SEATTLE (AP) -- ``An extraordinary set of events'' culminating in an electrical short-circuit caused a fire that has shut down the city's landmark monorail at the busiest time of year, officials say.
The first fire in the history of the one-mile line between the heart of the Seattle Center, near the Space Needle, and the downtown retail core resulted from a sudden series of mechanical breakdowns, center and Seattle Monorail Services officials said Monday.
``It all happened in about 60 seconds,'' monorail director Tom Albro said.
The smoky Memorial Day fire stranded about 100 people on the Blue Train, one of two that run on parallel tracks on the elevated line. Dozens of passengers were evacuated without serious injury.
A preliminary investigation revealed ``a mechanical failure that, through an extraordinary set of events, led to an electrical short,'' Albro said.
The trouble began when a low-speed drive shaft broke on the third car of the southbound train, he explained.
The loss of drag caused a high-speed shaft to spin faster until it also broke, sending a piece of metal into the housing around the collector shoe, a mechanism which draws positive electricity from the rail.
Sparks flew and ``it changed the air to an ionized air, just like happens in lightning,'' Seattle Center director Virginia Anderson said.
When the train stopped, the ionized air created a short circuit between positive and negative rails, and resulting in arcing that ignited the tires and other parts, officials said. The system's circuit breakers then tripped, cutting electricity to the line.
Cause of the drive shaft failures, especially in the high-speed shaft, remains under investigation.
``What has never happened is a high-speed shaft breaking,'' Albro said. ``What we need to understand better is what led to that.''
The monorail has been a leading tourist attraction as well as a year-round part of the city's transit system since it was built in 1962 for the world's fair.
Officials previously said the Red and Blue trains, which together carry about 400,000 passengers on a typical July and 2 million a year, would likely remain shut down for the summer.
A free replacement bus shuttle appears likely to attract fewer than 100,000 riders this month.
The falloff has cut business at the Seattle Center, though less than expected, and at Westlake Center by the downtown station, where merchants have reported declines of 25 percent or more.
``Our objective is to resume full service at the earliest possible date that we can do it safely,'' Albro said.
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