The State & Future of the Monorails (WDW)

[HandsomePete]

So the monorails are falling apart, but at least they all are programed for automation and look nicer now? Seriously, this has to be a last ditch effort to get as many years out of this fleet as possible. The fleet is 33 years old, this patchwork job that probably cost them a decent amount of money to complete will only hold them over for so long, although I don't think they care much. They saved a ton by doing this instead of buying a new fleet and they'll probably chug these along now for an extra decade until they just literally can't run anymore.

The counter to "they're falling apart" is that they were always finnicky but we live in a world now where every breakdown gets documented and tweeted out by bloggers. Obviously older things have more issues than newer things, but personally I think the degree to which they've become less reliable is generally overstated.

Of course Bombardier has newer models, but it's not as simple as plopping a new train on the existing rail - it would need to be a custom build to avoid having to retrofit all the stations.

 

[Nick]

The counter to "they're falling apart" is that they were always finnicky but we live in a world now where every breakdown gets documented and tweeted out by bloggers. Obviously older things have more issues than newer things, but personally I think the degree to which they've become less reliable is generally overstated.

Of course Bombardier has newer models, but it's not as simple as plopping a new train on the existing rail - it would need to be a custom build to avoid having to retrofit all the stations.

I agree that the breakdowns get overstated. And they may be in decent shape coming out of a refurbishment. We don't really know the extent to what was done other than that the interior looks better and they added automation. For all we know, they completely stripped every monorail and added new parts which will keep them going for a long time. I also will say that the monorails have become more reliable and less gross over the past few years.

However, that doesn't change the fact that this set of monorails are a decade (and then some) over their recommended replacement timeline. They no doubt plan on pushing these to the 2030's at least. Eventually though this method of just doing refurbishments to keep the monorails running won't be enough is my point. While they might be running perfectly fine right now, by 2030 (if not before), these will likely be in extremely rough shape again.

 

[Joe]

I don’t care how much a new fleet costs when Disney is claiming their product is too cheap at $120+ per day admissions and $600+ hotels on the monorail line. farfanoogin ‘em.

 

[HandsomePete]

I agree that the breakdowns get overstated. And they may be in decent shape coming out of a refurbishment. We don't really know the extent to what was done other than that the interior looks better and they added automation. For all we know, they completely stripped every monorail and added new parts which will keep them going for a long time. I also will say that the monorails have become more reliable and less gross over the past few years.

However, that doesn't change the fact that this set of monorails are a decade (and then some) over their recommended replacement timeline. They no doubt plan on pushing these to the 2030's at least. Eventually though this method of just doing refurbishments to keep the monorails running won't be enough is my point. While they might be running perfectly fine right now, by 2030 (if not before), these will likely be in extremely rough shape again.

I completely agree with you that until recently they let them get filthy and run down. I'd rather have a clean, old monorail than a new monorail that never gets cleaned. But unless there's an unavoidable limiting factor, like metal fatigue on airplanes, there's not actually an overarching recommended replacement timeline because all of the individual components have their own replacement schedules - the tires get replaced more often than the motors, which get replaced more often than the control system, which gets replaced more often than the windows.

If the chassis is good for 50 years, which... if it's just welded metal is pretty realistic... then yeah, these refurbishments are actually enough. If cleanliness is the actual issue... which I think it is... the cabins on these refurbished trains are going to get beat up at the exact same rate a cabin on a brand new train would.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I completely agree with you that until recently they let them get filthy and run down. I'd rather have a clean, old monorail than a new monorail that never gets cleaned. But unless there's an unavoidable limiting factor, like metal fatigue on airplanes, there's not actually an overarching recommended replacement timeline because all of the individual components have their own replacement schedules - the tires get replaced more often than the motors, which get replaced more often than the control system, which gets replaced more often than the windows.

If the chassis is good for 50 years, which... if it's just welded metal is pretty realistic... then yeah, these refurbishments are actually enough. If cleanliness is the actual issue... which I think it is... the cabins on these refurbished trains are going to get beat up at the exact same rate a cabin on a brand new train would.

As long as they are clean, doors don't open during transport, and it smells clean, I don't care how new they are.

Seems like they finally did enough fixes to adjust most of the issues they were having.

One thing I still don't get is why they haven't built a larger monorail platform/queue at the Magic Kingdoms station for the express line. They have enough space to at least make that post-fireworks crush a bit less hectic.

 

[JoeCamel]

I don't know where they would buy a dozen trains. 120 maybe but Bombardier runs full out for their capacity making city/regional fleets so they have no interest in making a small run for TDO. To add, the station conundrum makes a replacement far fetched, they would be constrained by the current station design or have to go to the expense of changing the stations while keeping the current service in place until the new configuration is ready. They are not going to kill that many rooms at the contemporary just to have modern service.
What you see is what you get until the beams rot
edit : I am aware of the 200's and I think why? Not enough plus there to spend what it would take.

 

[HandsomePete]

One thing I still don't get is why they haven't built a larger monorail platform/queue at the Magic Kingdoms station for the express line. They have enough space to at least make that post-fireworks crush a bit less hectic.

The more people you put on the platform, the more you would have to evacuate in case of an emergency.

That's what drove a lot of the station renovations that have occurred in recent years - improve evac routes/times. For example, if a train caught fire in the wrong place while in the TTC station before the renovations, the only way out was to jump over the railing and down a decent distance. And while it may have been concurrent with the first major train rehab, fire suppression went into all the trains at (I'm pretty sure) roughly the same time. (Edit: automatic fire suppression - they always had fire extinguishers but obviously that requires a person).

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The more people you put on the platform, the more you would have to evacuate in case of an emergency.

That's what drove a lot of the station renovations that have occurred in recent years - improve evac routes/times. For example, if a train caught fire in the wrong place while in the TTC station before the renovations, the only way out was to jump over the railing and down a decent distance. And while it may have been concurrent with the first major train rehab, fire suppression went into all the trains at (I'm pretty sure) roughly the same time. (Edit: automatic fire suppression - they always had fire extinguishers but obviously that requires a person).

I meant more the queue itself, they have to setup a temporary queue every night. THere's enough space to the north of the MK station to build a nicer queueing area.

 

[Nick]

I meant more the queue itself, they have to setup a temporary queue every night. THere's enough space to the north of the MK station to build a nicer queueing area.

I agree, but at the same time, they probably just don't see it worth building a permanent extended queue like that that only would get used right after the fireworks each night for the most part. It would definitely make things feel more organized, less messy, and put less stress on the ops team though.

 

[Nick]

 

[GAcoaster]

The refurbs never stopped. This has been an ongoing process of upgrades for the past 20 years. They can replace every single part of every single train and they're still 34 years old...

 

[Joe]

The Monorail of Theseus

 

[GAcoaster]

 

[OLSinFLA]

Oh no! the dreaded "axel contact" light on the panel! (When I worked there you had to be careful going round the curves -- too fast and the monorail would sway coming out and that would light up. Continued contact would snap the axel -- which would not be good

 

[GAcoaster]