Winky Comes To Fluffy Airport Blythe's Big Adventure Part 1 Sydney Monorail (formerly Metro Monorail, and originally TNT Harbourlink) was a single-loop Von Roll MkIII monorail in Sydney that connected Darling Harbour, Chinatown and the Sydney central business and shopping districts.
There were eight stations on the 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) of track, with four trains operating simultaneously. It served major attractions and facilities such as the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. The system was operated for Metro Transport Sydney by Veolia, which also operated the Sydney Metro Light Rail.
At the end of June 2013, Monorail operations ceased.
History[]
Opening[]
What was initially known as the Darling Harbour Monorail was first conceived in the mid 1980s as part of the redevelopment of 50 hectares (120 acres) of land at Darling Harbour, providing a passenger link with the Sydney CBD. The operators TNT Harbourlink (part of transport group TNT) hoped to have the monorail ready by the Australian Bicentenary celebrations of 26 January 1988, but the opening did not take place until 21 July 1988. Nevertheless, the complete design and construction period of 26 months was an extraordinarily short one. Test services commenced in May 1988.
The original operation hours were to be 6:00am to midnight, but after two years of operation patronage counts were half those expected, and planned stations at Market Street (to be named Casino, as part of the gaming venue planned to be built on the site) and Harbour Street (to be named Gardenside) were not built for some time.
Collisions[]
In September 2006, set 4 collided with set 6 at Darling Park station. It is unknown why the emergency stop failed to bring the train to a stop before colliding with the train ahead.
At around 4pm on 27 February 2010, set 1 collided with set 4, at the exact same station. Set 1 had been operating in manual mode, as the onboard Autopilot unit was believed to be faulty. It was found that set 1 was likely being driven slightly over the speed limit, so the anti-collision system was unable to stop the train before colliding with set 4. Set 4 had been delayed at Darling Park due to a fault with the doors.
Description[]
The track was a steel box girder of 940 millimetres (37 in) width, raised at a minimum height of 5.5 metres (18 ft) from ground level on steel columns 20 metres (66 ft) to 40 metres (130 ft) apart. The minimum curve radius was 20 metres (66 ft) and the maximum gradient was 4.4% uphill and 6.5% downhill.
Power was supplied to the trains at 500 V AC via a sheathed conductor below the running plate of the track. A control rail was also provided for train control, and a generator to clear trains from the track in emergencies.
There was no centralised signalling system, instead, the system relied on a few isolated manual procedures:
- the trains could detect another train ahead,
- stop the train if the headway reduced to 100m
- and sound an alarm at 150m headway (if in manual mode)
- the control room could see the position of each train and drivers could be alerted by radio if there was a train ahead
- 2 stops were fitted with a CCTV screen showing whether there was a train at the next stop
- some stops had a system showing if the previous train had departed more than 2 minutes ago
The six monorail units were maintained in a purpose-built depot located in Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont. This was between the Convention and Exhibition stops and overhead the light rail maintenance centre. A traverser allowed the cars to be taken off the main track onto a series of storage roads in the depot. The facility also housed the control room (located above the maintenance area), as well as administration and staff amenities.
Each station stop took 40 seconds, including the time to decelerate, board passengers, and accelerate again. A complete circuit of the route took 12 minutes, and the total capacity of the system was 5000 passengers per hour.
Rollingstock[]
Delivered in 1987, the trains were built by Von Roll Habegger and are built to the "Type III" standard. There were six monorail trains, each having seven carriages. They seated 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 ran on rubber wheels, and each seven car train had six 37 kilowatts (50 hp) traction motors, permitting a normal operating speed of 33 kilometres per hour (21 mph). The doors of each car were automatic, and the floor level was self-adjusting via an automatic suspension system. Each train was 32.12 metres (105.4 ft) long, 2.06 metres (6 ft 9 in) wide, and 2.6 metres (8 ft 6 in) high.
Each train could operate in one of 3 modes: automatic, semi-automatic or manual. In automatic, the train could run without a driver, controlling the doors and driving by itself. In practice, this mode was never used due to safety concerns. In semi-automatic mode, the trains would drive themselves but leave the door controls to the driver. In manual mode, the driver was required to drive as well. In all 3 modes, the brakes could be automatically applied upon detection of another monorail in close proximity.
At closure, set 3 had been out of service for some time, possibly cannibalised for parts to keep the other five trains in service. Set 1 was also never returned to service following a significant collision between it and Set 4 in early 2010. The last carriage in Set 1 had been removed from the set, and used to replace the damaged last carriage in Set 4. It has been renumbered.
Criticism[]
The decision to build the monorail over other forms of rail (e.g. light rail) was in the eyes of many a political decision. Light rail would have been $20 million cheaper to build, service more passengers per hour and cost 40% less for a ticket, but the monorail system prevailed.
A 2011 article in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Monorail was one of the most expensive public transport systems in the world, with a $5 flat charge even when travelling a mere 150 metres (490 ft) between two stops in Pitt Street. However, the same analysis applies to any system with a flag-fall fare structure (for example, a 50m taxi trip in Sydney costs $3.50), and no passenger would use the monorail to travel 150m.
Film Apperences[]
In the film called Napoleon the white needle is pointed at the front of the monorail. When the balloon with the basket lands on the needle, the monorail starts to travel around the city. When it’s about to arrive, you can see Convention monorail stop during the arrive scene. At the end, when it let’s go the balloon with the basket, it was in Darling Park.