I just read some startling news. This news is the first of its fatal kind for the monorails in @ 38 years. Evidently 2 monorails crashed at the Disney World Resort in Florida. 1 driver was killed, and the other is fine. Information states that there were only a few guests on the monorail at the time. Some reports say on the Epcot rail, and others say Ticket & Transportation, while others say the Magic Kingdom area. Many of the sources at the scene are stating Ticket & Transportation.
What never stops amazing me is how fast a company can blackout the media, and other sources on the web. All video of the crash was pulled from YouTube due to copyright issues.
A strange photo because it shows the monorails out on the track.
The image below shows the monorails in one the loading areas.
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Walt Disney World employee was killed when two monorails carrying several guests collided at Magic Kingdom, emergency officials said. ONLY ON CLICKORLANDO.COM:
VIDEO: Guests Try To Help Driver
According to Reedy Creek Emergency Services, the monorails collided at about 2 a.m. Sunday, killing one of the train operators.The name of the driver has not been released. The operator of the other monorail was not injured.
Eight other people were evaluated after the crash, but no other injuries were reported.
A witness told Local 6 News that he heard a loud crashing noise when the monorails collided. Video obtained exclusively by Local 6 News shows guests trying to help the driver who was killed in the crash.
The monorail has been closed, and an investigation into the fatal accident is under way.
Walt Disney World vice president of public affairs Mike Griffin issued a statement offering condolences to the employee’s family.
”Today, we mourn the loss of a fellow cast member. Our hearts go out to the family and fellow cast members who lost a coworker and a friend. Safety of our guests and cast members is our top priority. We will work with law enforcement to determine what happened,” Griffin said in the statement.
A Disney spokeswoman declined to discuss details of the accident.
From everything that I know the monorails are working in conjunction with sensors throughout the track. The sensors cause the monorails to stop if the computer system sees an issue, or safety problem caused by being too close, etc. According to outside sources the monorails controls can be overriden. This leaves the question… Mechanical failure, Human error, or Both?
ShadowWind…I personally think that after reading everything that someone, somewhere screwed up. No mechanical issue.
It is certainly a horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to the family of the driver who was killed. I saw one homemade video that was on the monorail platform when they brought the trains into the station. It was very sad and chaotic as they tried to reach the driver of the cab, before telling the guy filming to shut off his camera. It’s just good that no one else was hurt seriously.
I also wonder what went wrong, as there is an entire set of systems to prevent this. Did the driver override? Were the sensors malfunctioning or shut off? And if they were, could the driver not see the one in front of him.
If this had to happen, I am glad it didn’t during Eisner’s reign. With all the talk of ending the monorail’s run when the Mark VI’s ended their lifespan, he would have certainly used this as an excuse. I don’t think Iger will be as quick, seeing as that he seems to care a lot about whether Disney remains Disney and the monorails are the biggest icon.
And I hope people don’t get frightened of the monorails, as they are still the safest mode of transportation around. In 38 years, less than 10 injuries and only one fatality, puts them on top of cars, boats, airplanes and trains in terms of safety. I hope people keep that in mind.
The biggest question though at this point is will Disney tell what happened when they find out?