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The local police have completed their investication of the fatality on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland and concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing. That doesn't take Disney off the hook, however. At least two employees heard an unusual "clacking" noise coming from the locomotive thirty minutes before the incident, and in fact they had decided to take that train out of service after the next run. Unfortunately, during that next run a "bogie", which is the assembly that carries the rear wheels of the locamotive, came apart causing the locamotive to strike a tunnel roof and then come down on top of the first passenger car killing one man and injuring dozens of others.
We'll see what further investications have to say, but from where I am standing Team Disney Anaheim is guilty of being grossly negligent in the maintenance of its attractions. Ten years ago that train would have been taken out of service *immediately* if there was an unusual sound, but these days the priority is to keep the rides moving at all costs. In this case, the cost was the life of Marcelo Torres. More than that, a mechanical assembly should never have reached the point of catastrophic failure. If the maintenance crews were supported in doing their job instead of being cut to the bone, that assembly never would have been in service in that condition. I hope that Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss lie awake at night pondering the fact that they have effectively murdered two Disneyland guests since they started running the park. And I hope that the family of Marcelo Torres sues Ms. Harriss personally for her negligence.
We'll see what further investications have to say, but from where I am standing Team Disney Anaheim is guilty of being grossly negligent in the maintenance of its attractions. Ten years ago that train would have been taken out of service *immediately* if there was an unusual sound, but these days the priority is to keep the rides moving at all costs. In this case, the cost was the life of Marcelo Torres. More than that, a mechanical assembly should never have reached the point of catastrophic failure. If the maintenance crews were supported in doing their job instead of being cut to the bone, that assembly never would have been in service in that condition. I hope that Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss lie awake at night pondering the fact that they have effectively murdered two Disneyland guests since they started running the park. And I hope that the family of Marcelo Torres sues Ms. Harriss personally for her negligence.