by Andrew S. Jakes
June, 1996
In June of 1996, a high performance and capacity transit monorail system started its operation setting construction records with only a 16-month schedule from the notice-to- proceed. The official ground breaking ceremony took place at the end of August, 1994. The project has stimulated extensive press and TV coverage across the country and is still gaining publicity momentum. the system links MGM Grand and Bally's Hotel/Casinos with inherent capabilities for expansion into a city-wide transit system. The MGM/Grand-Bally's project is the first joint venture between competing hotels/casinos and is known as the MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail Limited Liability Company (The Monorail Company). This project sets a new benchmark in visionary thinking for Las Vegas since the concept goes far beyond merely an internal circulation system. This presentation focuses more on the project strategic concept rather than technical features of the monorail system. Monorails of this type have been in operation at Disneyworld and Disneyland as well as in Japan for many years and, therefore, their features have been already sufficiently described. The paper does include a table that gives the technical specifications of the Las Vegas monorail including capacity, weight, beam length, propulsion type and power, speed, breaking type, system power, doors per train and train width/length.
Persons interested in obtaining a copy of the full paper (12 pp) can find it in the Proceedings of the Automated Peoplemovers Conference held in Paris, France, in June of 1996. It is published by the American Society of Civil Engineers in New York. Or, one can contact the author at Jakes Associates, Inc., 1735 N. First Street, Suite 302A, San Jose, California 95112; e-mail: JAI9330.aol.com
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Last modified: December 12, 1996