WDW Monorail

In Orlando, Florida, the Disney Parks are separated from each other and there is a monorail that connects them and actually can directly take people from certain hotels directly to the parks.  It is really an ingenious way in order to keep traffic down around the parks.  The monorail first was opened on October 1, 1971.  Now, with a few new modifications since the original, the train can reach a top speed of 55mph and runs for 14.7 miles.

The monorail system takes approximately 50 million guests to and from the parks each year.  It have three main services, the express, resort and epcot. 

The structure of the monorail is of concrete beams, with a polystyrene core to allow for a lighter weight. This weight difference is from the different densities of the two materials.  Concrete has a density of 2.24g/cm^3 while polystyrene is 1.05g/cm^3.When designing such a system the weight needs to be taken into account as the structure is suspended in the air.  With the stronger and denser outer material, the weight bearing beams can be just as strong with not as much weight.  You may ask why not just use the polystyrene for the entire beam.  This answer is simple, the concrete has a strong compressive strength and is more durable than the polystyrene so the two together are the only way to get the best of both worlds with a strong lighter structure.

Each train of the monorail has a capacity to hold 364 passengers with up to six trains running at a time.  The trains run on eight 113 HP motors connected to a 600 v busbar system.  This busbar system consists of thick copper or aluminum strips that will conduct electricity to the motors.  A switchboard will be operated to allow for the different amounts of power to the monorail.  I could not find much more information on the operational part but I will try and find out more and keep you posted.