The Smiler
| The Smiler | |
|---|---|
The Smiler on the opening day |
|
| Data | |
| Location |
Alton Towers (Alton, Staffordshire , UK ) |
| Type | Steel - seated |
| model | Infinity Coaster |
| Drive type | 2 chain lifts |
| Manufacturer | Gerstlauer amusement rides |
| Designer | John Wardley (layout) Ben Dowson (creative director) |
| costs | approx. 21 million euros (18 million pounds ) |
| opening | May 31, 2013 |
| length | 1170 m |
| height | 30 m |
| Departure | 30 m |
| Dimensions | 120 × 50 m² |
| Max. speed | approx. 85 km / h |
| Max. acceleration | 4.8 g |
| Travel time | 2:45 min |
| capacity | 1200 people per hour |
| elements | • Heartline roll • 5 × corkscrews • 2 × dive loops • Batwing • Sea serpentine roll • Cobra roll |
| Inversions | 14th |
| Subject area | X Sector |
The Smiler in Alton Towers ( Alton , Staffordshire , UK ) is a steel roller coaster manufacturer's Gerstlauer which in X-Sector-themed area next to Oblivion is. The track opened on May 31, 2013. With 14 inversions, The Smiler is the roller coaster with the most overturns worldwide.
Due to technical problems and a broken bolt, the runway was closed from July 21st to August 12th, 2013. On June 2, 2015, the runway was closed again due to a serious accident . It was only reopened at the start of the new season on March 19, 2016.
history
The first plans to build The Smiler were submitted to the relevant authorities in December 2011. In these plans it was evident that the new roller coaster would be designed and built by the German manufacturer Gerstlauer. Despite concerns from residents of Farley and Alton parishes about the expected increase in traffic from a new attraction, planning permission was granted on March 15, 2012 following a meeting of the Staffordshire Moorlands Council.
Shortly after the building permit was granted, a website was posted promoting an action called Secret Weapon 7 (SW7). This code name joins the list of code names from Alton Towers, for example Nemesis with code names SW3 and Thirteen SW6 . At around the same time, the tent that used to house the Black Hole roller coaster was torn down and then the earthworks began.
At the end of October 2012, the first rail parts from Germany arrived in the park. On December 7th, 2012 the construction of the railway started. At a press conference in January 2013, the name The Smiler was first confirmed by the park. On April 24, 2013, the last piece of the so-called top hat was used and the railway celebrated the end of the track. The trains made their first laps on May 9, 2013. On this day, the Guinness World Record Certificate was handed over.
During a test drive for journalists, an incident occurred on May 17, 2013, in which a train got stuck on the first lift hill. The technical problems could not be resolved in the following week, so that the original opening date on May 23, 2013 could not be met.
In the first regular weeks of operation, there were repeated disruptions due to roller coaster cars that got stuck in front of the batwing element. A computer error could be determined as the cause, which triggered the reduction brakes too early and thereby slowed the roller coaster cars too much.
On July 21, 2013, one of the connecting bolts on a section of rail broke, creating a visible gap. The park closed the roller coaster immediately until further notice.
journey
After the train has left the station, it drives through a sloping 180 ° left curve in the station building, which ends in a heartline roll . Outside the building there is the first of two chain lifts , the first of which has a normal gradient. The subsequent right-leaning descent ends in a corkscrew , followed by two opposite dive loops . The car drives through a small airtime hill followed by a batwing . After another corkscrew , the train enters the first block brake in front of the second lift hill , which has a 90 ° incline. This lift is followed by a descent in a left curve that, like the first, ends in a corkscrew . This is followed by a sea serpent roll , another small airtime hill and a cobra roll that seems to be intertwined with the batwing . Two more straight corkscrews follow before the train pulls into the final brake after a 180 ° left turn.
The main thematic element of the trip is the so-called Marmaliser , a metal spider structure that is surrounded by the train. This 15 meter high structure has 5 legs, each with a different effect installed to confuse visitors and thereby make them smile. In addition, a 360 ° screen is installed in the main body.
accident
On June 2, 2015, there was a rear-end collision on the roller coaster, with a train occupied by 16 people crashing into a stationary, unoccupied train without braking. The latter was sent empty on the track after the track had previously been closed due to technical problems, and unexpectedly got stuck. All 16 occupants were injured in the impact, four of them seriously.
As a result of the accident, in addition to the smiler, roller coasters from the same manufacturer in other Merlin Entertainments Group parks were closed for checking the safety systems. These included, for example, Saw - The Ride in Thorpe Park and two roller coasters in the Chessington World of Adventures .
After the accident, the Merlin Entertainments CEO Nick Varney was interviewed by the Sky News reporter Kay Burley , who interrupted him several times and tried to misrepresent the park operator and hold it responsible for the accident. Burley was heavily criticized for her actions, and a petition aimed at her dismissal was launched that garnered over 50,000 signatures.
