[Nieuws] Monorail ongeluk in WDW

[[verwijderd]]

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- News 13 has learned a driver of the Walt Disney World Monorail System was killed when two monorail trains collided early Sunday.
Witnesses who called the News 13 newsroom said the trains collided around 2 a.m. Sunday on the Epcot track of the Transportation and Ticket Center, located at the parking lot of the Magic Kingdom, as guests were leaving the park following a Fourth of July fireworks show.
The Reedy Creek Fire Department told News 13 the driver was pronounced dead on the the scene, and another driver was taken to the hospital.
No guests were injured, fire officials said.
There was no immediate word on what caused the wreck, or how many people were aboard the trains when they collided.
According to witnesses, one monorail train slammed into the back of the other.
Crews had to cut the driver who died out of the train.
Sunday’s wreck marks the first fatal accident in the Walt Disney World Monorail System’s nearly 38 years of operation.
Statement from Disney

Mike Griffin, vice president of public affairs at Walt Disney World, issued the following statement Sunday following the wreck:
“Today, we mourn the loss of our fellow cast member. Our hearts go out to his family and those who have lost a friend and coworker. The safety of our guests and cast members is always our top priority. The monorail is out of service and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement to determine what happened and the appropriate next steps.”

Disney officials told News 13 Epcot is scheduled to reopen on time at 9 a.m., but the monorail to the park will remain out of service until further notice.


bron: http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2...ls_driver.html

[cindy74]

yep op cnn is er dit artikel over
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/07/05...ail/index.html

[Njit]

Je zou verwachten dat er een veiligheidssysteem in zit dat voorkomt dat ze te dicht bij elkaar komen.
Dit is duidelijk TE dicht bij elkaar:

[Njit]

Meer foto's:

[[verwijderd]]

Tja erg vreemde gebeurtenis. Vaak stopt de monorail gedurende de rit omdat er nog ander verkeer op het volgende traject staat, blijkbaar heeft deze beveiliging hier niet gewerkt of is er niet tijdig op gereageerd.

Maar het blijft triest en geeft toch wel stof tot nadenken aangezien mijn zoon ook altijd voorin wil zitten als het maar even kan.

Gelukkig gebeurt dit zeer zelden, dus om ons nu weer echt druk te gaan maken heeft ook geen zin.

[Chanti]

Jeetje wat vreselijk triest.

Maar zoals *verwijderd* ook al zei... dit soort dingen gebeuren gelukkig zelden. Wel heel verdrietig dat het toch gebeurd.

[calypso]

Toch heftig om te zien die beelden en ergens onbegrijpelijk want de monorail is weldegelijk beveiligd hiervoor, zoals al eerder gezegd vaak word die al stop gezet als ze ook al honderden meters van elkaar in de buurt komen.

Volgens een oud Disney monorrial medewerker: According to a former Walt Disney World monorail driver, the vehicles were outfitted with a safety system called Mapo. The former driver, who said he drove the current Mark VI monorail trains, said as soon as the monorail train gets within two checkpoints of another train, it automatically stops.

En wat ook gek is dat de ene monorail al half uit het station staat toen de ander erop reed. Gezien de schade moet de snelheid wel groot geweest zijn.

Hier nog een filmpje net na het ongeluk genomen, dat krijg je met al die toeristen en camera's! je ziet ook de familie die als enige in de monorail zat helemaal in paniek erbij staan. En men is nog op zoek naar de driver!!

Orlando Sentinel Artikel

[Njit]

Update van de Orlando Sentinel. Er wordt ook een mogelijke oorzaak gegeven.

Piloting monorail trains at Walt Disney World had been Austin Wuennenberg's dream job. He talked about it all the time after joining Disney three years ago and worked doggedly to earn the opportunity to do it, co-worker Shannon Feldman recalled.

Word that Wuennenberg, 21, died Sunday in a crash of two trains at the world-famous resort left her and other friends stunned. A college student from Kissimmee, Wuennenberg had always been so smart, so good at his job and so diligent about not making mistakes, she said.

"It's shocking it happened," Feldman said, "but it's even more shocking it happened to him. He was keen on safety."

Disney shut down its iconic monorail system Sunday after the 2 a.m. crash that killed Wuennenberg and injured another monorail driver at Disney's Transportation and Ticket Center -- the main station for visitors boarding trains for the Magic Kingdom.

Disney World spokesman Mike Griffin said it was unclear what happened in the crash, which occurred on one of the monorail's last runs at the close of the busy July Fourth holiday. The Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the case.

It was the first fatal accident involving a monorail in the Florida resort's 38-year history. However, Disneyland in California has had at least one death on its monorail system, according to park historians.

"Our heart goes out to the cast member and the family," Griffin said.

Wuennenberg was pronounced dead at the scene, the Sheriff's Office said. The driver of the other train was transported to Florida Hospital Celebration. His injuries were not serious, Griffin said.

Six park guests on the train were evaluated by paramedics and released, the Sheriff's Office said.

