Fourth of July Monorail Incident

[Syndrome]

It looks like a vigil will be held Saturday July 11 in Celebration, according to a post on the intranet. See the memorial Facebook page for details:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126215926074

[joanna71985]

I'm glad our SGTers are OK. My heartfelt sympathys go out to the family, friends, and fellow Cast members.

Anybody else find it a bit morbid for the Sentinel to be asking for photos and video of crash?

Extremely! :(

That was my original thought, but I have been told that there were no mechanical issues, it was a series of human errors and that the system is completely safe if rules are followed. My bet is it somehow involves MAPO override. (which Zazu, is done from the cab) I think the 6 guests having a stroller in their party saved their lives.

Just curious- but I thought only 4 guests were allowed to sit in the front?

[Spamkip]

Another long-time lurker here who, like all other lurkers and active members alike, came directly here yesterday upon hearing the news to ensure that all members of this message board are alright.

Same here, after hearing it I came here directly to find out if the cast members on the board are alright.

My thoughts are with everyone involved.

[idratherbeinwdw]

Just curious- but I thought only 4 guests were allowed to sit in the front?

Exactly--that's why the party of six with the stroller was not in the cab with the driver and they all are fine. If they had been a party of four without a stroller they might very well have been invited to ride up front. I've even seen some people agree to split up their group, so four could ride up front while the others rode in a regular car. So it was also fortuitous that this group stayed together.

[February]

This reply is specifically for MAPO and Speedfreak- I'll go last first here.

Speedfreak, I just want to say I am very sorry for your loss. It sounds like Austin was truly a wonderful man.

To hear how he had the true pixie dust spirit makes it even more difficult to know that he's gone. I feel cheated that I never got to meet him.

I try to be a guest who gives a little pixie dust back to the CMs I meet for all they've done for us. I hope that some of Austin's guests did that for him at least now and then. I hope your guests do it for you too.

MAPO: I am truly sorry if any speculation or comments on my part seemed disrespectful or making a 'spectacle' of this horrible tragedy.

As you requested, I will personally refrain from posting anything more on the subject of what happened or how or why.

In fact I think I'll refrain from posting any more on the subject at all. My new avatar says all I can't say anyway.

The last thing I'd ever want to do is make anyone feel worse especially those like you right in the middle of the aftermath so I will just remain respectfully silent from here on out on the subject.

Just know, everyone, that my heart is in the right place when I say that I'm still shedding tears over this for everyone involved and that it really does cut to the heart of me. I'll be crying over it for a long, long time.

Only someone who really knows the story of my life could understand how integral a part of it monorails and monorail pilots are.

It may seem that we can't understand what it truly means to do the job and perhaps we can't- but I can only ask that you understand that there are those of us who would give just about anything to have the job that you do.

I sincerely apologize if I said anything you feel was inappropriate and I wish you and all the CMs and friends of Austin dealing with this peace and comfort in the days ahead.

~bru

[Main Streeter]

Bru, I noticed your very beautiful avatar the minute I hit your post. You are kind in many ways. The world, this site, & all CMs need heart & support during this time. Please, Please continue to post. Post here! Right here on this thread! Remember this is our porch. Many more rockers on SGT porch now, but there is always room. :) Bru, your avatar is in memory of Austin - thus you must continue to post in his memory. Bru, am sending your hugs right back to you. Don't mean to be sappy, but we all must be together during this time. Together is the ONLY way we can heal.

[February]

Thanks for your kind words Mainstreeter, believe me I'm not going anywhere, I love our porch. I just don't want to contribute to making anybody feel worse (if that's even possible in this situation.

Maybe best would be to start a thread for guests to comfort each other and talk about what monorails mean to them personally then if the cms want to read it they can to know how much we support them.

maybe i'll work on that in a bit when i can find the words. but in the meantime, last thing i want to do is take a bit of attenion away from the situation at hand...so I'll just say that if anybody wants any more words of encouragement from me on this too they can always PM me and I'll do my best.

You've got a really big heart, Mainstreeter.

big hugs
bru

[CujoSR]

Bru-
Everybody is greving in their own way. Everyone is upset. Please do not feel that your thoughts are not important or out of place.

[Switchbeam 9]

They'll have a harder time covering their ass now:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-bk-d ... 1564.story

[indent]The fatal monorail crash at Walt Disney World early Sunday will be probed by the National Transportation Safety Board in an unprecedented move by the federal agency, which normally investigates airplane and public-train crashes.

"We'll be looking at operating control systems, and their procedures, and the different procedures they use on the monorail to position trains."[/indent]

BTW Zazu, looks like this would mean NTSB has jurisdiction over the railroad too.

[Monorail_Red]

So the Monorails resumed operations today... "with extra safety steps" according to the OS: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-disn ... 9159.story

"We've added additional verifications of these track switch positions, supplemented our safety procedures and protocols for these operations, and communicated these changes to our Transportation partners."

The new procedures include having multiple employees verify that a switch between monorail beams has been completed before a train is allowed to advance.

I just can't imagine what the extra safety measures are. They mention about knowing the position of the switch beams...they have always had indicators that would be used to determine switch position, in addition to cameras to confirm...as well as flood lights illuminating the switch beams at night.

This is the best summary of what happened that I have found. Zazu: I think SCSE has become ESCS, with show at the bottom. I have been in the hiring pool for monorails for a month now, but even with the CMs stretched thin, they still did not hire me. I know some recent changes in safety have been made in rails, such as requiring the platform CM to signal before the doors are allowed to be closed, but I think this is more butt-covering than actual care of safety. So many things went wrong for this accident to happen...
I think the immediate fix that is needed is to make it a policy of anytime the monorail goes backwards, someone must be in the rear cab at least in constant contact with the driver. Also, whenever MAPO override is pushed, all other trains on the effected beams need to acknowledge and be vigilant.

Unfortunately, it looks as if this was a case of human errors. Any one of the errors not happening could have prevented the crash, but one alone would not have caused it.

I know that back in the day of Mark IV's they would always be in the cab of the direction that they are headed, except when they were completing a stop in reverse (overshooting a station).

There are two things that come to my mind for an immediate fix:

1) Back-up camera. DL monorails have these. Simply drill a 1" hole between the headlights, but below the strobe for a flush mount infrared camera. When the active cab has reverse selected, the screen image will turn into the back-up camera on the opposite end of the train. Easy to add to the existing controls. All the other equipment is there, just needs some extra programming.

2) Ultrasonic sensors on the noses of each train. Similar to what you would have in cars equipped with these...you hear a beeping sound when you get close to objects that you are backing towards. But for the monorail application, when it senses something (another train) within 5-10ft, it should trigger an e-stop. This may not prevent a collision like the one yesterday morning, but it would certainly have lessened the impact. Again, you already have Windows, so it would just need some programming.