Human error and inadequate safety precautions by the operator are considered to be the cause of the accident. The roller coaster's safety system had successfully detected the empty train that had been stranded in a test run due to previous problems, presumably because of the strong wind in the "batwing" element, and therefore stopped the train loaded with 16 passengers towards the end of the first lift hill. According to the Daily Mail, a technician then manually levered out the safety mechanism so that the train standing at the lift hill could continue its journey after restarting the computer system and finally collided with the broken-down car. The responsible technician and the ride operator were investigated. After eight months of closing the roller coaster, Alton Towers announced that The Smiler, along with the rest of the park, would open on March 19, 2016.
In an expert report by the Health and Safety Executive , it became known that the responsible technicians did not know the technical manual for the plant. The operator has also created pressure with bonus payments to bring systems back into operation as quickly as possible.
After a two-day court hearing, the operator Merlin Entertainments was sentenced to a fine of 5 million pounds on September 27, 2018. The payment was thus 2.5 million pounds milder than the current case law in Great Britain provides. The reason for this was the operator's full admission of guilt for having disregarded common safety principles. Only one of the technicians present had completed a training course at the manufacturer. The wind measuring device, which would have prevented operation because of the strong winds, was defective. In addition, there was no formal procedure for dealing with incidents that would have forced the technicians to leave the rails and the usually usual evacuation of loaded trains before a technical restart. The security cameras showing the broken car were ignored. The court also criticized the slow alerting of rescue workers after only 17 minutes and the long time it took to rescue the passengers, which lasted over four hours, due to the lack of escape routes. The operator could have avoided the accident. The safety of the facility itself was confirmed by the court. Merlin Entertainments withdrew its initially widespread statement that the cause of the accident was human error, thereby admitting corporate guilt.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Smiler - Alton Towers (Alton, Staffordshire, England, UK) (English). Entry in the Rollercoaster Database, accessed May 4, 2013
- ↑ The Ride - Key Facts ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). Official web site, accessed on May 4, 2013
- ↑ Smile please - Everything about Alton Towers “The Smiler” . Article from airtimers.com, accessed May 4, 2013
- ↑ Infinity Coaster. Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, accessed November 20, 2019 .
- ↑ PDF Noise Report ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, accessed 11 May 2013.
- ↑ PDF Noise Report (English). Theme Park Tourist, accessed May 11, 2013.
- ↑ New SW7 Promotional Material Released ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). towerstimes.co.uk, accessed May 15, 2013.
- ↑ Nemesis ( Memento of the original from July 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). Alton Towers homepage, accessed May 15, 2013.
- ↑ Thirteen ( Memento of the original from February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). Alton Towers homepage accessed on May 11, 2013.
- ↑ Farewell to the Black Hole Tent ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). towerstimes.co.uk, accessed May 15, 2013.
- ↑ Track and Components Arrive (English). towerstimes.co.uk, accessed May 15, 2013.
- ↑ Secret Weapon 7 Vertical Construction Begins (English). towersstreet.com, accessed May 15, 2013.
- ↑ The Smiler Track Construction Reaches Completion (English). towersstreet.com, accessed May 15, 2013.
- ↑ Alton Towers' The Smiler breaks down on preview night leaving thrill-seekers dangling (English). Damien Fletcher, article from mirror.co.uk, May 18, 2013, accessed May 18, 2013
- ↑ No date set for The Smiler opening at Alton Towers ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). Jenny Moody, article from Burton Mail, May 24, 2013, accessed May 24, 2013
- ↑ The Smiler - Fastrack and Third Stall. (No longer available online.) Tower Times, June 10, 2013, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; accessed on July 22, 2013 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The Smiler - Handling the Heat + Track Issues. (No longer available online.) Tower Times, July 21, 2013, archived from the original on February 3, 2016 ; accessed on July 22, 2013 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Alton Towers - New Crazies for the Smiler . Article from airtimers.com, March 1, 2013, accessed May 18, 2013
- ^ Danny Boyle, Leon Watson: Alton Towers crash: Four teenagers seriously hurt as The Smiler ride carriages collide - as it happened. The Telegraph, June 2, 2015, accessed June 3, 2015 .
- ↑ Alton Towers Smiler crash: Four seriously hurt. BBC, June 2, 2015, accessed June 3, 2015 .
- ↑ https://www.change.org/p/sky-news-sack-kay-burley-after-awful-interviewing-of-alton-towers-ceo-nick-varney
- ↑ http://riderater.co.uk/2015/16000-sign-petition-after-nick-varney-interview/
- ↑ Smiler crash: Alton Towers operator Merlin fined £ 5m. BBC, September 27, 2018, accessed November 1, 2019 .
- ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207431/Two-workers-quizzed-human-error-Alton-Towers-horror-Engineer-turned-automatic-safety-lock-operator-let-truck -slam-stalled-carriage.html
- ↑ Alton Towers Smiler rollercoaster to reopen eight months after crash that left five seriously injured. Independent, March 1, 2016, accessed March 10, 2016 .
- ^ Alton Towers sentencing: 'Operator Merlin at fault'. Independent, September 26, 2016, accessed March 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences Definitive Guideline. Sentencing Council, February 1, 2016, accessed November 1, 2019 .
- ^ Alton Towers crash victims to sue. Safety & Health Practitioner, September 24, 2018, accessed November 1, 2019 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 59 ′ 14.2 " N , 1 ° 53 ′ 44.2" W.