Monorail Blues Speaking of the Mark VII monorail, remember back in February when we broke the news that it may be "many months" before the new trains actually get put into revenue service? It's now four months later, and there still is no solid date available for the Mark VII debut. All of the problems with the chassis' that we told you back in February still exist, although a few of the problems have been solved at least temporarily. There's no telling how the fixes will behave once the trains are put into continuous 16 hour per day use month after month. But the WDI team continues to frantically try to fix a laundry list of other issues not related to the chassis problems that are also preventing the new trains from going into service.
Photo: David "Darkbeer" Michael There are issues like LED lighting under the seats that can easily be pulled on by little hands, or automatic door openers on the side of the cars that can be punched open from inside the cabin that will eventually be redesigned and fixed.
But then there are more serious concerns that seem to be inherently flawed, like the new windows that are no longer able to be pushed down to allow plenty of fresh air to flow in the openings. Instead, the Mark VII windows are framed in place and can only be popped out at the bottom by about two inches. The trains only have air conditioning in the nose and tail cones, and the compressors tightly wedged into the dead space between cars can barely keep those two small cabins cool. There is simply no way to add more air conditioning compressors to the new trains, and the windows are unable to be redesigned without ripping the cabins apart and starting from scratch.
Photo: David "Darkbeer" MichaelWhy would they take a design that worked well for 49 years and, pardon the pun, throw it out the window? You can blame the humorless bureaucrats in both the Disneyland Safety Department in TDA and the Department of Safety and Health up in Sacramento for that one. A design decree came from both of those groups, who were horrified to learn that the windows on a current Disneyland monorail could be pushed down almost completely, leaving a big two foot tall opening that anyone could put their head and torso through.
In theory, a person could lean way out of the monorail car while it zips down the beam and hit any number of passing obstacles that get within inches of the trains. In this age the concept of personal responsibility is no longer on the table when it comes to preventing accidents from happening. Instead, the bureaucrats answer was to hinge the windows at the top, and only allow the window to pop out a couple of inches at the bottom, without even enough room for an adult to squeeze a hand through.
The problem is that the tiny openings no longer allow fresh air to flow into the cars, and the current Mark VII quickly becomes a sauna in the sky on anything above a 70 degree day. There's no ability to pump air conditioning into the cabins, and there's no way to open the windows any wider. And the most troubling part is that while the interior temperature of the Mark VII cabins has been soaring into the 90 degree range while the train cycles around the track, Anaheim has been enjoying a typically mild spring with temperatures only in the 70's. Both WDI and Operations are terrified to think how hot those cabins will get in July through September when the temperature climbs into the 90's or above.
That's left the last Mark V monorail to shuttle people around the beam all alone, and that worn out train is not getting any more reliable. In recent weeks there have been monorail downtimes stretching for several hours as the Mark V train has to be towed back into the shop for emergency repairs, leaving guests at the Disneyland Hotel to schlep back to their rooms on foot wondering why they didn't just save the cash and stay at the Howard Johnson's across the street instead.
The short term fix for the poorly designed windows is likely going to involve installing baffles into the sides of the openings that can scoop a little more air into the cabin while the train is in motion. That should help a bit, but it's still not going to be comfortable on summer afternoons. At this point everyone involved is beginning an elaborate blame game, trying to decide who said what to whom at which stage in the design process that caused these new trains to show up in Anaheim with so many flaws.
The reality is that nearly everyone is to blame, with WDI not giving much thought to the demands from TDA, the bureaucrats not willing to budge on their self-imposed rules, and the designers in WDI and at the contracted facility up in Canada worrying more about deadlines and fanboy aesthetics than how the product will actually work and how it will be used by the customer. This story will likely end with lawyers involved on all sides, and it won't be pretty.
But for now the new Mark VII fleet is still off limits to Disneyland visitors with no ETA. As we wrote in February it would be "many months," remember?
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Sujet: Re: [Disneyland Park] Nouveaux Monorails 
Mer 30 Avr - 17:10
Est il en vente à Disneyland (comme j'y vais en juillet...)?
