Abandoned - Sydney Monorail

hi there as part of my lost darling harbour series which began with me covering the brief but eventful history of CEO of Sydney the next portion of darling harbour that has been lost time that I would like to cover is the darling harbour monorail an ambitious yet controversial transport system that never realized its ambitions and slowly declined her tools finally ripped down in this video I'll be covering the history at the Sydney morale and why it closed down touching upon local industry and politics in the early 1980s Darling Harbour was not like it is today as in that period dying over was nothing more than a collection of old warehouses and derelict Rallye arts that were used for decades as opposed to the tourist development we see today however an inquiry into the New South Wales transport industry carried out in the late 1970s it was found that this centre was inefficient should be moved and the land use for a black public purposes it was not until 1984 when anything regarding darling harbour would be heard from again as the premier of New South Wales never ran announced the government's decision to redevelop Darling Harbour and return it to the people of Sydney in time for Ali's 1988 bicentennial celebrations there were two maintenance of the redevelopment of Darling Harbour the Sydney Convention Centre and the harbour side shopping centre as part of its development the state government intended to build a transport link from darling harbour to the Sydney central business district a transport link that they found to be of significant importance to the dyeing of a development the government looked into many transport options including a light rail system which would have reduced ticket prices by half or acquired the street space and a monorail system a system viewed at the time as futuristic Sydney city council preferred the light rail line however in November 1975 Transport Minister Laurie Brereton announced a monorail would be built the TNT Halloween operated by Australian Transport Company TNT as part of a development the Sydney monorails loop circuit would be three point six kilometres long designed and constructed by Swiss company formed Rolle who had previously built a monorail system at sentosa Highland Singapore Alton Towers in England and SeaWorld in Gulf Coast Australia as well as numerous Howell cars installed in different places around the world Sydney's monorail was touted by pondrom as the world's first automated transport system as the original intention for the system was for it to operate automatically without using drivers as the monorail was a one-way loop circuit it compromised its effectiveness with Kim Patterson of the monorail Society stating that its design limited its usefulness as a people mover over the next two years the monorail would slowly take shape transforming the landscape of the city to avoid congestion much of the work for the monomer was completed at light with long sections at track having to be carefully transported in night hours on Sydney's moringa freeway with the exception of the monorail cars all the monorail system was built in Australia to comply with local content rules sometime in 1987 six monorail trains consisting of seven cars were delivered to the monorails maintenance facility in Piermont built of on Rails type 3 specification each seated 48 passengers with a driver in the leading car and were designed to seat 56 using all seven carriages the first train was displayed at the trans public show in Geneva Switzerland in May 1987 during this period there was heavy political debate during construction of the monorail system with future Sydney law mayor clover more quoting [Music] nonetheless work on the monorail continued in October 1987 the TNT Harbor Link's first test services ran on a 500 meter section at darling harbor by the end of the year much the track had been completed ultimately Australia's bicentennial year in 1988 had come and Queen Elizabeth the second formally opened Darling Harbour on 4th May 1988 Sydney Aquarium and harbor side shopping centre were the first attractions to open and was soon followed by the Sydney Convention Center two months later the TNC Harbor Link opened on the 21st of July 1988 by TT's chairman Fred Miller needless to say the plaque that you just saw did not age very well that day the monorail gave its first services to regular passengers among the first to ride the monorail was TNT CEO superior Abel's at the opening ceremony the premiere at the time Nick Greiner was absent for unknown reasons initially the monorail ran under stringent regulations as people poorly dressed over minor cold were barred from using the system that would be the case yes I mean some sort of transport maybe to get them to their home quickly I don't think that we'd be wanting to take the monorail anyway the TNT Harbor League had a capacity between 5,000 and 8,000 people per hour each station stopped took 40 seconds including the time to decelerate board passengers and accelerate again in a testament to its design a complete circuit of the route took just 12 minutes per mile trains ran a rubber tyres and each seven car train had 637 kilowatt electric motors preventing a normal operating speed of 33 kilometres an hour the doors of each car with automatic and the floor of it was self adjusting by an automatic suspension system to get on the monorail you had to pay a steep $5 which allowed them to go one leap on the monorail and we're given a token which they inserted into the turnstiles I happen to own one of these tokens by the way they were at any stage of the monorails life was the ticketing system in line with the rest of Sydney's transport right Iran in its life the monorail had proprietary NFC cards for considering how the monorail never ran off Opel cards at any stage now a useless one compared to the rest of Sidney's transport one of the most iconic sections of the monorail was the section when it ran across the Pyrmont bridge linking Kanpur Bay to the nearby Piermont between the harbor side and darling park stations many of the frozen videos to the Maurel show running between the flags on the Pyrmont bridge the system was specifically designed to operate normally when the bridge rotated during its lifetime there were eight stations in operation in the monorails route each of these stations for the exception of three featured von wells signatures cylindrical station design common to many blind rail