Three years ago, Disney closed the Walt Disney World Railroad in advance of construction beginning on the highly anticipated Tron Lightcycle/Run attraction in Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

In addition to refurbishing the trains, extensive work was done on the track. In order to accommodate the footprint of the Tron attraction, sections of the railroad had to be moved. The track was moved “Here and there, it’s moved a few inches up and down, left and right,” said Greg Kelsaris, a project planner with the facility asset management department at WDW.

Other track work included replacing the wooden railroad ties with ones made from a composite material. “The wooden railroad ties had about a three- to five-year life span,” said Kelsaris. He added that for composites, the life span is about 25 years.

Another accommodation that was made was the addition of a tunnel for the train to pass under the Tron canopy.

Now, Disney has begun testing the train on the new track to see if any adjustments need to be made. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, “What we’re looking to test is basically the elevation of the track to make sure the grading is correct … and kind of do all the adjustments that we’ll need to do before we open to guests again,” Kelsaris said. The entire track is not ready for testing yet, he said.

Kelsaris said that in addition to evaluating the trackwork, it will also workers a chance to “… get run time on the locomotives and the train because we’ve only been able to use them in our roundhouse, back of house area.”

Currently, they will be using the Walter E. Disney locomotive during the testing. This was the second locomotive that went under extensive refurbishment in the last few years. The first one, the Lillie Belle, named after Walt’s wife, was refurbished in 2010. Next for refurbishment will be the Roy O. Disney and then the Roger E. Broggie. All four of the locomotives are more than 90 years old.

“That kind of rebuild process hasn’t really been done since park opening,” Kelsaris told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s really incredible to return them to their glory and, honestly, improve some things on them. “We really took the time to go through each part and say, ‘Hey, should we improve this? Is it good where it is? Should we replace it?”

“We’re doing a lot of things that either haven’t been done since Walt Disney World opened or just kind of really revolutionary things,” said Greg Kelsaris, a project planner with the facility asset management department at WDW.

“It was the first time that we actually took everything apart for the railroad. And we’re able to say, ‘OK, we have everything down to the bare bones. What can we do to either improve the guest experience with the ride or bring it back to where it was, kind of, in the ‘70s when it first started?’” Kelsaris said.

During the train’s testing phase, guests will not be able to ride. Nexstar reporter Scott Gustin tweeted, “This testing is just part of the overall refurbishment – the train will reopen to guests when TRON construction allows.”

When Disney announced the addition of the Tron coaster for Walt Disney World, it was scheduled to open in time for the park’s 50th Anniversary celebrations this past October. However, the coronavirus pandemic threw those plans – and many others – into disarray. As construction projects got pushed back or postponed, Disney announced the construction on the coaster would continue, however it would miss its original opening date.

Recently, Disney stated that Tron Lightcycle/Run would open to guests sometime next year. At this time, no additional timeframe was given.