Oliver

Two quick questions … The Wikipedia article says that the Sea World Monorail was closed in 2022. Somewhere else (I don’t remember where) I found the information that the last ride took place in 2020. Which one is true? Does somebody know the exact date of the last ride of Australia’s last monorail? And second: I have read that one of the trains is still standing on the track. Is that true, or have all of them been removed by now?

Well, yes, after two or three years of neglect, they are certainly in need of maintenance. And a “TÜV” certification is required in Germany, for safety of operation. However, as I mentioned, the engineers and technicians at Europa-Park are very experienced in such things. They also partially rebuilt two of their trains that were damaged by an accident a few years ago (thankfully there were no bad injuries, only the train driver and another employee were slightly injured). Here’s a short press coverage: (Sorry, it’s in German, but you can clearly see what happened. Basically she says that the passengers were rescued by the park’s fire brigade, and that the cause of the accident and the damage sum are yet unknown.) The track and trains of the EP Express are equipped with proximity sensors and block control, that should normally prevent two trains from coming too close to each other. Operation of EP Express resumed the same afternoon, using the third train. One of the damaged trains was repaired and back in operation the next day already (it only had some body damage), the other one took somewhat longer because the control panel in the driver’s cabin was affected. It’s also interesting to know that the trains at Europa-Park were somewhat modified. In particular, they got air condition back in 1995 (that’s the bumps that you can see on the roof of the trains). As far as I know, the trains in Australia did not have air condition.

Hi there ― Sorry for jumping in here, I just came across this discussion. I’ve never been to Australia, but I know the history of the Sea World Monorail very well, because it’s the “sibling” of the EP Express Monorail over here in Germany. The World Expo 88 in Brisbane had a monorail with 4 trains, it was the same make and model as the one in Sea World (“Von Roll Mk-II”). So, when the World Expo was over, one of the trains went to Sea World, not far away (so its fleet grew from two to three trains). The other 3 trains from World Expo 88 went on a much longer journey ― they were bought by “Europa-Park”, one of the largest theme parks in Europe. This monorail is now called EP Express, and it’s still in operation today. In fact it’s one of the main attractions, and the Europa-Park engineers are keeping the trains in excellent shape. I’m very sad to hear that the sibling in Sea World Australia has been taken out of service (apparently forever). It would be nice if Europa-Park bought these three trains, too, and expanded the track of the EP Express. That would make sense because Europa-Park has grown considerably in the past 30 years and covers a much larger area now. However, I’m afraid that is just wishful thinking. So … Farewell, Sea World Monorail. I’ll be thinking of you next time I ride EP Express. Best regards ― Oliver from Germany