Disney monorail - smoke, electrical shortage

ericpabear · Post by **ericpabear** » Sep Wed 30, 2009 8:22 pm

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 1208.story

Engineers reviewing monorail after smoke, electrical shortage at Disney
Walt Disney World's monorail system is only partially operational now after an electrical short at the monorail control booth at the Magic Kingdom platform this morning.

Bianca Prieto and Jason Garcia
Sentinel Staff Writers

5:34 p.m. EDT, September 30, 2009

(A previous version of this story gave an incorrect location for the electrical short and of the management for Disney's transportation operations and maintenance areas.)
Walt Disney World's monorail system is only partially operational now after an electrical short at a control booth at the Magic Kingdom monorail platform this morning.
Smoke was seen after the short, which happened at about 10:05 a.m and caused a train pulling into that station to stop. About 25 guests were on that train for about 10 minutes while a tractor towed the train to the station, where the guests unloaded.
Monorail loops to the resorts and Magic Kingdom are closed. The line to Epcot is still running.
Engineers are reviewing the system now.
"Our buses and ferryboats are currently available to transport guests as our engineering services team reviews the situation," said Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez.
The Reedy Creek Fire Department responded to the incident around 10:14 a.m., but did not find a fire.
No injuries were reported, a sheriff's spokesman said.

In July, monorail pilot Austin Wuennenberg died when two trains collided at Disney's Transportation and Ticket Center -- the main station for visitors boarding trains for the Magic Kingdom.
The July 5 crash, the first fatal accident in the monorail's 38-year history, has sparked multiple investigations, including probes by the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
While investigators think human error is at least partially to blame, according to people familiar with the probes they are also scrutinizing Disney's internal policies and procedures to determine whether they may have contributed.
One area investigators have zeroed in on: The practice of allowing monorail drivers to remain in the front cabin while they drive in reverse through track switches, rather than requiring them to drive from twin controls in the rear cabins of their trains.
The crash that killed Wuennenberg occurred when another driver, who was driving from the front cabin, backed into Wuennenberg's train.
Disney has given documents and other information to both NTSB and OSHA, but neither group has made a ruling about the crash.
Wuennenberg's mother is seeking legal action against Disney.
Two weeks ago Disney made a change to its transportation leadership. The company moved its transportation maintenance and transportation operations under one leader, adding the operations portion to report to Jim Vendur.
Disney's transportation system includes the ferryboats, 300 buses and the 15-mile-long monorail.

Post by **Len90** » Sep Wed 30, 2009 11:51 pm

Man, the hits just keep on coming. It seems as if there is another story with Disney every other week. Glad to see that nobody was hurt and that the line was cut. Is there any word as to why this happened and if those lines are back running? Still not going to scare me from using the monorail though.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Oct Thu 01, 2009 8:16 am

This is only news because of the July incident. If July had never happened this would never have been known outside the parks. It is apparently just an electrical hiccup; something shorted out. If a circuit shorts out at Test Track it doesn't make the news. Papers like the Orlando Sentinel make me cheer the demise of the newspaper.

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Oct Thu 01, 2009 10:07 am

I'm glad this was nothing major and no one was hurt! I'll be happy when I hear no negative reports or accidents about my most favorite place on Earth for a long while!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Oct Thu 01, 2009 2:54 pm

It's been a negatively eventful last few months for Disney. I wonder if there is a bigger underlining problem at work. Like the years of fix if it's broken and don't worry about PM's that started during the "Burnt earth policies" of the Eisner regime have come home to roost? It just seems like to much has gone wrong lately, at least to much to just be isolated incidents. It looks like to me that Disney needs to look more at the disease, instead of just treating the symptoms.

As with anything neglect will catch up to you!