In case of fire, DO NOT...

[Anonymous]

At least they settled the walkway problem. Too bad it took a fire to unify the city to finally get it on there.

[daveklepper]

I've proposed that monorail systems and my own pet idea, "Light Elevated Railways" be equipped with a fleet of large-version "cherry pickers" which can be used for both emergency evacuation and for routine maintenance, the latter when the streets below are comparitively unnocupied. Note that if "Light Elevated" were to replace the monorail planned for Seattle, they could share the "Bus Tunnel" with Sound Transit's Light Rail System saving a lot of money and a lot of noise and confusion in constructing the parallel el downtown, also with the money save it would be a double-track system. The new monorail proposed is now single track to save money. On a transit system serving downtown, this means delays escalate. One stuck door, and there goes the rush hour! Because meets need precision timing. What is "Light Elevated"? It is a return to the kind of construction that Charles Harvey used for his "West Side Patent Elevated Railroad" in 1866-1867. This original system, on Greenich Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, used cable haulage, the running rails were essentially the support girders, without any crossties, making the whole shebang less of an eyesore than the typical monorail structure, let alone the black roof over the street that is the typical Chicago and New York elevated structure. Crossties and heavier supports were added when steam replaced cable in 1871. Then the crossties were kept with electrification around 1900 because of the need for insulation and the heavier wood and iron cars of the time. But today, with Teflon insulation and lighweight strong materials, and lightweight rolling stock, a return to the original Harvey concept should be possible and Seattle is the logical place to pioneer. But try selling it to a bunch of monorail enthusiasts! Dave

[rrock]

As a former (until recently) long-time Seattle resident-
Exit out ends: No provision. Each end of the trainset is a motoman's cab, with bubble-type perspex windshield. Trainset is a permanently coupled articulated set.
"Emergency exit....inside". Nope. As has been said previously, doors can only be opened from outside. Otherwise you'd have some idiot frat person from U of W taking the first big step from the inside...to the street many feet below.

Remember, the trainsets were manufactured in the early 1960's, when technology was infallible...or thought to be....

Considering number of trips versus passengers, they've been remarkably safe.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NTDN

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy
[I thought they had those emergency slides?
They did in that episode of the simpsons anyway.....

I suppose you could still escape and run along the tracks...

Umm...3 points here:

1) they were over a story above ground and a busy street underneath, so any escape by a slide ot ladder could have caused more damage than good.

2) the side doors are designed not to be able to be opened from the inside to prevent people from opening them away from the station. They are magnetically controlled systems where only the engineer can open them from inside, there is an emergency override on the outside for the rescuers.

3) running along the track (it's a monorail, only 1 track ) is not an option due to the potential of people falling, a liability that is not an option.

Please see http://www.seattlemonorail.com/ for a pictures of the system in question and it's hight and width of the rail.

Or better yet, check this one out, click on the seatle link and you'll see a really good pic of the system: http://www.alweg.com/pages/424730/index.htm

Jay

Surely there must be some sort of a way to get out of the train.
Can't you exit out the ends of the train?

There must be some sort of emergeny exit that is possible to open from the inside, surely it can't be legal not to have one?? [?]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy
[I thought they had those emergency slides?
They did in that episode of the simpsons anyway.....

I suppose you could still escape and run along the tracks...

Umm...3 points here:

1) they were over a story above ground and a busy street underneath, so any escape by a slide ot ladder could have caused more damage than good.

2) the side doors are designed not to be able to be opened from the inside to prevent people from opening them away from the station. They are magnetically controlled systems where only the engineer can open them from inside, there is an emergency override on the outside for the rescuers.

3) running along the track (it's a monorail, only 1 track ) is not an option due to the potential of people falling, a liability that is not an option.

Please see http://www.seattlemonorail.com/ for a pictures of the system in question and it's hight and width of the rail.

Or better yet, check this one out, click on the seatle link and you'll see a really good pic of the system: http://www.alweg.com/pages/424730/index.htm

Jay

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

Like maybe someone should store some ropes and a safety harness on them Monorails? Just in case the second train doesnt arrive fast enough?

or why not have emergency slides like on aircraft? Open the doors, pop a lever and at least everyone can get down in a hurry.

I thought they had those emergency slides?
They did in that episode of the simpsons anyway.....

I suppose you could still escape and run along the tracks...

[vsmith]

Like maybe someone should store some ropes and a safety harness on them Monorails? Just in case the second train doesnt arrive fast enough?

or why not have emergency slides like on aircraft? Open the doors, pop a lever and at least everyone can get down in a hurry.

[Anonymous]

Looks like they had a fire contingency plan in place, When the Blue one called in a fire, the red one was immediatly dispatched to evacuate it. seems the fire department responded pretty fast as well, looks like over all that their system worked. Nice to see a working fire plan, Kinda makes me want to ride their monorail.

[adrianspeeder]

Reason # 1 i dont ride monorails

[FJ and G]

...JUMP!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Monorail%20Fire

Dave Vergun