ARLINGTON - Some roller coaster riders Sunday afternoon experienced more downs than ups when an operator shut down the Texas Giant after hearing an unusual sound coming from one of the trains.
The temporary shutdown, which park officials say was done as a safety precaution, occurred shortly after 3 p.m. and left some riders stuck for an estimated 20 minutes on the coaster's summit before being allowed to exit their cars and walk down."All of the passengers were safely unloaded," Sharon Parker, a Six Flags spokeswoman, said Monday.In all, Parker said the roller coaster was shut down for less than 30 minutes. She said the train in question was removed from operation and will undergo a full inspection. It was not known what kind of unusual sound the roller coaster made.This afternoon, Parker said the train in question was operating again today after maintenance engineers discovered that one of its wheels had become worn and replaced it. She said the train was then inspected, tested and cleared for service.The shutdown marked the second in recent days.On Friday, a computer error temporarily shut down the ride, causing passengers to be unloaded at the roller coaster's lift."It was a completely different scenario than what happened yesterday," Parker said.Parker called it a "coincidence that this happened within the time span that it did."She said the ride has a complex system of safety checks in place."If the system detects anything it perceives as being out of the ordinary, it's going to stop and send notification to the ride operator," she said.In addition, Parker said ride operators are trained to stop the ride themselves, like in Sunday's case, if they note any potential problems."At the end of the day, safety is our number one priority and we're not going to do anything to jeopardize the safety of our our guests or anyone," Parker said.The Texas Giant had reopened in April after being closed for about a year for renovations.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
