The MONORAIL

[CULWULLA]

cant believe there isnt a thread on the lovely monorail?
Monorails in Australia-
Sydney
Sea World-GC
Conrad Jupiters Casino-GC
whats everyone think of them? over the years the monorail talk tends to overtake the subject on some threads.
now we have a thread where everyone can vent there anger or talk about there love for the caterpiller that crawls olong the citys twigs.

sydneys-
1987
cost-$4.90 (5yr under free)
day pass- $9.50
mon-fri-7am-10pm
sat-sun-8am-10pm
length-3.6km



Delivered in 1987, the trains were built by Von Roll Habegger and are built to the "Type III" standard. There are six monorail trains, which each consist of seven carriages. Trains seat 48 passengers over six carriages, with the driver in the leading car, but were designed to seat 56, using all seven carriages.

The monorail trains run on rubber wheels, and each seven car train has six 37 kW traction motors, permitting a normal operating speed of 33 km/h. The doors of each car are automatic, and the floor level is self adjusting via an automatic suspension system. Each train is 32.12 metres long, 2.06 metres wide, and 2.6 metres high.[1]

Set 3 has been out of service for some time, possibly cannibalized for parts to keep the other five trains in service.

Set 1 is in storage following a significant collision between it and Set 4 in early 2010. The last carriage in Set 1 has been removed from the set, and used to replace the damaged last carriage in Set 4. It has been renumbered


Jupiters casino
length-1.3km
cost-$2 (u7 free)

The monorail runs on an elevated 1.3 km loop track at Broadbeach, between the Oasis Shopping Centre, the Sofitel Gold Coast Hotel, and Jupiters Hotel Casino
image hosted on flickr


Seaworld
Australias first monorail 1986
3 stations
cost-$3
length-2km

[Fabian]

We have a thread on the Sydney Monorail - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=839210

[CULWULLA]

^is that just for sydneys?
my thread for australias

[Bullswool]

I get dissapointed that they are tacky tourist traps. Could be a viable mode of transport (especially in a dense city like Sydney) if it went further than a little one way loop around one corner of the CBD

[NoshowwithoutPunch]

It is only useless because of it's lack of capacity. For all the trouble you go through to install them, you get the capacity of a Melbourne A class tram - not a lot.

I don't like the vehicles but love how the stations can be integrated into the urban landscape, inside buildings and at a useful height.

We also see this functionality from underground railways, but rarely from surface railways, which tend to be poorly integrated with their surrounds.

[JayT]

I don't mind monorails. I wonder what the cost of extending Gold Coast's Monorail from Broadbeach to Parklands instead of the light rail currently under construction would be?

[Fabian]

Here are some of the Jupiters Monorail from last year.

[NoshowwithoutPunch]

Originally Posted by JayT

I don't mind monorails. I wonder what the cost of extending Gold Coast's Monorail from Broadbeach to Parklands instead of the light rail currently under construction would be?

That had been suggested - even back in the 80s when the Broadbeach monorail was built - Jupiters and the shops could have been two stops on a long route to Surfers and beyond. Bit like Vegas.

But again I'm interested in how to increase vehicle size. Comfortable travel for 200-300 people is what is required. And no crap Sydney-style loops - double track is required the whole way.

[Aussie Bhoy]

They should have built the GC one stretching between Surfers and the Casino/Pacific Fair.

Brisbane's short lived monorail for Expo 88, which I think is now the Sea World one.

[Gazza2]

Seaworld
Australias first monorail 1986
3 stations
cost-$3
length-2km

Huh?
Pretty sure a ticket in to Seaworld costs more than $3.

[Fabian]

The monorail at Sea World is the same monorail from Expo88.

[Fabian]

Another one of the Jupiters Monorail

[SoulvisionQ1]

Wasn't the Jupiters monorail scheduled to be dismantled cause no one uses it?

[Fabian]

I'm surprised that people use it at all.

[Macca-GC]

I think it's reasonably well used. I always see people going towards it when I'm down at the casino.

Personally, I'm really not a big fan of monorails as a form of mass transit, but they can be useful to connect a couple of buildings, particularly when there is a major divider between them (i.e. The Gold Coast Highway)

[CULWULLA]

i used the jupiters monorail when visiting the casino. only way over to casino. nice quick cheap trip too.

[Dimethyltryptamine]

It's an easy way to get from The Oasis to the Casino, but it certainly isn't practical. Just as the Sydney monorail isn't practical either. I'm surprised people use IT.

[SoulvisionQ1]

No monorail is going to serve a purpose beyond linking a few buildings... unless you're in KL. However the KL Monorail was chronically over capacity... When I was there, most of the time the entire station platform was unable to get on because it was squashed to the max inside. Not a sustainable form of mass transit. Touristy yes.

[KDreamer]

I'm currently at Disney World and I'd have to say that a monorail works extremely well here linking the resorts/hotels with the parks. However, like everyone else has already said, it's very touristy and I don't think it's success here could be transplanted into a city as a viable mass transport option.

They seem slow and outdated to me. Id need to see a what a 21st century/2011 style monorail could do to be convinced otherwise.

[Ipggi]

Really the 1960s style monorails we have are only really useful where you want a visually low impact, low patronised, short transport link.

If you are going to roll out dual directional heavier monorails with greater capacity/weight you might as well go all out and introduce an elevated metro or light-rail network.