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Echoes of Thunder

Operator error blamed for Big Thunder Mountain accident

Wednesday, April 7, 2004
by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix, staff writer

For the second time in less than seven months, Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction was the site of another accident this past weekend.

Unlike the previous accident that caused a death and multiple injuries, however, no guests were riding the attraction when the trains were damaged.

“During a reset operation Saturday night, without any guests present, one train ran into the back of another,” said Disneyland Resort spokesman Bob Tucker, in an interview with MousePlanet. “Both trains were damaged. No guests were injured because this procedure is only performed at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when guests are not riding the attraction.”

According to a report by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) released yesterday, the collision was caused specifically by operator error.

The incident began when the roller coaster ride shut down suddenly—known as an “E-stop” (emergency stop)—at about 8:40 Saturday night because of a problem with the station gates on the loading platform. Ride operators cleared the station and evacuated passengers from those trains stopped on the tracks.

After all visitors were cleared from the area, cast members began the reset procedure of releasing the trains one at a time from where they were stopped on the tracks to cycle the trains back into the station. As train #3 went over lift C, it collided with train #5, which was stopped in the brake zone at the base of the lift.

According to the DOSH report, “The tower cast member did not verify the position of train #5 that was occupying brake zone #4 prior to giving the clear to start lift C with train #3 occupying the lift.”

The report concluded that the tower cast member did not follow proper procedure to prevent such an accident, and also found that the lead cast member did not fully perform her duties as the lead in overseeing the resetting procedures.

  
The three-page report, released yesterday by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, blames cast member error for last weekend's accident at Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction. Click on the pages to view them in their full size.

Since no injuries resulted from the collision, it was not required that Disney report the incident to DOSH. At this time, it is unclear whether park officials reported the incident voluntarily or whether DOSH learned of it solely through a third-party complaint.

DOSH inspected the ride on Monday and yesterday, and issued a Notice to Correct requiring Disney to retrain the two cast members in the proper procedures for evacuating and resetting the attraction from an E-stop, and to prevent those cast members from operating the attraction until they had been retrained.

“[We] reviewed our operating procedures,” said Tucker. “Some were not followed, and we retrained accordingly.” The DOSH report also notes that the cast members were retrained.

Big Thunder Mountain reopened Sunday with two trains, and a third train was added to the attraction on Tuesday morning. “We hope to add the fourth soon,” Tucker said.

Last September, an accident on Big Thunder Mountain killed 22-year-old Marcello Torres and injured 10 other riders. The ride was closed for six months after the accident, and reopened on March 10 after passing a safety inspection in time for the busy spring break period.

Thoughts, questions, or comments? Contact Adrienne here.

A locomotive on the Big Thunder Mountail Railroad in Disneyland's Frontierland broke loose at approximately 11:20 a.m. on Friday, September 5, killing 1 man and injuring 10 others.

• Our main page about the accident.
• Media coverage and analysis of accident
• Coverage of Eisner and Rasulo press conference on day of accident.
• Breaking news coverage as events unfolded on Friday afternoon.

• The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad locomotive broke loose from the rest of the train at 11:20 a.m. on Friday, September 5, 2003.

• Single fatality: Marcelo Torres (22) from Gardena, California, of undisclosed causes.

• 10 injured victims, including the following, who were transported to the University of California Irvine Medical Center:

• Designed and manufactured by: WED/Walt Disney Imagineering

• Ride type: “Mine train” type roller coaster

• Opened: September 2, 1979

• Maximum height: 104 feet at the top of Big Thunder Peak

• Maximum capacity: 32

• Height requirement: 40 inches tall (3 feet 4 inches) [correction]

• Safety restraint: Single bench-wide lap bar (bench sits two)

• Speed: 28 miles per hour

• Disneyland's BTMRR was created in-house by Disney Imagineers. The WDW version was built in 1980. The Disneyland Paris version was built in 1992.

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