One witness to the collision, Gary Vinson Jr., said in an e-mail to the Orlando Sentinel that it was "the most horrific thing I have ever personally experienced." Vinson said he was in line waiting for a parking-lot tram when he heard something that sounded like a terrible automobile accident.

"I could see a passenger banging on the window. ... All of the bystanders kept yelling, 'Don't jump' and 'Stay in the train.' Then the train backed up toward the bay, tearing off more pieces that were protruding," Vinson said.

An apparent tourist video posted on ClickOrlando.com shows guests gathered on the station platform as riders exit the monorail after the crash.

"Is there somebody in here?" a one guest said, referring to the crushed front of one train.

"Yes. The driver," says a man who appears to be a Disney World employee.

The video also shows park guests attempting to free the trapped driver, banging on the windows before emergency workers could arrive.

Former pilots and others familiar with the monorail trains expressed surprise at the accident. Some pointed out that Disney has a system supposed to prevent collisions. MAPO, or Mary Poppins, as it is known to monorail fans, is designed to stop trains automatically if they get too close to one another.

One early theory among people involved with Disney's monorail system is that one of the trains was switching tracks, which requires the monorail pilot to override the anti-crash system.

Disney's monorails have are equipped with data recorders, which could may prove useful in finding determining the cause of the accident.

Wuennenberg, who attended Celebration High School, was studying computer science at Stetson University in DeLand, according to a profile on the social-networking site Facebook.com. He began working as a monorail pilot in October, according to the profile.
One of Wuennenberg's former Stetson classmates, Brandon Ross, said his friend had scheduled his classes around his Disney job and took precautions if he was working a night shift. Ross said his friend would make the hourlong drive from DeLand to the Orlando area the day before his shift so he wouldn't be tired when he operated the train.

"He seemed to be a pretty safe person," said Ross, 22. "He's not reckless at all."

In his online profile, Wuennenberg referred to working 12- and 14-hour shifts at Disney recently. Park spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez would not say how long Wuennenberg had worked the day of the collision, calling it personnel information and citing the ongoing investigation.

The Disney resort was operating normally Sunday, except for the closure of the monorail system. Guests were directed to buses and boats and did not seem deterred by the accident.

Seventeen-year-old Ethan Meus, visiting from Dubuque, Iowa, said he and his family took the monorail to dinner at a resort hotel Saturday night. Meus watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the monorail on the way back to his hotel and said he didn't notice any problems with the train.

"It's pretty shocking to hear that a driver was killed," Meus said.

As soon as she heard the news, Disney worker Feldman said she traveled from Tampa to be with co-workers at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

She 'first had met Wuennenberg three years ago when they both started out working at the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, checking heights, monitoring safety, greeting guests. All of the employees were a tight group, meeting for lunch after shifts, hanging out in the parks and cruising the rides.

Wuennenberg was the brainy guy who liked to talk about math and science. He was the kind of guy who not only stepped in when co-workers needed a hand, but also carefully and gently explained all the details to make sure they understood procedures so mistakes didn't happen again, she said.

When he finally learned he was getting a monorail job, "it was so exciting," she said. "It was like the peak of his career at Disney."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-d...,6944624.story

[FloridaVerslaafde]

Andere update en mogelijke oorzaak volgens oud monorail bestuurder:


Every night, the monorails are brought into the shop behind the Magic Kingdom for maintenance. The pilot we spoke with explained that in order to move from the main monorail lines onto the beams that lead into the shop (a “spur line”), the monorails must travel to a switch in the track. The Walt Disney World monorail system does have an anti-collision system built in. However, in order to perform the switch, the anti-collision system must be disabled first.

It appears that in the case of this accident, Monorail Pink should have been on its way back to the maintenance shop and likely had its anti-collision system disabled in order to make the track switch. What is unknown is why the monorail did not follow the spur line toward the maintenance shop and instead headed to the Transportation and Ticket Center, which is located on the opposite side of the track loop from the shop.

The former monorail pilot we spoke to told us that during the anti-collision override stage, the monorails can travel a maximum of 15mph. If Monorail Purple was stationary at the time of the collision, then the two could not have collided at a speed greater than 15mph. If Monorail Purple was moving, the combined speed of both monorails could not have exceeded 30mph.

Monorail Central is located at the Transportation and Ticket Center, within the blacked-out windows guests can see when waiting to board. It is their job to keep track of where the monorails are on the tracks and direct them to their destinations. Unfortunately, as we learned, the cast members within Monorail Central do not have a visual representation of where the trains are on the tracks. Instead, they radio to the pilots to determine their location.

So in this case, we do not yet know if the pilot of Monorail Pink incorrectly reported his or her location, was unaware that he/she did not make the needed switch onto the spur line to head to the shop, or if there was some other factor involved.

http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/b...ney-monorails/

[Mickey99]

Heftig zeg! Je staat er niet bij stil dat zoiets kan gebeuren op de Happiest place on earth! :cry: