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107-402: PRT vehicles are sized for individual or small group travel, typically carrying no more than three to six passengers per vehicle . Guideways are arranged in a network topology, with all stations located on sidings , and with frequent merge/diverge points. This allows for nonstop, point-to-point travel, bypassing all intermediate stations. The point-to-point service has been compared to a taxi or

214-423: A railroad double-crossover . Vehicle specifications are generally not open to the public, as is standard for rolling stock built for public services. An alternative to using a wye or other form of switch, is to use a turntable , where a car sits upon a section of track that can be reoriented to several different tracks. For example, this can be used to switch a car from being in a storage location, to being on

321-435: A "virtual train", but control software issues caused cars to bump unacceptably. The project ultimately failed. Between 1970 and 1978, Japan operated a project called "Computer-controlled Vehicle System" (CVS). In a full-scale test facility, 84 vehicles operated at speeds up to 60 kilometres per hour (37.3 mph) on a 4.8 km (3.0 mi) guideway; one-second headways were achieved during tests. Another version of CVS

428-536: A 1/12 operational scale model. This was further developed and became the Modutram system and a full-scale test track was built in Guadalajara , which was operational by 2014. In 2018 it was announced that a PRT system would be installed at the new Chengdu Tianfu International Airport . The system will include 6 miles of guideway, 4 stations, 22 pods and will connect airport parking to two terminal buildings. It

535-554: A 21-vehicle Ultra PRT system has run at London Heathrow Airport . A 40-vehicle Vectus system with in-line stations officially opened in Suncheon , South Korea, in April 2014. A PRT system connecting the terminals and parking has been built at the new Chengdu Tianfu International Airport , which opened in 2021. Most mass transit systems move people in groups over scheduled routes. This has inherent inefficiencies. For passengers, time

642-627: A 400 m (1,312 ft) test track in Uppsala , Sweden. This test system was presented at the 2007 PodCar City conference in Uppsala. A 40-vehicle, 2-station, 4.46 km (2.8 mi) system called "SkyCube" was opened in Suncheon , South Korea, in April 2014. In the 2010s the Mexican Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education began research into project LINT ("Lean Intelligent Network Transportation") and built

749-575: A PRT system could provide. Several other urban and transit planners also wrote on the topic and some early experimentation followed, but PRT remained relatively unknown. Around the same time, Edward Haltom was studying monorail systems. Haltom noticed that the time to start and stop a conventional large monorail train, like those of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn , meant that a single line could only support between 20 and 40 vehicles an hour. In order to get reasonable passenger movements on such

856-509: A city transportation planner, began research on PRT and alternative transportation methods. In 1964, Fichter published a book which proposed an automated public transit system for areas of medium to low population density. One of the key points made in the book was Fichter's belief that people would not leave their cars in favor of public transit unless the system offered flexibility and end-to-end transit times that were much better than existing systems – flexibility and performance he felt only

963-541: A citywide deployment with many lines and closely spaced stations, as envisioned by proponents, has yet to be constructed. Past projects have failed because of financing, cost overruns, regulatory conflicts, political issues, misapplied technology, and flaws in design, engineering or review. However, the theory remains active. For example, from 2002 to 2005, the EDICT project, sponsored by the European Union , conducted

1070-562: A faulty monorail from a confidence trickster at a wildly inflated price. The Monorail Society, an organization with 14,000 members worldwide, has blamed the episode for sullying the reputation of monorails, to which Simpsons creator Matt Groening responded "That's a by-product of our viciousness...Monorails are great, so it makes me sad, but at the same time if something's going to happen in The Simpsons , it's going to go wrong, right?" The 2005 feature film Batman Begins features

1177-503: A group which advocates the use of technological solutions to transit problems, compiled a definition in 1988 that can be seen here. Currently, five advanced transit networks (ATN) systems are operational, and several more are in the planning stage. [REDACTED] Morgantown, West Virginia , US (1975) The following list summarizes several well-known automated transit networks (ATN) suppliers as of 2014, with subsequent amendments. Modern PRT concepts began around 1953 when Donn Fichter,

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1284-471: A horizontal lift (elevator). Numerous PRT systems have been proposed but most have not been implemented. As of November 2016, only a handful of PRT systems are operational: Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit (the oldest and most extensive), in Morgantown, West Virginia , has been in continuous operation since 1975. Since 2010 a 10-vehicle 2getthere system has operated at Masdar City , UAE, and since 2011

1391-431: A junction, for example. Several types of guideways have been proposed or implemented, including beams similar to monorails, bridge-like trusses supporting internal tracks, and cables embedded in a roadway. Most designs put the vehicle on top of the track, which reduces visual intrusion and cost, as well as easing ground-level installation. An overhead track is necessarily higher, but may also be narrower. Most designs use

1498-653: A load-bearing single rail and an external wheel for balance. A highspeed monorail using the Lartigue system was proposed in 1901 between Liverpool and Manchester. In 1910, the Brennan gyroscopic monorail was considered for use to a coal mine in Alaska. In June 1920, the French Patent Office published FR 503782, by Henri Coanda, on a 'Transporteur Aérien' -Air Carrier. One of the first monorails planned in

1605-557: A manually operated monorail of limited but sufficient capacity for the transport of small timber and firewood in the Northern Surabaya forest district. In later years, this idea was further developed by L. A. van de Ven, who was a forester in the Grobogan forest district around 1908–1910. Monorails were built by plantation operators and wood processing companies throughout the mountains of Central Java. In 1919/1920, however,

1712-829: A monorail, constructed by Bruce Wayne's father through Gotham City, that is part of the climax of the film. The monorail is also included in the spin-off video game . Blaine the Mono is a train featured in Stephen King 's The Dark Tower series of books and first appears in The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands . Monorails have also appeared in a number of other video games including Transport Tycoon (since 1999), Japanese Rail Sim 3D: Monorail Trip to Okinawa by Sonic Powered , SimCity 4: Rush Hour , Cities in Motion 2 , Cities: Skylines in

1819-907: A narrow guide way. Monorail vehicles are wider than the guideway that supports them." Monorails are often elevated, sometimes leading to confusion with other elevated systems such as the Docklands Light Railway , Vancouver SkyTrain , the AirTrain JFK and cable propelled systems like the Cable Liner people mover which run on two rails. Monorail vehicles often appear similar to light rail vehicles, and can be staffed or unstaffed. They can be individual rigid vehicles, articulated single units, or multiple units coupled into trains. Like other advanced rapid transit systems, monorails can be driven by linear induction motors ; like conventional railways, vehicle bodies can be connected to

1926-448: A pod immediately upon arriving at a station, and can – with a sufficiently extensive network of tracks – take relatively direct routes to their destination without stops. The low weight of PRT's small vehicles allows smaller guideways and support structures than mass transit systems like light rail. The smaller structures translate into lower construction costs, smaller easements , and less visually obtrusive infrastructure. As it stands,

2033-423: A point-to-point fashion, instead of running like an automated people mover from one end of the line to the other. During periods of low usage all cars make a full circuit stopping at every station in both directions. Morgantown PRT is still in continuous operation at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia , with about 15,000 riders per day (as of 2003). The steam-heated track has proven expensive and

2140-467: A profit. The environmental performance of any transport mode improves as the load factor increases. The weight of passengers is normally a small part of the total weight of any transport vehicle, so increasing the number of passengers changes the emissions and fuel consumption to only a small degree. As a vehicle is more highly loaded, the fuel consumed per passenger drops, and fully loaded transport vehicles can be very fuel efficient. Very heavy loading of

2247-500: A scheme to use the PRT system to connect terminal 2 and terminal 3 to their respective business car parks. The proposal was not included in the final plan due to spending priority given to other capital projects and has been deferred. If a third runway is constructed at Heathrow will destroy the existing system, which will be built over, will be replaced by another PRT. In June 2006, a Korean/Swedish consortium, Vectus Ltd, started constructing

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2354-462: A single passenger per vehicle is optimum. Other designs use a car for a model, and choose larger vehicles, making it possible to accommodate families with small children, riders with bicycles, disabled passengers with wheelchairs, or a pallet or two of freight. All current designs (except for the human-powered Shweeb ) are powered by electricity . In order to reduce vehicle weight, power is generally transmitted via lineside conductors although two of

2461-427: A small on-board battery to reach the next stop after a power failure. CabinTaxi uses a LIM and was able to demonstrate 0.5 second headways on its test track. The Vectus prototype system used continuous track mounted LIMs with the reaction plate on the vehicle, eliminating the active propulsion system (and power required) on the vehicle. ULTra and 2getthere use on-board batteries, recharged at stations. This increases

2568-531: A special de-icing vehicle. Masdar's system has been limited because the exclusive right-of-way for the PRT was gained by running the vehicles in an undercroft at ground-level while building an elevated "street level" between all the buildings. This led to unrealistically expensive buildings and roads. Proposals usually have stations close together, and located on side tracks so that through traffic can bypass vehicles picking up or dropping off passengers. Each station might have multiple berths, with perhaps one-third of

2675-433: A study on the feasibility of PRT in four European cities. The study involved 12 research organizations, and concluded that PRT: The report also concluded that, despite these advantages, public authorities will not commit to building PRT because of the risks associated with being the first public implementation. The PRT acronym was introduced formally in 1978 by J. Edward Anderson . The Advanced Transit Association (ATRA),

2782-400: A system, the trains had to be large enough to carry hundreds of passengers (see headway for a general discussion). This, in turn, demanded large guideways that could support the weight of these large vehicles, driving up capital costs to the point where he considered them unattractive. Haltom turned his attention to developing a system that could operate with shorter timings, thereby allowing

2889-439: A track spiraling up to the summit of Big Spotters Hill. The track was approximately 600-metre (1,969 ft) long (one-way) and featured only two stations. The six-month operation was intended to research the public acceptance of PRT-like systems. In 2010 a 10-vehicle (four seats each), two station 2getthere system was opened to connect a parking lot to the main area at Masdar City , UAE. The systems runs in an undercroft beneath

2996-548: A transport vehicle is described as a crush load . Crush loading is a very high level of loading where passengers are crushed against one another. Commenting in May 2017 on the United Express Flight 3411 incident , in which a passenger was forcibly removed, investor Warren Buffett said that passenger demand for cheap flights was resulting in high load factors, resulting in "a fair amount of discomfort." Specifically,

3103-457: A wooden platform (in the full-scale project the trestle would have been concrete). A model train, built to 1/5 scale to test the vehicle concept, was capable of reaching speeds of up to 70 km/h. The full-scale project was expected to reach speeds of up to 300 km/h. In the latter half of the 20th century, monorails had settled on using larger beam- or girder-based track, with vehicles supported by one set of wheels and guided by another. In

3210-426: Is an important parameter for the assessment of the performance of any transport system. Almost all transport systems have high fixed costs, and these costs can only be recovered through selling tickets. Airlines often calculate a load factor at which the airline will break even; this is called the break-even load factor. At a load factor lower than the break even level, the airline will lose money, and above will record

3317-438: Is because Chongqing is criss-crossed by numerous hills, mountains and rivers, therefore tunneling is not feasible except in some cases (for example, lines 1 and 6 ) due to the extreme depth involved. Today it is the largest and busiest monorail system in the world. In July 2009, two Walt Disney World monorails collided , killing one of the drivers and injuring seven passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board found

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3424-462: Is lucky enough to find a seat. The bus will be caught up in street congestion and move slowly, and it will make many stops completely unrelated to his trip objective. The bus may then let him off at a terminal to a suburban train. Again he must wait, and, after boarding the train, again experience a number of stops on the way to the CBD, and possibly again he may have to stand in the aisle. He will get off at

3531-477: Is speeding towards a stricken bridge. The James Bond film franchise features monorails in three movies, all belonging to the villain. In You Only Live Twice (1967) there is a working ground level monorail inside the SPECTRE volcano base. During Live and Let Die (1973), a prop monorail is shown in the villain's lair on the fictional Caribbean island of San Monique. In the 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me there

3638-706: Is supplied by Ultra MTS. The airport is due to open in 2021. Among the handful of prototype systems (and the larger number that exist on paper) there is a substantial diversity of design approaches, some of which are controversial. Vehicle weight influences the size and cost of a system's guideways, which are in turn a major part of the capital cost of the system. Larger vehicles are more expensive to produce, require larger and more expensive guideways, and use more energy to start and stop. If vehicles are too large, point-to-point routing also becomes more expensive. Against this, smaller vehicles have more surface area per passenger (thus have higher total air resistance which dominates

3745-481: Is the straddle-beam, in which the train straddles a steel or reinforced concrete beam 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 m) wide. A rubber - tired carriage contacts the beam on the top and both sides for traction and to stabilize the vehicle. The style was popularized by the German company ALWEG . There is also a historical type of suspension monorail developed by German inventors Nicolaus Otto and Eugen Langen in

3852-465: Is to place a moving apparatus on top of a sturdy platform capable of bearing the weight of vehicles, beams and its own mechanism. Multiple-segmented beams move into place on rollers to smoothly align one beam with another to send the train in its desired direction, with the design originally developed by ALWEG capable of completing a switch in 12 seconds. Some of these beam turnouts are quite elaborate, capable of switching between several beams or simulating

3959-567: Is under construction in Wuhu and several "Cloudrail" systems developed by BYD under construction a number of cities such as Guang'an , Liuzhou , Bengbu and Guilin . Monorails have seen continuing use in niche shuttle markets and amusement parks. Modern mass transit monorail systems use developments of the ALWEG beam and tyre approach, with only two suspended types in large use. Monorail configurations have also been adopted by maglev trains . Since

4066-709: Is using the BYD SkyRail design. Other significant monorail systems are under construction such as two lines for the Cairo Monorail , two lines for the MRT (Bangkok) and the SkyRail Bahia in Brazil . Modern monorails depend on a large solid beam as the vehicles' running surface. There are a number of competing designs divided into two broad classes, straddle-beam and suspended monorails. The most common type

4173-480: Is wasted by waiting for the next vehicle to arrive, indirect routes to their destination, stopping for passengers with other destinations, and often confusing or inconsistent schedules. Slowing and accelerating large weights can undermine public transport's benefit to the environment while slowing other traffic. Personal rapid transit systems attempt to eliminate these wastes by moving small groups nonstop in automated vehicles on fixed tracks. Passengers can ideally board

4280-555: Is working monorail on the villain's supertanker (submarine dock). In 1987, Lego released a monorail among the Futuron Space line. Despite being the most expensive Lego set of its time (due to being massive and including electrical elements), it was very popular, with Lego releasing a Town themed monorail in 1990 and another Space monorail in 1994 among the Unitron line, as well as additional track. The monorail system

4387-671: The Eugen Langen One-railed Suspension Tramway (Einschieniges Hängebahnsystem Eugen Langen). Monorails have found applications in airport transfers and medium capacity metros. To differentiate monorails from other transport modes, the Monorail Society defines a monorail as a "single rail serving as a track for passenger or freight vehicles. In most cases, rail is elevated, but monorails can also run at grade , below grade, or in subway tunnels. Vehicles either are suspended from or straddle

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4494-597: The 1964–1965 World's Fair . This high-cost perception was challenged most notably in 1963 when the ALWEG consortium proposed to finance the construction of a major system in Los Angeles County, California , in return for the right of operation. This was turned down by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors under pressure from Standard Oil of California and General Motors (which were strong advocates for automobile dependency ), and

4601-454: The Bradford and Foster Brook Railway was built in 1877 and ran for one year from January 1878 until January 1879. Around 1879 a "one-rail" system was proposed independently by Haddon and by Stringfellow, which used an inverted "V" rail (and thus shaped like "Λ" in cross-section). It was intended for military use, but was also seen to have civilian use as a "cheap railway." Similarly, one of

4708-537: The Centennial Monorail demonstrated in 1876, in 1877 the Bradford and Foster Brook Railway began construction of a 5 mi (8.0 km) line connecting Bradford and Foster Township, McKean County in Pennsylvania . The line operated from 1878 until 1879 delivering machinery and oil supplies. The first twin-boiler locomotive wore out quickly. It was replaced by a single boiler locomotive which

4815-518: The Changsha Maglev Express ). However, it is argued that the larger width of the guideway for the maglevs makes it not legitimate to be called monorails. Some early monorails (notably the suspended monorail at Wuppertal , Germany) have a design that makes it difficult to switch from one line to another. Some other monorails avoid switching as much as possible by operating in a continuous loop or between two fixed stations, as in

4922-553: The Interstate Highway System . Monorails in particular may have suffered from the reluctance of public transit authorities to invest in the perceived high cost of un-proven technology when faced with cheaper mature alternatives. There were also many competing monorail technologies, splitting their case further. One notable example of a public monorail is the AMF Monorail that was used as transportation around

5029-609: The Lartigue Monorail , used steam locomotives. Magnetic levitation train (maglev) systems such as the German Transrapid were built as straddle-type monorails. The Shanghai Maglev Train runs in commercial operation at 430 km/h (270 mph), and there are also slower maglev monorails intended for urban transport in Japan ( Linimo ), Korea ( Incheon Airport Maglev ) and China ( Beijing Subway Line S1 and

5136-802: The Lausanne Metro has grades of up to 12% and the Montreal Metro up to 6.5%, while VAL systems can handle 7% grades. Manufacturers of monorail rolling stock with operating systems include Hitachi Monorail , BYD , Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom ), Scomi , PBTS (a joint venture of CRRC Nanjing Puzhen & Bombardier), Intamin and EMTC. Other developers include CRRC Qingdao Sifang , China Railway Science and Industry Group , Zhongtang Air Rail Technology, Woojin and SkyWay Group . François Truffaut 's 1966 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury 's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 contains suspended monorail exterior scenes filmed at

5243-541: The Mass transit expansion pack of 2017, Planet Zoo and a rideable elevated monorail system in the 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077 . From 1950 to 1980, the monorail concept may have suffered, as with all public transport systems, from competition with the automobile . At the time, the post–World War II optimism in America was riding high and people were buying automobiles in large numbers due to suburbanization and

5350-493: The Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit project was completed. It has five off-line stations that enable non-stop, individually programmed trips along an 8.7-mile (14.0 km) track serviced by a fleet of 71 cars. This is a crucial characteristic of PRT. However, it is not considered a PRT system because its vehicles are too heavy and carry too many people. When it carries many people, it operates in

5457-484: The Seattle Center Monorail . Current monorails are capable of more efficient switching than in the past. With suspended monorails, switching may be accomplished by moving flanges inside the beamway to shift trains to one line or another. Straddle-beam monorails require that the beam moves for switching, which was an almost prohibitively ponderous procedure. Now the most common way of achieving this

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5564-695: The Transrapid and Linimo . Maglevs differ from other monorails in that they do not physically contact the beam while moving. The first monorail prototype was made in Russia in 1820 by Ivan Elmanov . Attempts at creating monorail alternatives to conventional railways have been made since the early part of the 19th century. The Centennial Monorail was featured at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Based on its design

5671-603: The University of Minnesota . Raytheon failed to install a contracted system in Rosemont, Illinois , near Chicago , when estimated costs escalated to US$ 50 million per mile, allegedly due to design changes that increased the weight and cost of the system relative to Anderson's original design. In 2000, rights to the technology reverted to the University of Minnesota, and were subsequently purchased by Taxi2000. In 1999

5778-656: The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 into law, thereby forming the Urban Mass Transportation Administration . UMTA was set up to fund mass transit developments in the same fashion that the earlier Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 had helped create the Interstate Highways. That is, UMTA would help cover the capital costs of building out new infrastructure. However, planners who were aware of

