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Monorail Accident?

It's easy enough to see from the Sub Terra queueline - I've seen the track switch from there once myself (though it's fairly far away, so not the clearest of views). You can also kinda see it from here, though that's a very obstructed view. Others will know better than me, though.

LordOfDarkness said:
One question, if the person who gave the eye witness report actually SAW what happened, why didn't he photograph this?

Whether he was off ride or on ride, he would of got a clear enough detailed view to see what happened so... Suspicious.

And i'm guessing he is the only one to see that this occurred?

Sounds too fishy for me...
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Could've been asked to delete his photos - I know they've done that in the past at Chessington when there've been power cuts. Unlikely, though, and I'd completely agree with you that it seems fishy.
 
I'm pleased to know I'm not alone when I see the glass as being half way to completing a violent vigilante attack against us.
 
I've just thought, this might just be pure coincidence but...

The supposed area this incident happened is the same area which was closed off a few days ago.

The monorail ceased operation that day also...
 
Y would need
Islander said:
Mr P said:
There are no traffic lights on the system anywhere.
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Eh, my bad - could've sworn I saw some. Must be thinking of something else.
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There are defo signals at the end of the platforms, so I would assume there would be more signals protecting the switch. What would be the point of having them in the platforms if they didnt.

I work for network rail as a signaller and I know its not the same thing but by my experiance h&s wouldn't let a switch track be protected by nothing more than radio communication between staff members. There would defonatly need some sort of interlocking.
 
davewazere said:
Y would need
Islander said:
Mr P said:
There are no traffic lights on the system anywhere.
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Eh, my bad - could've sworn I saw some. Must be thinking of something else.
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There are defo signals at the end of the platforms, so I would assume there would be more signals protecting the switch. What would be the point of having them in the platforms if they didnt.

I work for network rail as a signaller and I know its not the same thing but by my experiance h&s wouldn't let a switch track be protected by nothing more than radio communication between staff members. There would defonatly need some sort of interlocking.
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"Signals" on the platforms are operated by the station op, the green lights are illuminated when it's safe for the driver to close the doors.
 
From what I know the whole system except dispatching and door control is more or less automated. Any form of signalling which occurs is done by the system itself internally. It probably tells the operators in the station in some form, but I don't think it informs the drivers.

The drivers actually do very little other than operate the doors and audio, as the system drives itself around, similar to the Docklands Light Railway in London.

There is the facility for drivers to intervene if needed, but in normal operation it's all automated :)

I would hope that the system is clever enough to know when the switch track is out of place and to halt the trains accordingly, but apparently not, or if so it's ineffective!
 
It's a real shame that this has happened, I love The Monorail. It sounds cheesy but it's quite magical leaving the real world (the car in the carpark) behind whilst being transported through the park, disembarking straight on the doorstep of the entrance.

I really hope that The Monorail survives and Alton don't decide that the time has come to cease operation. It really doesn't have the same feeling walking to the park entrance, as it does when you are transported there on The Monorail.
 
With the Flume accident several years ago, Rita's accident and now this, would it be fair to see that Alton's decades of under-investment in upgrading their ride systems is finally catching up on them?
 
Tom said:
What you have to ask yourself is how likely is someone to realistically witness it?

Obviously none of the passengers on the train can see it (unless their evacuation enabled them to), so it means that someone would have to be specifically watching the monorail track in that section in Forbidden Valley (? - not too sure on geography of monorail station offhand) around 30 minutes after ride close.
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Firstly it wasn't 30 mins after ride close as I walked past the train emptying onto another at about 6:10 after speaking to the actors from sub tera as it had been down for the last 20-30 mins of the day therefor supporting that the eye witness account couldn't have been from thhe sun-tera queline!
 
Pricey. said:
Tom said:
What you have to ask yourself is how likely is someone to realistically witness it?

Obviously none of the passengers on the train can see it (unless their evacuation enabled them to), so it means that someone would have to be specifically watching the monorail track in that section in Forbidden Valley (? - not too sure on geography of monorail station offhand) around 30 minutes after ride close.
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Firstly it wasn't 30 mins after ride close as I walked past the train emptying onto another at about 6:10 after speaking to the actors from sub tera as it had been down for the last 20-30 mins of the day therefor supporting that the eye witness account couldn't have been from thhe sun-tera queline!
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Yeah, I now understand it occurred shortly after 5pm - so maybe Sub-Terra was open then? Did they close ST for that reason did he say?
 
Eddie said:
Sam said:
I know of no monorail in the world with seatbelts. Even after the fatal train collision on the WDW monorail in 2009, seatbelts were not fitted so that seems unlikely. :)
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On top of that, are there any Trains in the world that have seatbelts? I can't think of any
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We get them on rather new 4 carriage Northern Rail.

Anyway I knew it was a overdramatised fiasco. Glad there was no serious injures, I'd imagine the ones needing oxygen were weak easy-shock induced shaken guests. Not as serious as we all thought so I think that we won't get a full statement off Towers as it'd just frighten other guests.

ST probably would of closed the queue at least but correct me if I'm not mistaken the emergency exit is still very near the monorail for H&S standards.

I'm surprised that rides still open weren't shut after close time too. Wait until we get guests complaining with blisters as they had to walk instead of getting the Monorail. Even Shatner couldn't of prevented this.
 
The way I see it, it would be advisable for Towers to give a short statement just to give abit of peace of mind. Something on the lines of: There was a incident on the monorail, yada yada yada, theres evacuation proceedures inforce on all attractions that are followed, yada yada yada, no one was seriously injured, yada yada yada, these incidents are rare and the monorail is safe.

Social media is very powerfull and if posts are posted on the Towers facebook page about the incident from thoughs involved, people will catch wind of it and it could spread and reputation could be damaged.
 
Does anyone know whether the monorail has been in operation at all today? I would hope that they'll close it to find out just why the train continued on towards the switch track if the system is supposed to be automated - a bit of a scary thought as to what would have happened if there was no driver as was originally intended by the manufacturer.
 
The Monorail hasn't ran at all today. However, reports suggested that they've moved some of the trains around during the day. No doubt to try and get them garaged away if they are going to be down for a while.
 
Does anyone know if the monorail has to run under a light railway order? if so it will be looked into by the rail crash investigation team.
 
Well, whatever happened here I do hope those affected by the accident have healed their wounds by now etc and that whatever happened with the Monorail itself will be fixed up. Being flung forwards in a train moving at a quick speed doesn't sound fun.
 
Methinks we will all be scrambling for a rear facing seat at the front of the car next time we are there.
 
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