Croftybaby
TS Member
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Hey guys. Been reading a few tweets about something happening on the monorail yesterday? Anyone have any information on this?
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Monorail Accident?
Danny
TS Contributor
Somebody wrote this on the AT Faffbook wall:
Hi, I just wanted to leave a message for your staff! Me and my friends were a little injured yesterday on the monorail and every member of staff who came to help us was fantastic, they kept everyone calm and were very understanding and reassuring. The medical staff were outstanding too and clearly knew what they were doing! The driver of the monorail even came to see us in the Medical Centre at half 8 last night just to make sure we were okay! What a hero! Hope everyone else got away as relatively luckily as us. Thanks again
Hi, I just wanted to leave a message for your staff! Me and my friends were a little injured yesterday on the monorail and every member of staff who came to help us was fantastic, they kept everyone calm and were very understanding and reassuring. The medical staff were outstanding too and clearly knew what they were doing! The driver of the monorail even came to see us in the Medical Centre at half 8 last night just to make sure we were okay! What a hero! Hope everyone else got away as relatively luckily as us. Thanks again
Stevie
TS Member
Doesn't seem to be Towers' year this year really does it?
Sounds quite serious, seeing as some people were injured. I hope everyone who was involved are okay. Kudos to the staff member for calming the guests and keeping the situation under control.
Let's hope nothing else goes wrong this year...
Sounds quite serious, seeing as some people were injured. I hope everyone who was involved are okay. Kudos to the staff member for calming the guests and keeping the situation under control.
Let's hope nothing else goes wrong this year...
LoveAltonTowers
TS Member
Monorail Accident? indead.
there was indeed a "crash" hence why monorail is SBNO for the meantime, it will be back in opp soon though ide imagine, someone i know has details on why monorail train it was too, all info is more or less staff need to know basis I'm sure towers will release a press statement soon though, but at the moment we don't know what caused the "crash" but one thing is for sure it was more or less the hole train that felt teh impact leaveing the hole train with some injurey
-L.A.T
there was indeed a "crash" hence why monorail is SBNO for the meantime, it will be back in opp soon though ide imagine, someone i know has details on why monorail train it was too, all info is more or less staff need to know basis I'm sure towers will release a press statement soon though, but at the moment we don't know what caused the "crash" but one thing is for sure it was more or less the hole train that felt teh impact leaveing the hole train with some injurey
-L.A.T
Stelios
TS Member
I'm sure it was a technical fault for the driver not to notice. Must of been scary, glad we haven't heard of any serious injuries but Towers as always deal well under pressure. I wouldn't be surprised if heaps of compensation is being offered over interweb guests. I'm sure a mini-investigation may occur since H&S is so strict these days.
Does the company make it still exist? (V.R.H./Allot & Lomax/C.W.A.) And I'm sure some modifications were made by a company during the refurb so they could be contacted too surely? I'd expect it to be SNBO for a while until H&S come in and it's thoroughly reviewed, overviewed and tested. This season is crumbling day by day for Alton!
Unlike the other day, Towers would have to release a statement because there was injuries and it'd be bad PR if they didn't reply. Watch one victim sell their story to the papers now causing mass overhyped panic. I'm sure I gathered that on a Tweet I saw that it was near the end of the day, can someone confirm this? Thanks.
Does the company make it still exist? (V.R.H./Allot & Lomax/C.W.A.) And I'm sure some modifications were made by a company during the refurb so they could be contacted too surely? I'd expect it to be SNBO for a while until H&S come in and it's thoroughly reviewed, overviewed and tested. This season is crumbling day by day for Alton!
Unlike the other day, Towers would have to release a statement because there was injuries and it'd be bad PR if they didn't reply. Watch one victim sell their story to the papers now causing mass overhyped panic. I'm sure I gathered that on a Tweet I saw that it was near the end of the day, can someone confirm this? Thanks.
Craig
TS Administrator
It doesn't appear to have been a crash as such, more that the monorail suddenly came to a sudden stop. There's no information as to why it stopped but it doesn't seem to have been a "crash" which to me now describes two trains colliding rather than what seems to have actually happened.
From looking around on Twitter it seems to have been injuries sustained from being flung forward suddenly (bust noses, grazes etc). Those trains do go pretty fast and I'd imagine a sudden stop when you're not expecting it would cause you to jolt forward a fair bit!