5885-505: The capacity utilization of public transport services like airlines , passenger railways , and intercity bus services . It is generally used to assess how efficiently a transport provider fills seats and generates fare revenue . According to the International Air Transport Association , the worldwide load factor for the passenger airline industry during 2015 was 79.7%. Passenger load factor

5992-494: The elevated train systems of New York, Chicago, and elsewhere, a monorail beamway casts a narrow shadow. Conversely, monorails can be more expensive than light-rail systems that do not include tunnels. In addition, monorails must either remain above ground or use larger tunnels than conventional rail systems, and they require complex track-switching equipment. Under the Monorail Society's beam-width criterion, some, but not all, maglev systems are considered monorails, such as

6099-519: The 1880s. It was built in the twin cities of Barmen and Elberfeld in Wuppertal, Germany, opened in 1901, and is still in operation. The Chiba Urban Monorail is the world's largest suspended network. Almost all modern monorails are powered by electric motors fed by dual third rails , contact wires or electrified channels attached to or enclosed in their guidance beams, but diesel-powered monorail systems also exist. Historically some systems, such as

6206-579: The 1950s, a 40% scale prototype of a system designed for speed of 200 mph (320 km/h) on straight stretches and 90 mph (140 km/h) on curves was built in Germany. There were designs with vehicles supported, suspended or cantilevered from the beams. In the 1950s the ALWEG straddle design emerged, followed by an updated suspended type, the SAFEGE system. Versions of ALWEG's technology are used by

6313-536: The 1980s, most monorail mass transit systems are in Japan , with a few exceptions. Tokyo Monorail , is one of the world's busiest, averages 127,000 passengers per day and has served over 1.5 billion passengers since 1964. China recently started development of monorails in the late 2000s, already home to the world's largest and busiest monorail system and has a number of mass transit monorails under construction in several of cities. A Bombardier Innovia Monorail -based system

6420-515: The 2000s, with the rise of traffic congestion and urbanization, there has been a resurgence of interest in the technology for public transport with a number of cities, such as Malta and Istanbul , today investigating monorails as a possible mass transit solution. In 2004, Chongqing Rail Transit in China adopted a unique ALWEG-based design with rolling stock that is much wider than most monorails, with capacity comparable to heavy rail . This

6527-646: The 2010s and there are plans to replace the vehicles. From 1969 to 1980, Mannesmann Demag and MBB cooperated to build the Cabinentaxi urban transportation system in Germany . Together the firms formed the Cabintaxi Joint Venture. They created an extensive PRT technology, including a test track, that was considered fully developed by the German government and its safety authorities. The system

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6634-603: The 2getthere designed ParkShuttle system was opened in the Kralingen neighbourhood of eastern Rotterdam using 12-seater driverless buses. The system was extended in 2005 and new second-generation vehicles introduced to serve five stations over 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) with five grade crossings over ordinary roads. Operation is scheduled in peak periods and on demand at other times. In 2002, 2getthere operated twenty five 4-passenger "CyberCabs" at Holland's 2002 Floriade horticultural exhibition. These transported passengers along

6741-609: The French SAFEGE test track in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire near Orléans , France (since dismantled). The Thunderbirds February 1966 episode " Brink of Disaster " is about the financing and building of a high speed driverless cross-country monorail project. Two of the Thunderbirds-crew find themselves trapped on board the a monorail train, and with no possibility of escape, when it is discovered it

6848-601: The PRT concept were worried that building more systems based on existing technologies would not help the problem, as Fitcher had earlier noted. Proponents suggested that systems would have to offer the flexibility of a car: The reason for the sad state of public transit is a very basic one – the transit systems just do not offer a service which will attract people away from their automobiles . Consequently, their patronage comes very largely from those who cannot drive, either because they are too young, too old, or because they are too poor to own and operate an automobile. Look at it from

6955-619: The United States was in New York City in the early 1930s, scrubbed for an elevated train system. The first half of the 20th century saw many further proposed designs that either never left the drawing board or remained short-lived prototypes. One of the most interesting projects created on the layout was the ball-bearing train by Nikolai Grigorievich Yarmolchuk. This train moved on spherical wheels with electric motors embedded in them, which were located in semi-circular chutes under

7062-537: The air, and in a manner that will contribute to sound city planning." The resulting report was published in 1968 and proposed the development of PRT, as well as other systems such as dial-a-bus and high-speed interurban links. In the late 1960s, the Aerospace Corporation , an independent non-profit corporation set up by the US Congress, spent substantial time and money on PRT, and performed much of

7169-613: The airline flew 60,000 passenger-kilometres and 100,000 seat-kilometres, for an overall load factor of 60% (0.6). Monorail A monorail is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover . More accurately, the term refers to the style of track . Monorail systems are most frequently implemented in large cities, airports, and theme parks. The term possibly originated in 1897 from German engineer Eugen Langen , who called an elevated railway system with wagons suspended