systems at the time including the from the Murray Hill monorail in the UK these were in order Harborside one of three main Darling Harbour stations the station was affixed to the harbour side shopping centre Convention and they were of dialing up the stations this station served the original Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Patties markets located adjacent to the former Sydney airtime Center the station was originally named Haymarket then it was changed to powers museum and finally Patties markets the station served the powers museum market city and the Sydney entertainment center Chinatown the station was originally intended to open as darling War and later garden site however did not open until years after the monorail of initially open due to low patronage it eventually opened in October 2001 as garden Plaza the station served Sydney's Chinatown the station closed in 2004 but reopened two years later as Chinatown and by 2012 the station was unmanned and only opened between seven o'clock and 9 o'clock in the morning weekdays at some point before the closure Chinatown station was closed down permanently Red Square a station had served the world square development in Sydney CBD world square had a temporary station in operation until 2005 when the station was rebuilt and incorporated into the adjacent world tower building as such the Ward Square station was one of only two stations to not have a cylindrical design of the original mono rail stations galleries Victoria originally means Park Plaza and implanting Town Hall until 2000 there was in temporary entrance to the station when the station was integrated into the new Citigroup Center structure the original plan was the station to link to the Town Hall railway station hour this never happened city centre the station opened in 1980 on replacing a temporary station all suspended above pitch Street it was located in the city centre shopping arcade darling Park the final darling harbour station the station did not open until around 1990 two years after the monorail originally opened initially the station was to be named casino to serve Sydney's planned casino development originally intended to be one of Donald Trump's casinos however the proposal was rejected for declassified police documents accusing him of having links to the Mafia ultimately the casino development was scrapped and moved to Pier on where the star resides today on the side of where the dying of a casino was sustained proverb a roof was built instead mostly argued on clark station served the nearby King Street wharves and the Sydney Aquarium [Music] while the monorail opened to much fanfare it soon became plagues of problems remember how I said the original intention was for the monorail to operate automatically well just two months after opening the automated system was plagued with problems and frequent breakdowns resulting in TMT making the decision to convert the monorail to manual operation through the use of drivers the computer-controlled driverless system will not be used to get in the morning hours lifetime to make matters worse on the 28th of July 1988 an electrical fault course system Mustafa operating 50 passengers were stranded in carriages for two hours between 350 and 5:50 p.m. TNT was criticized for failing to call emergency services until 540 by the time the fire brigade arrived for the scene the passengers were on rooftop disembarking at a station the system was troubled with low patronage just two years after opening after the two weeks free rides period came to a close TNT anticipated the monorail to carry 12 million passengers a year however in the two years after opening about half that was being achieved a no point during the monorails life did patronage ever reach that expected target due to the low patronage supply and Casino and dying wark stations would not build until 1992 and 2001 respectively another problem facing the embattled system was the lack of development around the area that it was focusing on Darling Harbour had failed to develop and flourish as planned and nothing would be built in darling harbor until 1907 other areas that would have joined passengers such as world square remained construction sites for years another accident occurred in July 1992 when monorail services were suspended due to a fire in a wool store building which caused a wall to collapse within metres of TNT hobbling central control room officers but despite this there are achievements within a few years the morale started to turn an operating profit even if was never going to pay to cover as construction costs the TNT Harbor Link would be the first mode of transport in Sydney to use a smart card for paying trans what Fez it wouldn't be until 20 years later in 2015 and the Oval cart was spread across the city but the rest of Sydney's transport would run on smart cards around 1993 for the first time in history the characters of the monorail began to ditch the TNT orange striped livery and said for the first time had advertising on the cars this was a perfect marketing opportunity for businesses after all what company wouldn't want their brand advertised in a train system that moved through major streets in the CVD with thousands of pedestrians potentially seeing the monorail cars of that brand name one at each day everybody jumped in on the crows Pepsi Ogier Fujifilm heck even Darling Harbour attractions since the staff Sydney Aquarium and even see her world advertised in the monorail the advertising will continue for the rest of its lifetime [Music] in August 1998 TNT sold the monorail to Metro Transport Sydney who operated the Sydney light rail system that opened the year before where the TNT Harbor link was renamed the Metro monorail this was done after TNT was taken over in 1996 by the Dutch post and telecommunications company PTT Netherland after TNT experienced many years of financial struggles the decision was made by the new Dutch Board to solve all of TN t--'s assets unrelated to post or logistics including its stake in and set Australia's second largest airline TNT still exists today but it is no longer an Australian company it is Dutch with TNT now out of the picture Metro Transport Sydney repented the monorail carriages into an all-white livery with monorail to come to you written on the bottom of the carriages the monorail was remarketed from the Sirius transport system of the TNT era into nothing more than a tourist gimmick teaching its final