From looking around on Twitter it seems to have been injuries sustained from being flung forward suddenly (bust noses, grazes etc). Those trains do go pretty fast and I'd imagine a sudden stop when you're not expecting it would cause you to jolt forward a fair bit!
Ian
TS Team
I don't know wether the trains have individual E-Stops or not. Originally the system was designed to run without the need of a driver wasn't it? It is possible it has one at the front as a precaution anyway though.
Each compartment has a passenger alarm which can be activated in an emergency under the red flaps though doesn't it? Could be someone pratting around who pressed it and caused an E-Stop.
The odds of an actual crash are very slim. Firstly, the system knows where every train is and what it's doing in normal operation, and ensures there is a safe distance between them all (Similar to Duel). If one train had stopped midcourse due to a breakdown the computer would more than likely be aware of this, and prevent other trains from attempting to pass it.
Failing that all onboard staff usually have radios which can be used to message back to the control room, so if one had halted at random odds are they would radio back to say they appeared to have broken down, and to keep other trains well away.
I have heard many staff from various parks all say that in most cases it is safer to ride stop than to e-stop, due to things such as abrupt halting, and overstraining hardware. It is possible that the train was performing an e-stop for whatever reason, and this owed to the abrupt nature of it coming to a halt.
It could also be, as suggested earlier, debris on the line which became wedged in the train's drive system and caused it to jam, though I would have hoped the onboard staff spotted this and either stopped the train, or radioed control to request an e-stop.
Do we have any idea where abouts the problem occurred? That might help whittle down the possibilities. If it was say, over the coach park the chances of debris are significantly less than say passing between the Valley and Katanga.
With regards Von Roll still operating, the company packed in as we knew it a few years ago now, however there is still a Von Roll Holding operating who make wind turbines amongst other stuff Monorails and cable cars are long gone though it seems. I believe they sold the Monorail technology to Bombardier or similar (Who incidentally, apparently did some trains for Disney World's network)
Not so sure about C.W.A and Allot & Lomax. Like with most rides where the company has ceased operation but attractions still exist I should imagine Towers can get compatible parts, one ones custom made.
A bit back now it had some parts changed. The system used to use Analogue convertors, but they became unreliable with age, and were changed for digital drives by a company called ABB. This was done to make it more reliable and improve the performance of the trains. I'm unsure as to wether anything was done during the refurb though. As far as I know Sarner and Alton just gave the trains a makeover visually. It is possible it had some parts changed under the hood though!
Odds are it's a fault confined to a single train, as it seems very strange that people are claiming just the one has failed. I'd imagine there'll be a H&S inspection carried out on the whole system to rule out anything else, which'd explain the prolonged downtime and they'll probably then reopen with the defective train in the depot for repairs.
Assuming it's a one off with a single train the worst I can see happening is that train is decommissioned and scrapped/gutted for spare parts. There's always other trains to support it, so I doubt it'd have too much of an impact loosing one
Each compartment has a passenger alarm which can be activated in an emergency under the red flaps though doesn't it? Could be someone pratting around who pressed it and caused an E-Stop.
The odds of an actual crash are very slim. Firstly, the system knows where every train is and what it's doing in normal operation, and ensures there is a safe distance between them all (Similar to Duel). If one train had stopped midcourse due to a breakdown the computer would more than likely be aware of this, and prevent other trains from attempting to pass it.
Failing that all onboard staff usually have radios which can be used to message back to the control room, so if one had halted at random odds are they would radio back to say they appeared to have broken down, and to keep other trains well away.
I have heard many staff from various parks all say that in most cases it is safer to ride stop than to e-stop, due to things such as abrupt halting, and overstraining hardware. It is possible that the train was performing an e-stop for whatever reason, and this owed to the abrupt nature of it coming to a halt.
It could also be, as suggested earlier, debris on the line which became wedged in the train's drive system and caused it to jam, though I would have hoped the onboard staff spotted this and either stopped the train, or radioed control to request an e-stop.
Do we have any idea where abouts the problem occurred? That might help whittle down the possibilities. If it was say, over the coach park the chances of debris are significantly less than say passing between the Valley and Katanga.
