• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
They're not going to change the lift hill mechanism, anything that will provide additional kinetic energy on top of the potential energy will be too much of a design departure. I doubt that the stalling issue will feature in the required improvements of the prohibition notice, it'll focus on the block failure (be that a system fault or human error in override).

I think the best we can hope for in terms of track reprofiling is what they did last winter (or was it the one before?) with some fettling with the angry grinders. The bulk of the effort will be put into the block systems and procedures.
 
Looks like Alton Towers are getting a little confused on Facebook:


Jon Boardman responds
I have sun tickets for Tuesday, due to x sector not being available can I use these tickets at Thorpe park? Thanks

Alton Towers responds
Hi Jon, as Alton Towers is open tomorrow you will only be able to use your tickets here, not at Thorpe Park. Thank you. (NOT VALID)

  • Someone posts picture to another post where Alton state this is fine until further notice (VALID)

Alton Towers responds
Alton Towers Sun tickets will be accepted on the day stated at Warwick Castle, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures or LEGOLAND Windsor until further notice. (VALID)

Alton Towers then responds
Hi Chlo, Sun entrance tickets for Alton Towers are only valid at Alton Towers. (NOT VALID)

Finally Alton Towers responds
Due to X-sector closure today and from the event from last week, Sun tickets are valid for other limited attractions for those affected days. We will announce any updates as soon as available. So keep checking back. (VALID)

More interestingly...

Matt Drayson (50 minutes or so ago)
So they are valid tomorrow at Thorpe park?

Alton Towers responds
If X sector is closed, we will be updating whether it is closed soon, please check our website and social media sites for updates.


Looks like X-Sector might be reopening soon without the Smiler of course.

I'm going to guess that Alton new the press would be on site, Monday and that by delaying X sector opening it would limit the damage news reports could produce. I'm guessing it will open by Friday in time for the weekend.
 
^^ That's the first stumble I've seen from them. Communications have been pretty solid throughout this past week, from Social Media to Varney vs. Burley.
 
OK guys so I just got back from a day at the towers.

The first thing I noticed is that you no longer get that voice over on the monorail talking about all the different rides in the park, I assume this had a reference to The Smiler in it? it has simply been replaced by some quiet sounds effects. They actually opened the park gates early today, we were in by 9.45, I should also mention that as soon as we entered the park we were handed free return tickets which are valid for use any time this season, everyone apart from annual pass holders were given these free tickets.

In terms of rides, they all opened at 10am precisely with the only exception being the water rides which opened at 11. All of the major coasters were operating with 2 trains and as mentioned before in the thread one train would remain in the station until the second had completed the circuit and had reached the final break run, I also noticed there were a lot of engineers hanging around the rides today. Apart from that I didn't really notice any additional checks being made, throughput seemed to be about the same. None of the rides had any downtime throughout the day.

In terms of staff, there seemed to be a lot more than usual there today everywhere you went there were members of staff walking around. They were all very friendly and approachable as usual. None of them seemed low on morale, they all looked happy to be there and help.

In terms of atmosphere, the park was pretty much empty today, every ride was pretty much walk on (I'm not complaining!) the only queue we had to stand in was for thirteen for about 10 mins. As I mentioned above staff remained positive and to be honest everything just seemed normal, if somehow you lived under a rock and had no idea about the crash you certainly wouldn't have found out about it at the park.

A few other points to mention:
All branding to do with The Smiler and Big 6 challenge has been completely removed
X-Sector was obviously completely sealed off, the towers were also shut and sealed off

All in all it was a great day out, I will be returning on Thursday. Just wish Oblivion was open!
 
I do worry about the effect on throughputs for Th13teen if they can't send a train until the next one is in the brakes. All the other currently operating coasters tend to only have one train out at a time anyway.
 
Can't see having to wait for the train to approach the final brake run being a big problem in terms of throughput though, except on Th13teen if that's only on two trains?
 
Air will take a bigger hit than Thirteen, as that very rarely stacks on 3 trains (Thirteen didn't when new, but loading isn't as fast now). In theory, Air can get 52 trains/hr on full capacity but just 32 on 2 trains/2 stations.
 
Ive sent merlin an email about my premium pass, im not happy about about no ERT , and all the closures.

