@R◊₰ῌᾴῇ•₰**: Re# 215041-0
Disadvantages
Monorail vehicles are not compatible with any other type of rail infrastructure, which makes (for example) through services onto mainline tracks impossible.
Monorail tracks do not easily accommodate at-grade intersections.
In...
more... an emergency, passengers may not be able to immediately exit because an elevated monorail vehicle is high above ground and not all systems have emergency walkways. The passengers must sometimes wait until a rescue train, fire engine or a cherry picker comes to the rescue. Newer monorail systems resolve this by building emergency walkways alongside the entire track, at the expense of visual intrusion. Suspended railways resolve this by building aircraft-style evacuation slides into the vehicles. Japanese systems use the next train to tow broken down trains to the next station, but this has yet to occur.
Turnouts, especially at high speeds, may be marginally more difficult compared to conventional railway points, although certainly not impossible.
Monorail infrastructure and vehicles are often made by separate manufacturers, with different manufacturers using incompatible designs.