With regards Von Roll still operating, the company packed in as we knew it a few years ago now, however there is still a Von Roll Holding operating who make wind turbines amongst other stuff
Monorails and cable cars are long gone though it seems. I believe they sold the Monorail technology to Bombardier or similar (Who incidentally, apparently did some trains for Disney World's network)Not so sure about C.W.A and Allot & Lomax. Like with most rides where the company has ceased operation but attractions still exist I should imagine Towers can get compatible parts, one ones custom made.
A bit back now it had some parts changed. The system used to use Analogue convertors, but they became unreliable with age, and were changed for digital drives by a company called ABB. This was done to make it more reliable and improve the performance of the trains. I'm unsure as to wether anything was done during the refurb though. As far as I know Sarner and Alton just gave the trains a makeover visually. It is possible it had some parts changed under the hood though!
Odds are it's a fault confined to a single train, as it seems very strange that people are claiming just the one has failed. I'd imagine there'll be a H&S inspection carried out on the whole system to rule out anything else, which'd explain the prolonged downtime and they'll probably then reopen with the defective train in the depot for repairs.
Assuming it's a one off with a single train the worst I can see happening is that train is decommissioned and scrapped/gutted for spare parts. There's always other trains to support it, so I doubt it'd have too much of an impact loosing one
Ian
TS Team
There's normally about 4ish sat in the depot on most days. Rumour was a while back one of the trains was busted, but I'm not sure how true that is. Either way, yes there are more trains than normally used. I'm guessing when they bought them from Canada they came from a longer system which needed more. Better to have too many than not enough!
Tom
TS Member
The Psychoaster said:
People have reportedly been injured, I don't think too much has been made of it.
It's unlikely that any emergency stop programme would be capable of stopping a train as quickly to propel people out of their seats.
It'd go along with the jam theory or - as unlikely as it may be - an impact with another train.
There'll be serious questions to answer about this, it will soon reach the national media and there'll be a full Health and Safety Executive investigation. They will need to be satisfied that measures have been taken to prevent a re-occurrence.
Ian
TS Team
Tom said:
You'd probably be surprised actually at how quickly one of those trains can react in an emergency stop. Considering how fast some flat rides and coasters are able to bring themselves to a standstill (Rush at Thorpe being very fast to respond to one).
As the name suggests they are for emergency situations. In an emergency you want things to come to a halt as soon as they possibly can. If it comes at the expense of some bumps and bruises then so be it. It's better than letting the situation worsen and result in a potential tragedy.
For example, if the system is going along and someone jumps out onto the line in front of the train, having the people in the train come off with a few bruises and grazes is preferable to mowing someone down and potentially killing them. Same if say a switchtrack on a ride is out of position, or a rail broken somehow. A bit of whiplash is better than having the ride derail itself and potentially cause massive injury.
In some situations with parks there is a no win situation, and this is when e-stop comes into play. In the worst cases it's generally the better of two evils.
As for this reaching national media the incident is reported to have happened last night. It sounds like everyone was able to be treated on site, and no serious injuries have happened. It would have been small news that would have been glorified by the media no doubt, but it's old news now. I can't see it coming on BBC News tonight saying that reports are just in that people have been injured on Alton's Monorail two days ago now, or on the cover of tomorrow's paper.
There have been no real outlandish claims made by people like "I thought I was going to die! I nearly fell out of the ride and died!". It seems to have been a minor incident which has been made to look worse due to the numbers involved. If it had been anything serious the media would have been all over it moments after it happened.
There will undoubtedly be an investigation into what happened, but the system has been in operation since 1987, with very little trouble. The odds of it needing major modification are unlikely unless H&S prove that it was down to the system failing. For all we know it could simply be a freak accident, and the odds of it happening again are next to nothing. I should imagine it'll be up and running again within a week or two at the most.
Tom
TS Member
Too much speculation to get drawn into hypothetical arguments at minute I think.
Broken noses, concussion and whiplash have been claimed by people, if even one of those is true it is serious. The ride does not operate a safely a sit can - that's the simple view the HSE will take.
However, I predict seat belts being fitted before the end of the season.
Broken noses, concussion and whiplash have been claimed by people, if even one of those is true it is serious. The ride does not operate a safely a sit can - that's the simple view the HSE will take.
However, I predict seat belts being fitted before the end of the season.