Originally Posted By ORD84 I'm kinda interested they stated that the Driver of Pink tried to reverse...approx how long does it take for a monorail to fully stop and reverse direction? The NTSB report said that there was no mechanical failures, chiefly human errors... In this very fiscally minded enviroment Company's including mine are doing things like LWOP(Leave without pay) people for full shifts which is good, however when they first started it at my specific location they did it too aggressively sometimes and the supervisors(we are allowed to work covered(union) positions if need be) were performing covered work left and right to try and make up for the loss of agents. Perhap's that was the direction that the Manager recieved and was just dutifully carrying out his orders???
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <I'm completely onboard with your logic. However, I work in an industry where everyone has a fantastic pension plan, solid health benefits, guaranteed COLAs every year, and an environment where it's nearly impossible to get fired< you're right - that is a completely different environment than most everyone else - any openings for a 30+ year manager with a couple of degrees and would love to have a pension back.?
Originally Posted By -em >>I've got a question for you -em. Do you remember how long it takes to reboot the Monorail when switching from cab#1, to cab#6?<< Not too long I cant remember exactly but I would estimate about 5 min total
Originally Posted By Indigo I think the time can vary for the switch procedure. I've been stuck in station waiting for a train for just a few minutes and I've been stuck waiting for much longer than 5 minutes. But that's usually because something goes wrong and they have to run some procedure or another to clear everything again.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 "I've got a question for you -em. Do you remember how long it takes to reboot the Monorail when switching from cab#1, to cab#6?" In reality it doesnt take more than a couple of minutes. Here was the way it used to be done. The train on the EPCOT beam would reverse out of the station to just past the switch beam. This way they would be faceing the switch beam and driving onto the MK line. When the train was safely thru the switch AND in the station, monorail base would call and have the beam switch back to normal. At that point the power in the station on that beam goes off (because there is an incomplete electrical circuit) while the switch is being moved the driver can close down the back of the train, walk up to the front and be ready to go. By the time the power is restored the driver should be just about ready to drive from the front cab.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 The Orlando Sentinel just posted another article that talks about how the change in procedures over the years was put Monorail Pink to be reversing thru the switch beam. Something we would NEVER have done years ago. <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bk-disney-monorail-changes-070909,0,3236758.story" target="_blank">http://www.orlandosentinel.com...58.story</a>
Originally Posted By sjhym33 Boy that was terrible English. That sentence should have said... The Orlando Sentinel just posted another article that talks about how the change in procedures over the years was what allowed Monorail Pink to go in reverse thru the switch beam. Something we would NEVER have done years ago. Had the SOP remained the same, the driver of Pink would have know the switch had not moved.
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad Do we know why the control manager was off site? Was he on a lunch hour? I can't imagine that they can just leave during a part of the day that track switches are taking place as the lines are shutting down.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 Well this is the one time you can say it had nothing to do with money. My guess was to make the switches go faster to keep guest complaints down. In my opinion the decision was made by a bunch of people who didn't understand the history of the monorails because there are no long time railes left in management. Years ago when people were promoted from within most of our manager grew up on the monorail system so they knew it well. When that system was basically shut down you started to get people who were promoted in other areas and transferred in you lose a lot of the having lived the rails for years stuff that is important. So what may have seemed like a good idea from a guest standpoint was just a stupid decision.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 Here is my guess. It was probably really busy so the manager didnt eat dinner on July 4th. It was slowing down and he or she was hungry and there are no cafeterias on property open. When Disney ran the CM cafeterias there was one open somewhere on property...usually at the MK. The manager probably decided to go to Crossroad for food. What I dont understand is what were they doing at Dennys? Sitting and eating? That would be a bad thing unless there was another manager also on duty in the area.
Originally Posted By ImaginingDisney001 Let me ask a question.... If there were no one in CONTROL on the EPCOT loop TTC station, then then had to be Cast members attending to the guests at the TTC station for the Epcot Center trains. Could any of the Cast members have run into the Control and hit the Emerg Stop? Is there an Emerg Stop? Or Would they just not have seen the train coming? How much does the manager not being on property affect this out come? Was he supposed to be in the Control at the TTC station? There seems to be a lot of talk about the driver backing the MonoRail to the station. Ok I just heard a news report as I typed this out. There were no cast members on Disney property, they were all at Dennys. ( say the Orlando News ). The trains were being attended by the maintenance worker.... How can that be?? Is Disney really getting loose or are these guys, dunno about the Pilot, all fired! ID
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones My speculation is based on the rest of the speculation here, but why would "Control" ever be unmanned? Is control like the dispatcher on a real railroad? I mean, if no one is on dispatch then you're basically driving blind. If something like this happened I would hope that Disney World's monorail operation sees more federal oversight, but again, this is all based on speculation.
Originally Posted By Indigo In theory one of the cast members at the station, the one with the radio, carries an e-stop button on their belt. But there is no requirement that this person have visual confirmation of a train backing through the switch. If anything they were probably looking toward purple which had just been cleared into the station and would have had their back to Pink. By the time they saw or heard it it was too late to hit the e-stop button. The station is only one train long, so there's not a lot of time to stop a train inside it.
Originally Posted By sjhym33 I dont have first hand info on who was where but this is what I have heard from several sources. A coordinator (the person at TTC who is in charge of the movment of trains) was sent home sick. I am not sure if that was true or not but I heard that from several people. The manager would then be in charge, though I suspect that they would not leave TTC unattended with a coordinator so I wonder if someone else was placed in charge (-em?). My understanding is that the manager and a coordinator was at Dennys eating. There would be monorail operators at the station. They could have ran up and pushed the Emergency Stop but that would not have been necessary since several years ago the operator on the load platform started carrying a hand held Emergency Stop. I believe this happened after an incident with a guest falling into the trough. Because of the time of day there probably were only a couple of CM's at TTC. One on the MK side and one on the EPCOT side. Most of the manpower would be at the MK which was still clearing of guests. One of the things that the current monorails allowed Disney to do wsa to decrease the number of CM's working on the load platform. Since the doors now open and close automatically and there in no longer a reason to count guests (remember the old monorails had long bench seats and each car held 40 guest), they can operate the load platform with less people.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << any openings for a 30+ year manager with a couple of degrees and would love to have a pension back.? >> It's called working for Uncle Sam.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones I guess what I'm asking is, does something like this exist at Disney World? <a href="http://www.trainnet.org/Libraries/Lib016/DISPATCH.JPG" target="_blank">http://www.trainnet.org/Librar...ATCH.JPG</a> If it doesn't, why not?
Originally Posted By -em >>The manager would then be in charge, though I suspect that they would not leave TTC unattended with a coordinator so I wonder if someone else was placed in charge (-em?). My understanding is that the manager and a coordinator was at Dennys eating.<< From what I can remember... We only had the 2 layers of management- Central/Coordinator and the guest service managers. Usually more than one were on duty at a time (though one was always the designated "Central" and "MOD") There was always the "been there forevers" who helped but they were never "in charge" I've heard the conflicting reports of if/who/where of Central that night though all the reports agree on the MOD being at breakfast (though I've heard Denny's and Perkins) -em
Originally Posted By -em >> I guess what I'm asking is, does something like this exist at Disney World?<< Kinda- though I have not seen the inside of Central in 8 years so who knows if/how its been upgraded since then...
