Monorail profit falls in April

Monday, May 16, 2005 | 9:48 a.m.

The Las Vegas Monorail posted steady revenue last month, falling just short of March's record-setting income, the company reported Friday.

The trains carried 957,621 riders in April -- just less than 32,000 a day -- falling from the slightly more than 1 million people who boarded the system in March, according to numbers provided by the company.

The figures translate to a little more than $2.8 million in profit for the system.

While a sharp increase from the 22,000 riders a day the system had been averaging before a prolonged closure due to mechanical problems, the ridership totals were still lower than the 36,000 company officials have said they expected to board each day.

Meanwhile, technicians for Bombardier, the Canadian firm that built and operates the $650 million system, were investigating Friday afternoon what caused the trains to shut down for several hours May 1 and 2. The glitches, which occurred about the same time each of those two days, have been attributed to a communication loss between the control center and the electric system's power supply.

Engineers Friday afternoon had not pinned down what caused the communication loss, Todd Walker, a monorail spokesman, said.

No drawn-out closures had been reported since the system reopened for paying riders Dec. 24.