On again, off again: Monorail service suspended again at Newark International Airport

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On again, off again: Monorail service suspended at Newark International Airport

By Associated Press, 2/4/2000 20:27

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) The monorail at Newark International Airport is on the fritz again.

Workers restored full service to the monorail Thursday evening, after five days of short-circuits to the system. But after two-and-a-half hours, officials closed the monorail when similar problems arose as snow began to fall.

''Part of it has to do with the weather, but until we go over the entire system, it's hard to say,'' Steve Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Friday.

Engineers had blamed the previous problems on snow, ice and low temperatures.

The monorail, which carries passengers between terminals and parking lots, was closed Sunday evening. Short circuits in the switch areas had caused some brackets, which hold rails in place, to smolder. About 20 buses were added to the free shuttle service while the monorail was out of service.

Because of the inconvenience, the Port Authority is offering partial parking refunds to passengers who have parked in some lots since Sunday night.

The monorail, which opened in May 1996, holds 18 six-car trains on a nearly 2-mile elevated guideway, and travels between 22 mph and 27 mph. It carries more than 2,000 passengers per hour.

Weekend travelers will soon face a reduced monorail schedule due to a $1.5 billion construction project to expand roads, parking and Terminal C.

link

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/035/region/On_again_off_again_Monorail_se:.shtml

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 05, 2000

Answers

I wish there were a way to know what causes one failure or another. This one is strangely suspicious, being electrical/electronic in nature, persistent, and all that. Maybe some day we'll get a real count, but I don't know how. Everything remains a mystery where jobs and reputations are on the line. We have what amounts to a collapse of some oil/gas infrastructure worldwide and not a peep about, "you know what" out of the principles.

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), February 05, 2000.

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