Wolmi monorail’s first stop may be the scrap pile (Korean GRT)

[Eric Johnson]

Interesting update on the Wolmi. Story says it's been plagued with design problems, safety issues and poor construction that would need to be fixed before putting it into service. On a trial run the automated system brought the car to a stop midway with the mayor and others on board. 

The story implies that a decision in the next few days will likely be to tear it down.  http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2971303&cloc=joongangdaily%7Chome%7Cnewslist1

Eric

[eph]

Too bad.  I liked that project.

A supported podcar system would probably work on the infrastructure since its weight per distance is probably half that of the monorail.  Vectus might work, maybe SkyWeb or other narrow supported system?


F.

[Bruff]

I'm incredulated that they would put the mayor and the media on a train that hadn't gone through a proper shakedown. Obviously they were committed to a damn the torpedoes (and the press) schedule to the extent that they now have themselves in a pickle where some expert with a degree and a bias could derail what was on the verge of success. The real tragedy with this effort is "Once bit, twice shy", because who would want to stick their neck out when there's someone running around with a noose with your name on it?

Little wonder why people on this site are having the difficulty they are.

Dave Brough

[Eric Johnson]

Here's an update on the Wolmi monorail/GRT system in Incheon Korea. I've converted the amounts to USDs. Basically, they have multiple issues that need an estimated $13.3 Million to fix with an estimated budget deficit of $4 Million per year.

Eric

The Incheon Transit Corporation reported an 85.3-billion-won Wolmi Eunha (Galaxy) Rail project linking Incheon Station and Wolmi Island requires a complete overhaul, requiring at least an additional 15 billion won. ($13.3 Million USD)

The construction of the Wolmi Eunha Rail line, a 6.1-kilometer (3.7-mile) long monorail, which supports a train with a single rail, linking Incheon Station and Wolmi Island, a renowned tourist site, was completed in June 2010 after spending 85.3 billion won ($75.6 Million USD) on construction in a consortium project with Hanshin Engineering and Construction. 

But the port city has been unable to operate the monorail because of mounting doubts about the safety of the line, followed by a series of accidents that occurred during a trial run of the railway. 

After a year-long inspection on the monorail line by the Korea Railroad Research Institute, the Incheon Transit Corporation reported yesterday the city cannot run the monorail under current conditions as safety flaws in almost all aspects of the rail operations have been found. 

“Based on findings on the safety conditions of the line, it is thought that safe and normal operation [of the rail line] is infeasible under the current conditions,” said the research institute in a statement released yesterday. 

The institute also said Hanshin’s claim in its report submitted to the corporation last year that it had fixed defects in the railway system in June last year turned out to be false. 

The findings include bad connections between the vehicle and rails which could cause electric shock and cracks found on railways and wheels. 

“We express our apology to the citizens over the finding on the railway,” said Lee Jong-ho, director at the technical team at the corporation during a press briefing. “We have found defects in almost all aspects in the railway operating systems.” 

The transit corporation is now considering how to use the existing equipment, but it does not seem to have many options. It is also a burden to completely remove the monorail. The city government estimates that it would need to spend an additional 25 billion won ($44.3 Million USD) of taxpayer money to tear it down. To use the monorail as originally intended, it is estimated another 15.7 billion won will be required for repair work. But even if the corporation decides to proceed with repair work and make commercial use of the railway, the research institute estimated an average of 4.4 billion won ($3.9 Million USD) in losses will incur every year. 

http://koreajoongangdaily.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2972005&cloc=rss%7Cnews%7Cjoongangdaily

[Jerry Roane]

Eric

Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) is currently conducting will come out next week at the latest.

I think there is a lot in play beyond cracks in wheels.  From the report it is so strongly negative and fatalistic that it smacks of a political hatchet job.  It is interesting that it is 59 feet in the air.  If the old-school railroad guys in America were asked to critique their obvious replacement you might see the same number of issues.  Change is hard but it is important to ask the obvious question who will gain and who will lose in the transition.  I do not know any facts about this construction project other than the obvious and accounts of the failures by embarrassed officials.  The big failure they list is no different than the DFW tram that ran for decades from the account.  Good engineers can be found who can fix these little problems.  I highly suspect that this account by this source that is way too close to the subject is maliciously wrong.  Just a suspicion from the accounts and descriptions.  I would recommend they run the cars on batteries and drop the shock hazard completely.  This would take the excuse about bad connections away from the detractors.  I doubt there is physical solution but rather a political problem has to be solved other ways than with wires, transistors and solder.   I would put this one to national pride and frame the fix as a symbol of Korean technological prowess to overcome simple problems.  A  70-passenger car is not rocket science so there is something else going on here.  

This is a cautionary tale for us.  As we push to revolutionize transportation we can never put the soon-to-be-replaced in charge of evaluating the public good.  The FRA needs to stay far far away as an example.  Austin has their silly commuter train project that is an economic disaster and for a couple years the railroad "safety" guys held up running that humongous investment.  The excuse was safety.  The fix was a bumper which will be pretty much useless in a real accidental collision.  If anyone wants to find the truth they should ask an independent source with no dog in the hunt.  If the city tears down this thing over lies the lawsuits will be flying and the city will end up paying for all of the players, their legal teams and the horse they rode in on.      

Jerry Roane 

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[Kirston Henderson]

Why in heck did they build this toy to run only a single 70-passenger train in the first place?  Our little 10-ft long MicroWay™ prototype is designed to carry up to 13 passengers.  We are currently pricing out a small demo system of about this same system with four of these cars coupled into a four-car train that will provide for up to 52 passengers.  (We are also going to offer a short bypass track at the center which will allow us to operate two trains for a total of 104 passengers.)  I don't believe that we have any cracks in our wheels as of yet, but we have no doubt that some problems are going to surface as they do in almost anything new.

Kirston

[Jack Slade]

 I have some doubts about the article also.  Cracks in wheels caused by electricity?  It is not as if picking up electricity from tracks was a new technology.  If this ever happened to subways we just never heard of it.  I think somebody is trying to kill this system,  for whatever reason.

 

Jack Slade

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[Eric Johnson]

Jack,

It looks like you misread the story. It says how they have bad connections which can cause shock AND cracks in the railway and the wheels. None of these are technically challenging to fix as you have the electricians go through and repair the connections. Cracks are a replacement issue or in some cases welding them can be the fix. Since their estimate for repairs is under $15 Million it sounds like they could be completely fairly quickly in say 6-8 months after gov approvals, if needed.

Eric