[opendtv] LATimes: Las Vegas Monorail Is Back on Track
- From: Henry Baker <hbaker1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: hbaker1@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2004 12:36:44 -0800
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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