Deadly Disney World Monorail Crash-Updated with NTSB Report

[dumbo_buddy]

so terribly sad. will be staying tuned for more info. thoughts and prayers for the driver, his family and the whole disney family

[John]

Living in DC and having a similar thing just happen here on our metro system... what are the chances the same thing would happen twice in a few weeks time. Especially given both systems have collision avoidance systems.

Wierd.

My thoughts go out to the cast members family and the entire WDW team. It's pretty horrible to have a tradgedy like this happen on such an iconic system/ride.

You have to wonder how long the system will be down as well - and if those two rail cars will ever see the light of day again.

[Ian]

Is it just me or has this just been a ridiculously miserable past month or so?

Consider all of the following that's happened:

1. Air France crash kills 228 people off the coast of Brazil
2. A Yemenia Airlines plane with 153 people on board crashes into the sea off the Indian Ocean
3. A train wreck on the D.C. metro system kills 9
4. Michael Jackson dead at 50
5. Billy Mays dead at 50
6. Farrah Fawcet dead at 62
7. Ed McMahon dead
8. Karl Malden dead
9. Steve McNair shot to death at age 36
10. WDW monorail crash kills 1

[pianobabe]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the CM who was killed. Also to all those others who were involved. I am sure it will be something they will be replaying in their minds for sometime to come. I hope it can be determined what caused this.

[MinnieMommie]

There was minimal information about this on the news this morning. Thank you all for the details. It will be important to learn exactly how this was able to happen with all the safeguards Disney has in place. This is a real tragedy and my prayers are with the driver and his family.

[ransam]

My friend just texted me and told me the news...this is horrible. I am so sorry for the drive and his family. RIP

[caryrae]

Pretty sad news. So what happens when something like this happens? Does the Monorail system close down for a while for an investigation?

[Piglet822]

Currently the monorail is not running and buses are being used to take its place.
My heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of the driver and all those involved.

[TennesseeTink]

Ian, I was just thinking the same thing. There's sort of an eerie feeling in the air with all of these tragedies and deaths.

My prayers for the CM's family and everyone else involved in this horrible accident.

[Bethis26fan]

How very sad. Thoughts and prayers for the family.

[Victor Kelly]

This from Wiki.

Train safety
Safe train spacing is maintained via a moving blocklight system, referred to as MAPO, installed in the cab of each train.[4] MAPO appears in the top center of the pilot's console and looks similar to a horizontal stop light. There are three lights—green, amber, and red—and a push-button labeled "Override". The term "MAPO" itself comes directly from Walt Disney, who formed a new company to deal with Disneyland's transportation system directly from the profits made by Mary Poppins.[9]
Each monorail beam is divided into blocks based upon pylon numbering. The currently illuminated MAPO color indicates how far ahead the leading train is currently located. A green MAPO shows that the leading train is 3 or more blocks ahead, amber means 2 blocks ahead, and red indicates that the next train is in the very next block. A block is roughly between 500 and 1000 feet (about 150 and 300 m) long, although this varies. The start of each block is called a "hold point", as pilots may need to hold their trains at that location until the train ahead moves away. Guests riding in the front cab of a monorail can identify hold points by the yellow reflective tape around a pylon's number and by two yellow reflectors attached to the top outside edges of the monorail beam at that pylon.
For safety, trains must be kept at least two blocks apart during normal operation. A red MAPO indicates that train spacing has become unsafe. When a red MAPO occurs, the train's on-board computer locks out the pilot's propulsion control and applies emergency brakes. The pilot cannot resume control of the train until either the MAPO clears or the pilot presses and holds the MAPO override button.[4]
It is the pilot's responsibility to avoid a red MAPO during normal operation. When the MAPO switches from green to amber, this indicates that the monorail is approaching the train ahead. The pilot must stop the train before crossing into the next block of beam way and hence before the MAPO switches to red. Should a pilot cross the hold point and receive a red MAPO, this counts as a safety demerit against the pilot. If the pilot ever has three demerits on their record, then they will be transferred out of the monorails department and into a different role at Walt Disney World.[10]
Safety tests are performed daily to ensure that the MAPO system is working properly on each train. At the direction of the monorail station conducting the test, each train will intentionally overrun a hold point to verify that a red MAPO occurs and that the emergency brakes activate. Pilots perform tests in forward and reverse when bringing a train onto the system for the first time that day, and a forward test is again conducted mid-afternoon. The indications are called into Monorail Central with the emergency brake pressures.
A red MAPO will also occur when the pilot approaches a section of un-powered beam, a spur line, or a switch beam thrown in the direction of a spur line. Pilots must engage the MAPO override when moving trains through a switch to the spur line. MAPOs occurring due to safety tests, switching, or beam power loss do not count as demerits against the pilot.

[IloveDisney71]

This is simply aweful. Hope they can soon determine the cause, and implement any necessary system improvements to prevent this from ever happening again.

Ditto! This is so sad.

[jimsgal05]

My thought and prayers go out to the driver's family and to all that were down there....

So sad that this happened...thankfully it was not worse than it was....


much sympathy to the family of the driver,

The Morse family

[princessimagineer]

this really has been an unfortunate month!

thoughts and prayers =[

and i hope everything from here goes smoothly with cleaning up the accident and getting the monorails back and more safer than ever soon enough.

i go to college only 1 metro stop away from where the crash was in DC a few weeks ago. im home in my real home in NJ but to think that mass transportation crashes have happened in BOTH my other homes really crushes me.

[Figment78]

Have they released the name of the driver yet? My husband's family has a dear friend who drives one of the monorails for WDW. We have not been able to reach him yet. Please let us know if anyone find out the name of the driver!

TIA

[Melanie]

Oh goodness, that video is awful. How sad!

[jrpersinger]

Have they released the name of the driver yet? My husband's family has a dear friend who drives one of the monorails for WDW. We have not been able to reach him yet. Please let us know if anyone find out the name of the driver!

TIA

They have....

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,2802055.story

[crltkcagle]

This is just awful! I don't understand how it happened, hopefully they will be able to figure it out. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the CM.

[SBETigg]

So sad! I didn't think this could happen. I'm so sorry for the driver's friends and family, but I'm also glad that it was late and the monorails weren't packed. Only 8 people aboard. This is agonizing to see. What a nightmare for Disney.

[magicofdisney]

That video is awful. It's almost like watching a movie; like my mind doesn't want to accept the reality of that situation.