remnants of the urban mass transport system and it was supposed to be to an extent it worked by the 2000 Olympics the monorail was used by mostly tourists drawn to Sydney but patronage just above 2 million a far cry from TN t--'s lofty prediction of 12 million like the rest of Darling Harbour the monorail benefited from the increased tourist intake to Sydney during the Olympics morale patronage went up to fold during his period during the high tourist intake the fact that some of the Olympics events were held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre meant that there was for once practical use to the monorail during this period there was a song they played in the monorail called dual loop I'll show you it now put your left foot in right one on the floor let's have some fun put your arm right up put your nose against the window [Music] some of stuffin films a fact i'll fired I really wonder why I didn't play this and I swear it's Springfield's only choice throw up your hands and raise you boys [Music] fast forward a few years to 2003 the monorail was once again struggling in order to attract some more customers Metro attempts into position of the monorail as a retro experience to attract hipsters nearly saved this gimmick flopped in its many years of operation the Sydney monorail broke down a lot one of its most notable accidents took place in February 2010 when two monorail trains collided the darling Park station hospitalizing four people including a three-year-old boy and a pregnant woman after his accident one of the monorail trains involved in collision was rejoined from service and never used again in early 2012 state government announced its intention to purchase Metro Transport Sydney for eighteen point six million dollars where the Metro monorail was rebranded to the Sydney monorail but almost immediately after the state government announced that the monorail would closer than three years and be removed for infrastructure developments in the CBD and Darling Harbour all along the state government's reason for purchasing Metro Transport was to extend the light rail system and demolish the monorail without the need to negotiate with the private owners at the end of 2012 the monorails closing date was confirmed to be the 30th of June 2013 the New South Wales premier at the time Barry o Farrell quoted that the real problem with the monorail I think for most Sydney ciders is that it doesn't actually go anywhere but you want to go he come to that this decision paves the way for the development of a world-class Sydney International Convention Exhibition and entertainment precinct as the New South Wales government gets on with the job of making New South Wales number one again by the way this is in the last became from him or his friends over at lend-lease in the monorails final months some of the trains are painted in a special farewell Sydney livery special commemorative merchandise was also sold in the monorail stations the Sydney monorails final ride took place at 9:30 p.m. on the 30th of June 2013 and in order to be on a final ride was through a ballot system around 40 people chosen through this way were the lucky ones who experienced a historic occasion following this final ride the monorails official website on the domain monorail dicamba - you was taken down when the monorail was closed to the public it was just 21 days shy of celebrating its 25th birthday after that file ride the Sydney monorail was left completely abandoned but not for long immediately after the closure the state government commenced work on demolishing the monorail system the removal of the columns and beams took around six months until demolition was complete in early 2014 however remnants the monorail is still left standing as of me making this video 5 the Sydney monorails former stations are still standing down Park harbour side city centre Chinatown and world square these are among the only traces of the monorail left in Sydney most of the stations are locked and boarded up where there are small holes in the wall to peek through when you look through them it looks like a time capsule from 2013 I contacted each of the companies responsible for the upkeep of the stations - Graeme permission to film the abandoned monorail stations and H them granted my request the dolly park station I did not require permission to film as the government recently renounces ownership at the station at the harbour sight station when you peek through the holes the original advertising is still there along with a no drink or food on monorail sign on the opposite end of the station alongside the original turnstiles but darling park station on the other hand has no holes to peek through and he can't see the inside of the station however it is possible to see inside from different angles in the case of the Chinatown station for many years there was a monorail station sign outside of the building unfortunately I was informed that the sign was replaced in January of 2018 with a generic stall sign the station unlike the others is not boarded up with a black wall as the entrance to the monorail station is still there however the turnstiles and cash booth are gone the city centre stations giant hole which the monorail track would have exited through is still present when you peek through the holes the farewell Sydney monorail sign is still there alongside the original turnstiles unfortunately this station was the only one which was unable to get footage for as I contacted the owners of city centre shopping arcade to get permission to film footage we denied my request nonetheless I visited the site for observational purposes when you look behind the new convention center it is still possible to see the form maintenance Depot for the monorail system however it is now used as supports for the Convention Center and as a storage area for the Dulwich Hill white rail line the world square station is completely blocked off for the concrete wall he's impossible to see through and you can only see the station from the outside 3 the monorail stations have been demolished so far paddies markets convention and galleries Victoria paddy's market station was left abandoned for a number of years following the closure however as there was a nearby structure the former Sydney entertainment center it was demolished alongside the entertainment center throughout 2016 to make way for the darling square residential development which is still under construction