[opendtv] LATimes: Las Vegas Monorail Is Back on Track

FYI --

December 25, 2004

THE NATION

Las Vegas Monorail Is Back on Track

Following a shutdown in September for safety reasons, trains resumed operations 
on a 30-day conditional permit. The system is under review.

From Associated Press

LAS VEGAS ? The Las Vegas Monorail began carrying passengers Friday for the 
first time since being shut down Sept. 8 for safety reasons.

"It's a new day for the monorail," Todd Walker, spokesman for monorail's 
administrator, Transit Systems Management, said after watching passengers board 
trains for free at a station behind the Sahara hotel-casino. He said the first 
trains ran about half-full.

Administrators planned to begin regular 8 a.m.-to-2 a.m. operations today, and 
start charging fares on Wednesday, Walker said.

Clark County officials ordered several weeks of close inspections and 
empty-train testing before granting 30-day conditional approval Thursday for 
public operation.

Restoring service in time for Christmas offered the monorail a chance to reap 
revenue during the busy New Year's Eve weekend and a big Consumer Electronics 
Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center the following week.

The 3.9-mile elevated track follows a Z-shaped route linking the Convention 
Center and several large hotels on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip.

Officials had said the shutdown was costing $85,000 a day in lost fares: $3 per 
trip; $10 per day pass.

Ron Lynn, head of the county building division, said system builder Bombardier 
Corp. of Montreal would have to pass a 30-day review to extend the conditional 
operating permit to June.

The nine-train, $650-million system opened July 15 ? six months late ? and 
operated for eight weeks before a metal piece fell off the drive shaft of a 
moving train Sept. 8 and hit a power rail, causing an electrical arc but no 
serious damage.

A week earlier, a wheel fell off a train and landed in a casino parking lot. No 
one was hurt.

 
 
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