7276-500: The beam via bogies , allowing curves to be negotiated. Monorails are sometimes used in urban areas alongside conventional parallel railed metro systems. Mumbai Monorail serves alongside Mumbai Metro , while monorail lines are integrated with conventional rail rapid transit lines in Bangkok's MRT network. Unlike some trams and light rail systems, modern monorails are always separated from other traffic and pedestrians due to

7383-489: The cause of the accident to be human error by both the driver and controller, contributed to by a lack of standard operating procedures. São Paulo , Brazil, is building two high-capacity monorail lines as part of its public transportation network. Line 15 was partially opened in 2014, will be 27 km (17 mi) long when completed in 2022 and has a capacity of 40,000 pphpd using Bombardier Innovia Monorail trains. Line 17 will be 17.7 km (11.0 mi) long and

7490-455: The city and was supposed to be a pilot project for a much larger network, which would also have included transport of freight. Expansion of the system was cancelled just after the pilot scheme opened due to the cost of constructing the undercroft and since then other electric vehicles have been proposed. In January 2003, the prototype ULTra ("Urban Light Transport") system in Cardiff , Wales,

7597-492: The city cores, and people moved out of the downtown areas. Lacking pollution control systems, the rapid rise in car ownership and the longer trips to and from work were causing significant air quality problems. Additionally, movement to the suburbs led to a flight of capital from the downtown areas, one cause of the rapid urban decay seen in the US. Mass transit systems were one way to combat these problems. Yet during this period,

7704-515: The development of a short, one-half to one-second headway, high-capacity PRT (HCPRT) system will be initiated in fiscal year 1974." According to PRT supporter J. Edward Anderson , this was "because of heavy lobbying from interests fearful of becoming irrelevant if a genuine PRT program became visible." From that time forward people interested in HCPRT were unable to obtain UMTA research funding. In 1975,

7811-485: The early theoretical and systems analysis. However, this corporation is not allowed to sell to non-federal government customers. In 1969, members of the study team published the first widely publicized description of PRT in Scientific American . In 1978 the team also published a book. These publications sparked off a sort of "transit race" in the same sort of fashion as the space race , with countries around

7918-524: The energy cost of keeping vehicles moving at speed), and larger motors are generally more efficient than smaller ones. The number of riders who will share a vehicle is a key unknown. In the U.S., the average car carries 1.16 persons, and most industrialized countries commonly average below two people; not having to share a vehicle with strangers is a key advantage of private transport . Based on these figures, some have suggested that two passengers per vehicle (such as with skyTran , EcoPRT and Glydways), or even

8025-422: The federal government was feeding the problems by funding the development of the Interstate Highway System , while at the same time funding for mass transit was being rapidly scaled back. Public transit ridership in most cities plummeted. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy charged Congress with the task of addressing these problems. These plans came to fruition in 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed

8132-584: The first monorail locomotive was a 0-3-0 steam locomotive on this line. A high-speed monorail using the Lartigue system was proposed in 1901 between Liverpool and Manchester. The Boynton Bicycle Railroad was a steam-powered monorail in Brooklyn on Long Island , New York . It ran on a single load-bearing rail at ground level, but with a wooden overhead stabilising rail engaged by a pair of horizontally opposed wheels. The railway operated for only two years beginning in 1890. The Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad

8239-483: The first systems put into practical use was that of French engineer Charles Lartigue, who built a line between Ballybunion and Listowel in Ireland, opened in 1888 and lasting 36 years, being closed in 1924 (due to damage from Ireland's Civil War). It used a load-bearing single rail and two lower, external rails for balance, the three carried on triangular supports. It was cheap to construct but tricky to operate. Possibly

8346-574: The geometry of the rail. They are both guided and supported via interaction with the same single beam, in contrast to other guided systems like rubber-tyred metros , such as the Sapporo Municipal Subway ; or guided buses or trams, such as Translohr . Monorails can also use pantographs . As with other grade-separated transit systems, monorails avoid red lights, intersection turns, and traffic jams. Surface-level trains, buses, automobiles, and pedestrians can collide each one with

8453-430: The guideway to distribute power and data communications, including to the vehicles. The Morgantown PRT failed its cost targets because of the steam-heated track required to keep the large channel guideway free of frequent snow and ice. Heating uses up to four times as much as energy as that used to propel the vehicles. Most proposals plan to resist snow and ice in ways that should be less expensive. The Heathrow system has

8560-532: The individual cars to be smaller while preserving the same overall route capacity. Smaller cars would mean less weight at any given point, which meant smaller and less expensive guideways. To eliminate the backup at stations, the system used "offline" stations that allowed the mainline traffic to bypass the stopped vehicles. He designed the Monocab system using six-passenger cars suspended on wheels from an overhead guideway. Like most suspended systems, it suffered from

8667-434: The junctions) or conventional steering. Advocates say that vehicle-switching permits faster routing so vehicles can run closer together which increases capacity. It also simplifies the guideway, makes junctions less visually obtrusive and reduces the impact of malfunctions, because a failed switch on one vehicle is less likely to affect other vehicles. Track switching greatly increases headway distance. A vehicle must wait for

