The PanneToday The Ride to Happiness in Plopsaland De Panne will open again. Last Saturday, one train got stuck there, leaving nine adults for hours at a height of more than 30 meters in the cold, wind and rain. “Today we are putting one train back on the tracks with the permission of the public prosecutor, the police, the attraction builder and the inspection company,” says Plopsa CEO Steve van den Kerkhof.
Last Saturday, just after 5 pm, things went wrong at The Ride to Happiness. That attraction opened last summer. At the highest point, one train suddenly stopped, there were 9 people on it. It took until a little before midnight before they were all safe but slightly hypothermic on the ground. The emergency services were busy for hours and had to have a special crane come over. The coaster reopens today. Although with one train on the tracks. The train that got stuck remains on the ground.
“We have been researching and testing all week,” says Steve van den Kerkhof. “On Friday evening we already received permission from the public prosecutor and the police to open The Ride on Saturday, but I still wanted more certainty. The attraction builder gives us written approval to open and the inspection company did the same. Now it is completely safe to reopen. I crawled into it myself during one of the test drives and it went smoothly.”
The only thing we did notice was a difference in performance between train 1, which is turning back today, and train 2. Train 2 would run a fraction of a second slower.
But what went wrong last week? “We fully examined the train that was stuck and found no mechanical fault. The only thing we did notice was a difference in performance between train 1, which is turning back today, and train 2. Train 2 would run a fraction of a second slower. The attraction builder now has to make identical twins of both trains. They have to perform perfectly the same. That will take a few weeks and maybe months.”
Sixteen people can fit on one train. Yet the Plopsa CEO does not fear too long queues. “We are not in the peak season yet, so that will not be too bad. We are open for the first time after the Christmas holidays but I would like to emphasize that our maintenance plan is rolling out like when we were closed. We’re just putting some extra troops on it. It can happen that an attraction is not open due to maintenance. Today Sunday, for example, The Balloon Race is under maintenance.”
Yesterday things threatened to go wrong again when ten people got stuck on the Night Watch flyer, but Steve van den Kerkhof nuances that. “In a few minutes they were back on the ground. We didn’t even need the emergency services. We were able to manually lower the seats.”
Also read:
RECONSTRUCTION. How an 80-ton crane was requisitioned to carry out an evacuation in Plopsaland: “Usually it doesn’t come in an hour, but that was different now”
This is how it was on Saturday at a great height in Plopsaland: super fan Tristan (17) made these images when the roller coaster got stuck
Cranes take down The Ride containers: “Hopefully we’ll find the cause soon”
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