Monorails are proprietary railways and suffer the same ills that come with proprietary transit systems. They are expensive to operate and maintain. Spare parts tend to be expensive and hard to get, especially when the manufacturer ceases production.
With the proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro, TransLink and Metro Vancouver will soon have to relearn the pitfalls of operating an aging proprietary railway.
The Skytrain is an orphan design because fewer and fewer of the options that make up the Skytran as a whole, options that people in Vancouver would recognize as your Skytrain, are being chosen by other cities. The LIM propulsion system of the Skytrain is a prime example. Bombardier offers it as an option instead of the cheaper standard electric propulsion motors. The lack of sales in many of Skytain’s other special features (other than the Citiflo 650 Automation System which is a big seller) is probably why the Skytrain technology was shoved from its own design category into the Movia set of products last year by Bombardier. ~ haveacow
Monorails, which have an ardent lobby, as strong as the SkyTrain lobby are going to have a quick lesson in the pitfalls of building with a gadgetbahnen, but like the SkyTrain lobby, the will remember nothing and they will learn nothing.
Las Vegas Monorail files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The Las Vegas Monorail crosses over the Las Vegas Convention Center as viewed on January 4, 2017 in Las Vegas. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Las Vegas Monorail Company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company made the announcement Monday, saying it’s doing it as a voluntary petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada.
The company’s Board of Directors authorized the filing. The following statement was released.
“The Las Vegas Monorail has served a critical mobility need in the resort corridor for over 16 years, carrying over 85 million riders during that time. Like many other companies, we were forced to shut down on March 18 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are not yet able to reopen,” said Curtis Myles, president & chief executive officer. “As a result, it is in the Las Vegas Monorail company’s best interest to file for bankruptcy and effectuate a sale of the system assets to a party who intends to keep the system in operation and help ensure that the mobility benefits the Monorail provides continue during conventions, events and throughout the year.”
8 News NOW first told you that the Las Vegas Monorail entered into a sales agreement with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which the Monorail will submit to the bankruptcy court under an auction sale. Other qualified bidders are also allowed to participate.
Idled Las Vegas Monorail to be bought by city’s tourist authority
In this 2016 photo, the Las Vegas monorail pulls out of a station.
The idled Las Vegas Monorail is being bought by the local tourism authority, which plans to arrange the system’s second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 16 years.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority on Tuesday approved, by a series of 12-1 votes, spending $24.26 million to acquire the 3.9-mile elevated train system from the not-for-profit Las Vegas Monorail Co., the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman voted no.
The elected Clark County Commission also approved the move.
The system, which cost $650 million to build, shut down in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It makes six north-south stops, including at the Las Vegas Convention Center and several hotel-casinos east of the Las Vegas Strip.
Officials said management and operations would change after the purchase by the authority, which also owns and operates the convention center.
The monorail workforce of about 120 has been reduced by furloughs to about 15 people. The Review-Journal said it was not immediately clear whether current management and staff would be involved once the buyout closes.
Sep. 2, 2020
Tourism authority chief Steve Hill told the tourism board that the system could be obsolete in the next decade, but the purchase gives the authority a non-compete agreement on the east side of the Las Vegas Boulevard tourist corridor.
Elon Musk’s Boring Co. is due later this month to begin testing an east-west underground people mover designed to whisk conventioneers between exhibit halls at the existing convention center and an expanded facility.
Musk also got the go-ahead from county officials to extend his loop system using driverless cars from the Convention Center to Wynn Resorts’ Encore and the Resorts World project that is nearing completion across the street on the Las Vegas Strip.
Hill said the tourism authority would shelve proposals to build a new monorail station near the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the Venetian and an extension from the MGM Grand to the Mandalay Bay resort and Allegiant Stadium.
The monorail began operations in July 2004. But it shut down two months later amid problems, including parts falling from the elevated track. It resumed operating that December.
Ridership never met builders’ projections, peaking at nearly 8 million annually before the major recession that began in 2007. In recent years, ridership has fallen to less than 5 million a year.
The corporation reorganized after filing Chapter 11 protection in 2010 and emerged from bankruptcy two years later.
Hill said Tuesday that convention customers asked the tourism authority to keep the monorail operating because of its convenience, the Review-Journal reported.
In this 2016 photo, the Las Vegas monorail pulls out of a station.(John Locher / Associated Press)Sep. 3, 20201:57 AM