8774-534: The later proposed subway system faced criticism by famed author Ray Bradbury as it had yet to reach the scale of the proposed monorail. Several monorails initially conceived as transport systems survive on revenues generated from tourism , benefiting from the unique views offered from the largely elevated installations. Monorails have been used for number of applications other than passenger transportation. Small suspended monorail are also widely used in factories either as part of moveable assembly lines. Inspired by

8881-497: The legacy systems in use today. However, monorails gained little foothold compared to conventional transport systems. In March 1972, Alejandro Goicoechea-Omar had patent DE1755198 published, on a 'Vertebrate Train', build as experimental track in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Niche private enterprise uses for monorails emerged, with the emergence of air travel and shopping malls , with shuttle-type systems being built. From

8988-1119: The load factor is the dimensionless ratio of passenger-kilometres travelled to seat-kilometres available. For example, say that on a particular day an airline makes 5 scheduled flights, each of which travels 200 kilometers and has 100 seats, and sells 60 tickets for each flight. To calculate its load factor: ( 5   flights ) ( 200   km/flight ) ( 60   passengers ) ( 5   flights ) ( 200   km/flight ) ( 100   seats ) = 60 , 000   passenger  ⋅  km 100 , 000   seat  ⋅  km = 0.6 = 60 % {\displaystyle {\frac {(5\ {\text{flights}})(200\ {\text{km/flight}})(60\ {\text{passengers}})}{(5\ {\text{flights}})(200\ {\text{km/flight}})(100\ {\text{seats}})}}={\frac {60,000\ {\text{passenger }}\cdot {\text{ km}}}{100,000\ {\text{seat }}\cdot {\text{ km}}}}=0.6=60\%} Thus, during that day

9095-409: The main line. The now-closed Sydney Monorail had a traverser at the depot, which allowed a train on the main line to be exchanged with another from the depot. There were about six lines in the depot, including one for maintenance. Rubber-tired monorails are typically designed to cope with a 6% grade . Rubber-tired light rail or metro lines can cope with similar or greater grades – for example,

9202-415: The minimum distances between consecutive junctions. A mechanically switching vehicle, maneuvering between two adjacent junctions with different switch settings, cannot proceed from one junction to the next. The vehicle must adopt a new switch position, and then wait for the in-vehicle switch's locking mechanism to be verified. If the vehicle switching is faulty, that vehicle must be able to stop before reaching

9309-596: The monorail car. A surviving suspended version is the oldest still in service system: the Wuppertal monorail in Germany. Also in the early 1900s, Gyro monorails with cars gyroscopically balanced on top of a single rail were tested, but never developed beyond the prototype stage. The Ewing System , used in the Patiala State Monorail Trainways in Punjab, India , relies on a hybrid model with

9416-417: The next switch, and all vehicles approaching the failed vehicle would be affected. Conventional steering allows a simpler 'track' consisting only of a road surface with some form of reference for the vehicle's steering sensors. Switching would be accomplished by the vehicle following the appropriate reference line – maintaining a set distance from the left roadway edge would cause the vehicle to diverge left at

9523-434: The operating systems use on-board batteries. According to the designer of Skyweb/Taxi2000, J. Edward Anderson , the lightest system uses linear induction motor (LIM) on the vehicle for both propulsion and braking, which also makes manoeuvres consistent regardless of the weather, especially rain or snow. LIMs are used in a small number of rapid transit applications, but most designs use rotary motors . Most such systems retain

9630-488: The other, while vehicles on dedicated, grade-separated rights-of-way such as monorails can collide only with other vehicles on the same system, with much fewer opportunities for collision. As with other elevated transit systems, monorail passengers receive sunlight and views. Monorails can be quieter than diesel buses and trains. They obtain electricity from the track structure, whereas other modes of transit may use either third rail or overhead power lines and poles. Compared to

9737-473: The previous vehicle to clear the junction, for the track to switch and for the switch to be verified. Communication between the vehicle and wayside controllers adds both delays and more points of failure. If the track switching is faulty, vehicles must be able to stop before reaching the switch, and all vehicles approaching the failed junction would be affected. Mechanical vehicle switching minimizes inter-vehicle spacing or headway distance, but it also increases

9844-407: The problem of difficult switching arrangements. Since the car rode on a rail, switching from one path to another required the rail to be moved, a slow process that limited the possible headways. By the late 1950s the problems with urban sprawl were becoming evident in the United States. When cities improved roads and the transit times were lowered, suburbs developed at ever increasing distances from

9951-581: The safety, and reduces the complexity, cost and maintenance of the guideway. As a result, the ULTRa guideway resembles a sidewalk with curbs and is inexpensive to construct. ULTRa and 2getthere vehicles resembles small automated electric cars, and use similar components. (The ULTRa POD chassis and cabin have been used as the basis of a shared autonomous vehicle for running in mixed traffic.) Almost all designs avoid track switching , instead advocating vehicle-mounted switches (which engage with special guiderails at

