Thursday, February 03, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Monorail halted again by glitch

Short-circuit on stretch of track causes 13-hour shutdown

Las Vegas Monorail engineers inspect an elevated track between the Las Vegas Hilton and Sahara hotels Wednesday after an electrified rail short-circuited, resulting in the system's fourth shutdown since opening to the public in July. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Yet another mechanical glitch halted the Las Vegas Monorail for nearly 13 hours Wednesday, the fourth time the line has been sidelined since first opening to the public in July.

The latest shutdown was prompted by the short-circuit of a 30-foot electrified rail section, which was discovered as a train passed over the rail just before the line's scheduled 7 a.m. opening.

Service resumed about 7:40 p.m. after the stricken section of rail was replaced. What caused the 750-volt rail to short was not immediately known, though an inquiry focused on the rail itself.

"It doesn't appear it was caused by the train" or a part falling from it, monorail spokesman Todd Walker said.

Nonetheless, monorail officials considered the problem to be fairly benign and not a sign of more serious flaws in the $650 million line.

"This is something that occurs on all electrically powered transportation systems," Walker said. "As we become more experienced with operating the system and dealing with this type of event, this sort of event will be far less of a problem."

Given the monorail's glitch-plagued operational record, Wednesday's service interruption was an additional blemish to the line's brief history.

"Until we know what caused it, it's tough to put it into context of what's taken place in the past," Walker said around midday. "It's mildly disappointing. It's certainly disappointing that we're unable to provide service to the passengers right now.

"We want to make sure everything is working right," Walker said. "The procedures that are put in place to operate this system safely worked."

The problem was discovered during a routine system "sweep" that is done each morning, when four trains do a full loop of the 4-mile line before opening to the public, Walker said.

That's when the No. 6 Monster Energy-themed train came across the deadened section of rail on a northbound track just north of the Las Vegas Hilton station.

It was not immediately known whether the section of rail short-circuited when the train passed it, or whether the short had occurred sometime overnight after the monorail's 2 a.m. close.

The rail in question supplies power to passing trains. The short did not disable power to the entire line; rather, a "line segment" between one-fourth and one-half of a mile long around the Hilton was left powerless.

Out of caution, it was decided that the entire system would be closed until the faulty rail was replaced, even though limited operations could have taken place outside of the affected segment.

It's the second time the line has been closed this year. There was a 15-minute shutdown Jan. 12 after a train pulled out of the Sahara station with its doors incorrectly propped open by technicians.

That incident occurred not long after a 107-day shutdown that ended Dec. 24. That closure was spurred by the last of three instances of metal parts falling from moving trains in 2004.

In that case, the metal part fell onto an electrified rail near the Paris hotel, sparking a tiny electrical blast. The power rail hangs alongside the monorail's concrete track.

The line also was closed for six days after a wheel fell from a moving train Sept. 1.

In addition to those incidents, the system's testing was put on hold for three days in January 2004 after a drive train fell from a moving train.

In the 203 days through Wednesday since the system first opened publicly in mid-July, it has been closed for part or all of 115 days.

The monorail's inability to prove its ridership potential because of the repeated shutdowns led federal officials to pass on funding a significant chunk of a planned $450 million downtown extension, which was shelved last month.