Huh. When you start pointing out the "need/danger" of a monorail and someone replies that they aren't really all that dangerous it seems pretty related to me. Your opinion may differ. The incident statistics for major problems aren't hard to find. They pretty much always make news. For minor incidents like temporary delays you are correct that I've never seen how often that happens in a week.
I have read a lot about the monorail systems at Disney as I am very interested in mass transit. The only record that is public regarding incidents is that there has only been one fatality in all of the years of operation, which is incredibly impressive, albeit a tragedy.
Here’s what I know as fact:
Disney has three defined routes, with twelve trains defined by color (Black, Blue, Coral, Gold, Green, Lime, Orange, Peach, Red, Silver, Teal, Yellow). An estimated 150k people ride daily, although again, as Disney does not release public figures, this is speculation. With the exception of part of the peach train, which had a new front and back cab in October of 2011, all of the current trains were launched in the late 80’s or built with pieces of trains launched at that time. The trains are built by Bombardier Transportation, and are Mark VI Monorails. Various specs are also available, should you want them.
Here’s what I don’t know:
How often the trains are
actually serviced, tested, and when parts are replaced. How many incidents/issues they’ve had in the almost
30 years since they launched. What evacuation practices are standard for the present. (There is record of old practices from interviews in the 1990’s, and some first-person reports of how things were handled, but no official public policy.) If Disney has any short-term/long-term plans in regards to the monorail system.
Here’s what I can safely speculate:
Nothing lasts forever. Train technology has improved since the 80’s, and while these were incredibly advanced for the time, they may be a bit behind at present. Infrastructures need replaced. Heavy traffic is hard on things.
I agree that things were built better in years past- from cars to furnaces to furniture. (I'm very much an up-cycle person, and recycle a lot of old things for new purposes.) A lot of what is produced today is created with a limited lifespan to encourage consumerism. With that in mind, I do not doubt the durability of the machines. However, on my recent visit to the parks I observed first hand some pretty worn vehicles. Torn seats, boogers caught in dirty carpeting, heavy condensation, and machines that showed signs of age and wear. Justifiably! They have and continue to work hard, incredibly hard, every day, for decades, shuffling people around that have little regard for caring for their environment. It stands to reason that isn’t sustainable indefinitely.
Thus, I am curious about Disney’s stance/planning on the issue. There are dangers inherent in using machines that old that heavily, there are first person accounts of issues, and more than one of these stories demonstrates that there is a potential for danger there that needs addressed. My hope is the company acts in an anticipatory way rather than a reactionary one, as so many modern companies tend to do. As a company, Disney is not great on dissemination of information to the public (which I don't doubt is intentional). History, progress, and management through transition are interesting subjects to me, as is mass transit. Beyond that, I truly respect Walt's vision, and would hate to see it fall into disrepair or disregard.
