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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

The front car isn't a powered unit, you wouldn't just move it to that location for the reason you state, it is likely the car split which forces a power outage/shutdown to the train, resulting in the main part of the train stopping on the incline before the descent but its likely the front car had enough momentum and carried on down to the tunnel.
 
Rob F said:
The front car isn't a powered unit, you wouldn't just move it to that location for the reason you state, it is likely the car split which forces a power outage/shutdown to the train, resulting in the main part of the train stopping on the incline before the descent but its likely the front car had enough momentum and carried on down to the tunnel.
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I think there would have been more noise if this was a train split during operation. Someone on the ride would have put it on social media.

Plus you need the main coupling and two cables to give way since the incident where the train split last time.
 
It’s not the first time the cars have detached You’d have thought they would have addressed whatever it was that caused the detachment last time it happened. Or the time before.

Maybe it’s an intentional detachment for some other purpose?
 
venny said:
It’s not the first time the cars have detached You’d have thought they would have addressed whatever it was that caused the detachment last time it happened. Or the time before.

Maybe it’s an intentional detachment for some other purpose?
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It was addressed. The 2 cables mentioned above were retrofitted.
 
As a few people have already posted, it is perfectly normal for the train to be parked in the tunnel. It is usually stored there overnight (parking on the final bend after ride close is for maintenance access to do checks).

The reason for the train being split is likely that a carriage was removed for unplanned emergency maintenance. It's been seen before that a carriage can be craned off from the section of track just leaving the tunnel.

The fact that it's reopened already makes it very unlikely that some sort of incident involving the train splitting apart during operation has happened like some people have speculated above.
 
Who knows what it was, could’ve been anything. It was enough to keep it closed for almost 4 days. So not major, but enough that something was wrong.
 
This is the original interim safety bulletin issued by Mack Rides in the immediate aftermath of the RMT incident in 2006. Asking for increased inspections of components to prevent it happening on other powered coasters. While the problem was root caused and a possible fix developed.

Turns out a fix was not really needed, increased inspections of the failed parts would suffice. But they developed one anyway as an extra layer of safety. Basically an additional connector between cars. Pretty sure RMT has this in place, seeing as it was the attraction that caused this to be developed. I am sure the cost of the links would have been heavily subsidised by Mack Rides or completely provided free of charge for RMT. As that is where the failures occurred. They can get away with charging other parks on the basis that the updated maintenance / safety bulletin should prevent this from happening on future rides....sorry went a bit off topic there.

Back to availability, Due to above mentioned reasons, I find it unlikely that this separation was a mechanical failure. Seems to be maintenance, in the dry, away from this very wet summer we are having. The fact it was back up so quickly, supports this too. They could have been replacing some of the connectors, in line with the updated inspections as per the bulletin I posted above. Which are still active now, 17 years later.

Dave said:
I would argue that Towers generally maintain their rides mechanically. RMT is 31 years old, it’s going to have some issues.
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I would have to agree, Alton Towers run their rides harder than most parks in Europe. They can only do that because the rides have excellent mechanical maintenance. If you try run the rides as hard as they do with poor maintenance, the things will break very frequently. I know Alton do have their issues with availability some times. But it is an order of magnitude better than if the rides were maintained poorly.
 
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Yeah it’s not a great start, RMT, 13, wicker man, alty man’s and spin ball were all shut at one point. Thats most of the rides my kids want to go on when they visit AT. Luckily spinball opened and we got in the queue before it went mad so we’ve only waited about half an hour and are almost at the station.
 
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