Monorail runs again today

The Seattle monorail, a popular tourist attraction that's been closed since being damaged during a collision late last year, will reopen to the public this morning, city officials said.

The milelong line, which was built for the World's Fair in 1962 and carries thousands of riders between Seattle Center and Westlake Center Mall each year, has been closed to the public since November when the line's two trains sideswiped each other near Westlake Center.

The line is reopening earlier than expected. City officials had announced earlier that the monorail wouldn't begin running until Aug. 1.

The monorail repairs were finished early, according to Seattle Monorail Services Executive Director Tom Albro, because workers did a lot of overtime and Saturday shifts and the insurance company had an incentive to minimize losses and get the trains working in the peak tourist month of August.

The repairs, which cost an estimated $3 million to $4 million, include new doors that were made by the set creators of the Seattle Opera.

The opera was contacted after Seattle Monorail Services, which operates the trains, discovered that other suppliers couldn't fill the door order in time to get the monorail running before the Bumbershoot festival at Seattle Center begins Sept. 2.

Eight doors on the monorail's Red Train and one on the Blue Train were wrecked during the Nov. 26 accident, according to monorail officials. The last of the new doors were finished by the opera last Friday.

Improvements to the trains, which can carry up to 450 passengers per trip, include mechanical upgrades such as an automated stopping system and repainted columns, according to Seattle Monorail Services.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com

Information from Seattle Times reporter Mike Lindblom is included in this report.