Memphis Suspension Railway

The Memphis Suspension Railway, Mud Island Monorail, or Memphis Monorail is a suspended monorail that connects the city center of Memphis with the entertainment park on Mud Island. Celebrating its grand opening on July 3, 1982,[1] it was located beneath a footbridge over the Wolf River Lagoon connecting to the southern tip of Mud Island. In 2018, multiple malfunctions occurred during passenger service, one of which required the fire department to attend to stranded passengers, and finally the motor failed.[2]

Memphis Suspension Railway
Overview
LocaleMemphis, Tennessee
Transit typeSuspension railway
Number of lines1
Number of stations2
Operation
Began operation1982
Ended operation2018
Operator(s)Memphis River Parks Partnership
Technical
System length1,700 ft (518 m)
Average speed7 mph (11 km/h)

Construction and opening

The line had two suspended cars constructed in Switzerland, delivered in summer 1981.[3] The 1,700-foot-long (518 m) footbridge opened to pedestrians on June 29, 1981; but the monorail was not operational until July 1982.[3] The cars were driven by a 3,500-foot-long (1,067 m) external cable, instead of by internal motors.[4] The two cars simultaneously shuttled back and forth on parallel tracks between the Front Street Terminal on the downtown side and the Mud Island Terminal. Each car had a maximum capacity of 180 passengers and travels at 7 mph (11.3 km/h).[5]

At the time of its construction, the U.S. Coast Guard stated that the proposed bridge would have to have the same clearance as the Hernando de Soto Bridge, as it was spanning a commercially used public waterway.[6] This resulted in the bridge being constructed at its current elevation.

In the 1993 film The Firm, Mitch McDeere, played by Tom Cruise, uses the railway to escape from "The Firm" that is out to kill him.[7]

Incidents, accidents, and closures

On June 19, 1994, a 19-year-old female Memphis State University student, Shellie M. McKnight, fell while cleaning the exterior windows of one of the cars and died.[8] The 26 ft (7.9 m) fatal fall was ruled accidental by Memphis Police.[9] Her family lost the lawsuit they filed against the City of Memphis.

On September 29, 2018, six passengers were trapped in one of the cars when it stalled mid-transit. The stall was caused by a fuse that was tripped. About 20 minutes after the vehicle initially stalled, the driver evacuated the vehicle onto the pedestrian bridge above. Nobody involved was injured. [10]

The monorail closed indefinitely on July 6, 2018, and opened occasionally for special events.

As of 2021, the monorail is inoperable.

Condition and maintenance

Due to its unique nature, only one person, "Paul Jordan, the engineer who built it, was the lone man who could fix it. Over the decades, he’d fly to Memphis, often in his own plane, land in the Wolf River Harbor, pull right up to the boat ramp at the park and stay a few days to make repairs."[2]

In an "audit of the monorail by Schwager Davis in 2021, found the 'system was not able to be powered up' so it had to be 'evaluated by visual inspection.'"[2]

References
  1. Callahan, Jody (July 11, 1996). "Still afloat - Mud Island celebrates 14th year, feels growing pains". The Commercial Appeal.
  2. Peterson, Joyce (June 9, 2022). "Unclear if $5M enough to save Memphis Monorail". Action News 5. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  3. "Mid-South memories - Come on in". The Commercial Appeal. June 19, 2006.
  4. Thomas, William (April 25, 1992). "Manager undaunted by crumbles, leaks, rust". The Commercial Appeal.
  5. Mud Island River Park. "Mud Island River Park: Monorail". Archived from the original on 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  6. Harrington, Chris (March 6, 2002). "Bridging Mud Island: The biography of an idea". The Memphis Flyer.
  7. Stewart, Leah (July 25, 1993). "Mud Island gets stream of business - "The Firm" acts as billboard for unadvertised attraction". The Commercial Appeal.
  8. Coleman, Laura (June 20, 1994). "Extra effort to be dutiful causes fatal fall for Mud Island worker". The Commercial Appeal.
  9. Johnson, Rob (June 21, 1994). "Fatal Mud Island fall ruled accident". The Commercial Appeal.
  10. "Mud Island monorail stalls, stranding passengers". WREG.com. 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
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