Deadly Monorail Crash

[cjborne2]

This looks a lot like the Metro crash that happened in Washington DC a few weeks ago. Very sad.

[thegoz85]

Here's what Wiki says about the monorail: "At any given time, there must be at least two holdpoints between a given train and the train ahead of it. When the train detects that there are fewer than two holdpoints between itself and the preceding train, the emergency brakes are immediately applied and cannot be released until sufficient spacing becomes available or the operator explicitly overrides the system. Failure to maintain adequate spacing is known as an "overrun", and is treated as an extremely serious offense"

Sounds like the safety system you'd expect form Disney.

I read that, too. I hate to speculate without any other information, but it sounds like this safety system had to have malfunctioned. The way this sounds, the monorail should stop itself if it gets within two holdpoints.

My prayers go out to the family of all those involved, especially that of the CM.

I don't mean to trivialize anything by saying this (and I don't mean to sound insensitve, because this is tragic news), but at least this didn't happen in the middle of the day on July 4th. The train would have been packed then.

[Tmntrans]

If the computer safety system didn't stop it. why not manually from the driver? Remember there is a beacon flashing very bright on each end of the monorail. Might have been a brake issue. Might have lost all power.

[clion]

Based on photos, it appears the monorail had power. Can you imagine what would have happened if guests were riding up front as well?

I wouldn't be surprised if guests were no longer permitted to ride up front with the driver as a further safety precaution.

I just can't imagine what could have contributed to this accident.

[DisneyMagic71]

Such a tragedy. No matter what the reason why, my thoughts and prayers are for the cast member and his/her family.

[Finkelstein]

This is just horrible news and my thoughts are for the family of the poor driver. On the forums here in the UK there is shock and sorrow at this accident. So many people have fond memories of the monorail and I was lucky enough to have ridden in the cab in 2006.....just terrible news

Gordon

[RRMike]

This is so sad. My heart and prayers go out to the driver and his family. I just heard the monorail is shut down until further notice. When they find out what happened I'm shure there will many opperational changes. I saw the photos. If there were more people in the cab it would have been much worse.

[Caster]

First and foremost, our prayers go out for cast member and his/her family.

As a former monorail pilot, I can not imagine how this could possibly happen. The safety system in place is called MAPO. It ensures safe distances between the trains otherwise they shut themselves off. The only known way for 2 monorails to get that close to each other is for the MAPO system to be manually overridden.

[DisneyMagic71]

This is so tragic and unbelievable. No matter what the cause. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and cast member.

[Scott.Peattie]

Really sad to hear the news our prayers are with the families

[Ultimatewdwfan]

Over 37 years running without an incident like this one. That's a better track record than traditional methods of transportation. I'd have to think it's a mechanical / computer error. I'm not the praying type, so Lou... here's an official request for a segment on the Monorail history and drivers. People's lives should celebrated, and that driver had a great job of taking people into the happiest place on earth.

[Mickey Fan]

Adding my prayers for the deceased Cast Member and his family. I hope they're able to determine the cause of this tragedy.

[yensid1071]

Wow... simply unbelieveable..... Thoughts and prayers for both drivers and their families, as well as those guests on the monorail at the time. It's amazing that more weren't injured/killed.
I may have missed this in all the articles, but what line did this happen on? Was it the Epcot, Resort, or Express? Based on pics, I'm guessing the Epcot track.

[Caster]

EPCOT track at TTC

[Caster]

Wow... simply unbelieveable..... Thoughts and prayers for both drivers and their families, as well as those guests on the monorail at the time. It's amazing that more weren't injured/killed.
I may have missed this in all the articles, but what line did this happen on? Was it the Epcot, Resort, or Express? Based on pics, I'm guessing the Epcot track.

EPCOT track at TTC