10058-437: The standpoint of a commuter who lives in a suburb and is trying to get to work in the central business district (CBD). If he is going to go by transit, a typical scenario might be the following: he must first walk to the closest bus stop, let us say a five or ten minute walk, and then he may have to wait up to another ten minutes, possibly in inclement weather, for the bus to arrive. When it arrives, he may have to stand unless he

10165-538: The station most convenient to his destination and possibly have to transfer again onto a distribution system. It is no wonder that in those cities where ample inexpensive parking is available, most of those who can drive do drive. In 1966, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development was asked to "undertake a project to study ... new systems of urban transportation that will carry people and goods ... speedily, safely, without polluting

10272-405: The system requires an operation and maintenance budget of $ 5 million annually. Although it successfully demonstrated automated control and it is still operating it was not sold to other sites. A 2010 report concluded replacing the system with buses on roads would provide unsatisfactory service and create congestion. Subsequently, the forty year old computer and vehicle control systems were replaced in

10379-422: The three station Duke University Medical Center Patient Rapid Transit system was commissioned. Uniquely, the cars could move sideways, as well as backwards and forwards and it was described as a "horizontal elevator". The system was closed in 2009 to allow for expansion of the hospital. In the 1990s, Raytheon invested heavily in a system called PRT 2000, based on technology developed by J. Edward Anderson at

10486-420: The track needed to decelerate to and accelerate from stations. In at least one system, Aramis, this nearly doubled the width and cost of the required right-of-way and caused the nonstop passenger delivery concept to be abandoned. Other designs have schemes to reduce this cost, for example merging vertically to reduce the footprint. Passenger load factor Passenger load factor , or load factor , measures

10593-695: The two largest monorail manufacturers, Hitachi Monorail and Bombardier . In 1956, the first monorail to operate in the US began test operations in Houston, Texas. Disneyland in Anaheim, California , opened the United States' first daily operating monorail system in 1959. Later during this period, additional monorails were installed at Walt Disney World in Florida , Seattle , and in Japan . Monorails were promoted as futuristic technology with exhibition installations and amusement park purchases, as seen by

10700-469: The vehicles in a system being stored at stations waiting for passengers. Stations are envisioned to be minimalistic, without facilities such as rest rooms. For elevated stations, an elevator may be required for accessibility. At least one system, Metrino, provides wheelchair and freight access by using a cogway in the track, so that the vehicle itself can go from a street-level stop to an overhead track. Some designs have included substantial extra expense for

10807-611: The world rushing to join what appeared to be a future market of immense size. The oil crisis of 1973 made vehicle fuels more expensive, which naturally interested people in alternative transportation. In 1967, aerospace giant Matra started the Aramis project in Paris . After spending about 500 million francs , the project was canceled when it failed its qualification trials in November 1987. The designers tried to make Aramis work like

10914-482: Was a monorail on which a matching pedal bicycle could be ridden. The first example was built between Smithville and Mount Holly , New Jersey, in 1892. It closed in 1897. Other examples were built in Norfolk from 1895 to 1909, Great Yarmouth , and Blackpool , UK from 1896. Early designs used a double- flanged single metal rail alternative to the double rail of conventional railways, both guiding and supporting

11021-544: Was also prominent in the unreleased Seatron Space line and prototype Wild West sets. Its popularity has still endured over thirty years later, where Lego has paid homage in promotional sets and fans have manufactured compatible components. The fourth season of the American animated television show The Simpsons features the episode " Marge vs. the Monorail ", in which the town of Springfield impulsively purchases

11128-694: Was certified to carry passengers by the UK Railway Inspectorate on a 1 km (0.6 mi) test track. ULTra was selected in October 2005 by BAA plc for London's Heathrow Airport . Since May 2011 a three-station system has been open to the public, transporting passengers from a remote parking lot to terminal 5. During the deployment of the system the owners of Heathrow became owners of the UltrPRT design. In May 2013 Heathrow Airport Limited included in its draft five-year (2014–2019) master plan

11235-582: Was in public operation for six months from 1975 to 1976. This system had 12 single-mode vehicles and four dual-mode vehicles on a 1.6 km (1.0 mi) track with five stations. This version carried over 800,000 passengers. CVS was cancelled when Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport declared it unsafe under existing rail safety regulations, specifically in respect of braking and headway distances. On March 23, 1973, U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) administrator Frank Herringer testified before Congress: "A DOT program leading to

11342-516: Was to have been installed in Hamburg , but budget cuts stopped the proposed project before the start of construction. With no other potential projects on the horizon, the joint venture disbanded, and the fully developed PRT technology was never installed. Cabintaxi Corporation, a US-based company, obtained the technology in 1985, and remains active in the private-sector market trying to sell the system but so far there have been no installations. In 1979

11449-463: Was too heavy and crashed through the track on its third trip. The third locomotive again had twin boilers. On a trial run one of the boilers ran dry and exploded, killing six people. The railway was closed soon after. Monorails in Central Java were used to transport timber from the forests of Central Java located in the mountains to the rivers. In 1908 and 1909, the forester H. J. L. Beck built

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