm loud enough to alert even a sleeping pilot to stop?

Is it possible to override MAPO from the cab?

Sorry to go technical in the middle of tragedy, and in advance of information, but I'm consumed by frustrated curiosity.

The MAPO system on Pink must have failed in someway and failed in a fail-dangerous way instead of a fail-safe way. MAPO is supposed to stop the train when there isn't enough hold points visible (trains block the hold point signals) so this kind of thing wouldn't happen. It'll stop the train damn fast too, it uses a good bit more braking power than is used during normal operation. There is an override but the button has to be held and it only allows the train the crawl. The override is there because there are times when MAPO won't let a train go somewhere it should (switching tracks makes MAPO think there isn't enough hold points and there are times they park 2 trains on one beam in a station. It looks like Pink was moving at a decent speed when it hit Purple.

This goes to show that even safety systems that are tested at least twice a day normally can fail. They perform a MAPO test as the train is brought online and again part way through the day. I wonder if the monorails are even going to be brought online today. I'm hoping Monorail Maintenance at least gives the remaining trains a very thorough inspection before allowing them to go back into service. While a MAPO failure is only a guess right now it is a very good guess and I'm sure Disney is guessing it too.

[turkeyham]

Oh man! They just bad. CNN news is on and they interviewed a few people at the area. Poor driver, let him rest in peace. :(

[ktulu]

I read Kurt's facebook post and my heart sank. I am glad it is not any of my friends, but I cannot help to be extremely saddened by this. I am praying not only for the family of the CM, but also for all of the CM's who lost one of their own.

[Zazu]

I hear that Disneyland will only be operating one train until some information about the cause of the wreck is known.

Not much point trying that on a holiday weekend here, even if the TTC Station wasn't the center of the investigation. Can you imagine the queue to board the Express line with only one train in service?!?

Not that SGs wouldn't stand there for four hours, but still, imagine the mounds of trash they'd generate!

[Goldyn]

My prayers go to the family. The news is so vague.. I was hoping coming here would give me some answers. Sad time for the monorail team and families.

[KidAtHeart]

This is a terrible thing to find out about. Like others, I am so very grateful that it was none of our SGT friends involved, but I am also deeply saddened by the tragedy. My thoughts go out to those involved, and to those who have lost a friend and fellow CM.