The Magic Kingdom express monorail returns to the TTC. (c) 2009 Peggy Macdonald
Two weeks after a fatal monorail collision killed pilot Austin Wuennenberg, the Walt Disney World monorail system has added new safety measures designed to protect guests and cast members.
More monorail workers oversee operations at the monorail stations. On the night of the monorail crash July 5, the monorail control center (pictured in the slideshow) was not staffed. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the transportation manager in charge of overseeing monorail operations issued commands via radio from a restaurant off Disney property. The manager was placed on leave after the monorail crash. Now it is common to see a monorail worker stationed in the monorail control center. Additionally, more monorail workers assist with the arrival, unloading, loading, and departure of monorails at busy stations such as the Magic Kingdom monorail station.
Another safety improvement is the speed at which the monorails travel. It is more common for monorails to stop before entering stations, and further back than in the past. In the July 5 monorail accident, one monorail backed into another monorail outside the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) station, leading to the death of one monorail pilot. Since then monorail trains approach and depart stations more slowly and carefully, and as an added safety measure they often stop before entering a station.
Passengers are no longer able to ride in the front of the monorail. This practice ceased after the crash, when the National Transportation Safety Board launched its investigation of the crash and monorail operations. Disney has resumed monorail procedures that were abandoned in recent years. In order to lessen wait times for monorail passengers, monorail pilots had started to switch tracks while driving backward from the front cab. Now monorail pilots have returned to the former practice of switching to the rear cab to switch tracks, which allows pilots to see the station and tracks better.
The process of switching from the front cab to the back and powering up the rear cab during the track switch takes several minutes, which means guests sometimes wait longer to board the monorail train to Epcot. On the evening of July 18, an Epcot monorail was completely full and there was not enough room for all of the guests who had waited to board the train. Before the monorail crash, this would have been highly unusual. Although the added wait might inconvenience guests, returning to the old monorail procedures has improved safety for guests and cast members alike.
You might also enjoy these:
Comments
Since when do they switch tracks to go from TTC to EPCOT the spur line goes to the roundhouse located on Reams Rd. The TTC to EPCOT Line it's a loop from TTC to EPCOT then back again never switching tracks.
Well, after someone dies, THEN they beef things up. What a shame. By putting enough people in enough positions, this young man's life may have been spared.
Roundhouse is NOT on Reams Road. To move from the EPCOT line to get to the roundhouse the train is switched to the MK line and then to the spur located near Park 1 Security booth opposite the Contemporary.
this crash happend when a lot of bad choices add up..knowing the system well.i can say for sure that a lot of CM are upset about this and miss are close friend autin very much.the system was very safe to begin with.now it is even better.where else in the world where can you say a transportaion system that went with out a death for over 30 years..austin RIP
at least only one person died it could have been more :( my heart and prayers go to austins familly and frieds
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!