Columnist Jeff German: The little train that couldn’t

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.

The good news is that parts aren't falling off the troubled Las Vegas Monorail.

This is the $650 million transportation system that shut down and stranded dozens of tourists high above the streets a couple of times this week because of what company officials called a "communication breakdown."

It is the latest in a long line of problems plaguing the high-tech system since it opened six months behind schedule in July.

Ron Lynn, chief of the county's building department, said Tuesday this week's disruption in service likely is the result of a software glitch.

Lynn sounded like a man who is losing patience with the quirky monorail -- a privately run operation that has received millions of dollars in tax breaks to shuttle tourists through the gridlocked Strip corridor.

"This is something we're not particularly pleased about," Lynn said. "We should not have any breakdowns like this at all."

And so Lynn ordered more inspections and more testing, which resulted in still another temporary shutdown on Tuesday.

What an irony it is that the only train that ended up stranding tourists when the monorail went idle this week was the one sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. That's the organization luring visitors to town with the slogan, "what happens here, stays here."

Apparently, the malfunctioning "Only Vegas" train took the slogan literally during one stoppage.

Lynn said a handle on one of the windows designed to open during emergencies broke off when it was grabbed by a stranded passenger.

Everyone eventually got out of the train safely, but the incident didn't exactly instill confidence in the monorail's evacuation procedures. Window handles on other trains later inspected by county officials broke off in the same manner.

Monorail spokesman Todd Walker, meanwhile, put his usual positive spin Tuesday on the latest setback, suggesting to reporters that it is only part of the automated system's growing pains.

Walker has had plenty of opportunities to refine his public relations skills since the monorail opened nine months ago.

The system was shut down for six days on Sept. 1 after a 60-pound wheel assembly fell to the ground.

Then, shortly after service resumed, several large metal washers fell from the train, prompting a 14-week overhaul and closure until Christmas Eve.

And in February the monorail shut down for another day after metal strips protecting a power rail broke away.

"Every transportation system improves with time," Walker said. "This system is only in its infancy."

Asked to explain his remarks, Walker said the monorail has only had a little more than six months worth of running time under its belt.

Generally, he said, it takes three to five years for a system like this to mature and work out its bugs.

That should give you an idea of the uncertainty that lies ahead for this people-moving contraption.

The sad thing, according to others in the business of shuttling tourists around town, is that the monorail has not done what it was supposed to do -- relieve traffic congestion along the Strip corridor.

"Traffic is worse than it has ever been," said Bill Shranko, director of operations for taxicab conglomerate Yellow Checker Star. "There's been no relief at all."

The monorail essentially has become another tourist attraction that takes up space -- but one that doesn't work.