Hope they add a week or two on it.

I only tend to use it at Alton Towers, i understand the seriousness of it all, but ive spent good money on it.

I may get called insensitive on here, but ive seen pictures of people on here queueing at guest services when a ride or two has been shut before.
 
Just looking through wikapedia (not like I do this often :oops:) and found this, don't remember but then again the ride closed almost 10 years before I was born.
Alton Mouse
  • In its last season of operation a car stalled on the second big drop. The ride shut down as designed, with other cars held at various blocks before and after the stalled car. The ride operator restarted the ride thinking that the stalled car (which had valleyed) would also start and continue its journey. A second car collided with it.The report in to the incident found that the member of staff had inadequate training. She also had access to keys that allowed her to override the block system, a procedure that should only authorised by a more qualified person, such as maintenance. Alton Towers were fined.
Does this mean that the health and safety records will show 2 similar accidents and will be worse for fines.

AirFAN said:
Just watching a video on YouTube of the ride testing (assume from prior to opening). The speed at which the train comes out of Batwing really is slow. I haven't been on the ride myself - was anything done to improve this after ride opening? Clearly it has stalled in the past but at the speed the train is seen coming out of the inversion in this video, I'm surprised it hasn't stalled more.


  • As other people have said. You would never expect Nemesis to even appear as though it was going to stall - even when empty and running in sub zero temperatures. Is there just a massive design flaw in this ride?
Click to expand...

  • Just a thought, but could this video of them testing the ride possibly be part of the health and safety tests to see how slow the trains must be travelling for it to stall and possibly add sensors to detect how fast the trains are traveling and make the ride e-stop.
Hope this isn't actual safety precautions put in place to stop a high impact crash, meaning that the ride is permanently at the speed of 10 mph :p
 
Dave said:
I do worry about the effect on throughputs for Th13teen if they can't send a train until the next one is in the brakes. All the other currently operating coasters tend to only have one train out at a time anyway.
Click to expand...
Yeah as I mentioned the only one we had to queue for was Th13teen that was about 20 mins, even on a day as quiet as today, so throughput on this coaster does seem to be affected at the moment, will be interested to see what happens during the busier periods when they would normally introduce more trains.
 
Balb0wa said:
Ive sent merlin an email about my premium pass, im not happy about about no ERT , and all the closures.

Hope they add a week or two on it.

I only tend to use it at Alton Towers, i understand the seriousness of it all, but ive spent good money on it.

I may get called insensitive on here, but ive seen pictures of people on here queueing at guest services when a ride or two has been shut before.
Click to expand...

will be interesting to see if they do,
if they are giving out £50 return tickets, an extra week or three on the MAP sounds reasonable :)
 
bluesonichd said:
will be interesting to see if they do,
if they are giving out £50 return tickets, an extra week or three on the MAP sounds reasonable :)
Click to expand...

Actually, isn't £50 the cost to upgrade to a premium. Don't know what they'd do of you had a premium. Maybe fastracks
 
Think it's a bit off to be asking for something as pass holders to be honest. People who had pre-booked tickets were inconvenienced because they were intending to go that day. Pass holders can go anytime throughout he entire year. THIS is where compensation culture comes in and is abusing a situation where 16 people were involved in a horrific accident. You weren't
 
EuroSatch said:
Think it's a bit off to be asking for something as pass holders to be honest. People who had pre-booked tickets were inconvenienced because they were intending to go that day. Pass holders can go anytime throughout he entire year. THIS is where compensation culture comes in and is abusing a situation where 16 people were involved in a horrific accident. You weren't
Click to expand...
Totally agree with the last part but not so much with the rest.

You say that we can go any time of the year, but hotel bookings that are in advance...
Ok, I only live 40 minutes away so I can't say much about this incident but if it happened at thorpe park where I would have a hotel, I would want compensation of some sort. I know lots of people who own maps are not lucky enough to live only 40 minutes away from Alton towers so this will effect them. If you booked hotels, and lots of rides were shut, and people even with free tickets get return tickets, I would expect something.

Again, totally agree with that last sentence of your post.
 
as far as I am aware AT were giving tickets out yesterday and today to everyone, prebooked or not. just the MAP holders who didnt get a sausage.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top