as of me making this video the convention station did not stand abandoned for long unlike patties markets in the other stations a six months after closure the form of monorail station was demolished alongside the old convention center in early 2014 this particular section of the monorail a travel along the back of the Convention Centre was among the reasons it closed down to make way for the expanded ICC Sydney the gallery is Victoria Station unlike any of the other stations had its owner go out of its way to demolish the station it is unknown when the station was demolished as I cannot find any dates but this is the one photo to prove that it was demolished what happened to the other parts of the monorail while most of the track was cut with blow torches around 10 meters of track and a set of carriages preserved and donated to the powerhouse museum team RL carriages were converted into meeting offices used in Google's Australian offices and Pyrmont the rest of the track wasn't so lucky however most of the track was removed and recycled somehow the track managed to be used in a construction of a temporary road bridge built as part of a sydney metro project this bridge was removed at some point in 2017 but the monorail track pieces removed along with it what happened to the track pieces after that bridge was removed so remains to be seen the remainder of the monorail carriages were moved to a workshop yard in nearby st. Peters by metropolitan demolitions who had the contract to demolish the monorail the carriages were put on gumtree had sold at $3,000 a piece of the 22 sold on gumtree ten of them was shipped to Taiwan where they are owned by an Australian expat living in Taipei and the rest was solved of private owners thankfully none of the sydney monorail carriages were destroyed why did the closed first of all the monorail was built wave on roll when you look at this company's track record you'll understand that the monorail Vaughn role had built but not designed for urban mass transport turns he had the potential to build a useful monorail by building a two-way system however bond rail were inexperienced with this and instead used a one-way loop system that failed its primary job to get people to where they want to go by the end the monorail was simply a tourist attraction and there were very few people who used it to get to work the Sydney monorail went to nowhere by the end in the early years of the monorail all three of the city stations on the monorail remained construction sites while city centre was fully complete by 1919 galleries Victoria was not built until 2000 and world square was not fully completed until the monorails twilight years other stations such as casino went to nowhere because the development that it was to serve was never built other stations such as darling walk opened years after the developments they intended to serve went bust you get it missiny monorail went to nowhere for construction of the light rail line in 1997 furthest sealed the Moana rails fate three stops and a light rail system were common to the monorail system Convention and pays markets with another station at the actual sydney casino the star and another station Piermont Bay which currently serves Harbour site a former station on the monorail by the way the second reason why it closed was in order to expand the Sydney Convention Centre at the time of the system's retirement the old Sydney Convention Centre was on the brink of replacement the monorail snaked around the back of the old building in order to build and expand a Convention and Exhibition Centre this track needs be removed when the system is first built many people mostly the NIMBY type labelled it the monster rail claiming and there was an eyesore with an intrusive track system going down narrow city streets well I can agree with them the former transported they prefer light rail looks much much worse with all the poles and wires around George Street been a skinny little monorail system to each their own they say the Sydney monorail is used by monorail detractors and just clover more as the cautionary tale of white not to build a monorail but we should keep in mind that TNT he tried to install a monorail that was previously only used in theme parks and leisure areas we have been mass transport furthermore by the time of the monorails closure dying Garber was aged and the station troops the monorail Serbs were primarily tourist attractions many of which were built in the period between 1988 and 1977 as opposed to comida stations such as Wynyard and Town Hall TNT even briefly considered this extending the monorail too as far as circular key while they didn't remains a mystery the main takeaway from the Sydney monorail for state politicians is to never build a monorail in Sydney again and I can agree with this I don't think of monorail ever be built and Sydney again Ron Ward for general manager of teams he hardly said that the monorail was an interesting experiment but not a raging success concluding that monorails they are a kind of entertainment however in a testament to monorail success many monorail systems build its urban transport still existed as de maglev systems in China and Japan which are built as monorails operate successfully and remain operational to this day other monorail systems in Tokyo Seoul Mexico City and Las Vegas are still in operation running with high patronage on the flipside Sydney is one of the few cities in the world to have built completely new light rail infrastructure in the 21st century and there you have it the Sydney monorail once considered the transport of the future a controversial system for all of its life in a twist of irony was killed off and replaced by the trams of yesteryear after a long period of slow decline it was the first piece of the original darling color that was lost a time hey guys for those of you that are unaware I am continuing on the lost Darling Harbour series if you are new to this channel and missed out in the last episode click on the link in the video or in the description below if you enjoyed this video give me a like and if you want to see more press that subscribe button down below thanks

Channel: Sir Laptop

Views: 139,113

Rating: 4.5196772 out of 5

Keywords: sydney monorail, monorail, darling harbour, TNT Harbourlink, tnt monorail, metro monorail, sydney metro monorail

Id: Ps1h_O_iZ5Q

Length: 26min 30sec (1590 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 04 2018