[PRCo] Re: Where are you?

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Greetings to Bob and all
Only Chicago is a skybus variation.  Its French called VAL.  Also used 
in Lille (2 lines) and
Toulouse, Orly VAL and in Taiwan.  Ohare cars are are larger than 
Lisle.  Each Lille line is a
line haul with 13 stations and each carry over 100,000 daily.  VAL uses 
an opposite rail system
than kybus.  Skybus has a center guide rail, VAL uses two outside.  VAL 
and Skybus
competed for the Ohare job and VAL wone.  VAL is now made by Siemens in 
France,

Tampa basic system is Sky bus but they also have a small Bombardier 
monorail.  DFW is
a different system by LTV and never been duplicated.  Small cars, low 
speed.  No guide rail
as such.  cars are steered again outside low wall.  Now being freplaced 
by a big skybus
system.  Morgantown was a Boeing project, now being upgraded.  Still running

Newark is a swiss monorail now marketed by Bombardier.  None of the 
others are
Monorail, only Newark.

Vancouver's first line were smalll cars in trains with LIN power.  Its a 
full rail system
Developed by UTCD in Ontario and also used in Detroit and with an 
operator in Toronto.
The second line in Vancouver uses a larger car as at JFK Airport.  These 
lines are all
conventional rail guidance but automated.

Many like people mover systems  systems in Japan.

Several systems in Singapore

There are now several full scale atomated systems iincluding line 14 in 
Paris and a line in Lyon. 
Also another system in Copenhagen.  The first 13 lines in Paris are now 
automated but with a motorman

Berlin had a trial AEG Maglev people mover but this rw was returned to 
the Ubahn when the wall
came down.

In short, the concept is alive and well in one form or another.  West 
Miflin is still the best.

Harold Geissenheimer

Skybus is the downtown loop in Miami.  Very nice.  Bombardier has a 
small monorail system
as part of Jacksonville.

Bob Rathke wrote:

>Variations of the Skybus concept work well - and have since as long ago as
>1974 - at Dallas-Ft. Worth and Tampa Airports, and later at airports in
>Newark and Chicago.  These applications are basically horizontal elevators,
>using 1960's technology to transport stand-up riders less than three miles,
>to a few stops, without an operator.  Unfortunately, in Pittsburgh from 1963
>to around 1975, the small Skybus vehicles were promoted as an alternative to
>higher capacity light rail over distances of 15 miles where trips of 45
>minutes required a higher degree of passenger comfort.
>
>By the 1990's in Vancouver, engineers had figured out how to combine a
>higher capacity, longer distance system with auomated operation.
>
>Bob 2/23/04
>
>-----------------------------
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Harold Geissenheimer" <transitmgr2 at earthlink.net>
>To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 1:10 PM
>Subject: [PRCo] Re: Where are you?
>
>
>  
>
>>Ed and others
>>Ed.  you are right.  Sky bus woirks well at many airports
>>
>>Tampa, Seattle, Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Pgh,San Francisco, Frankfurt,
>>Miami
>>
>>and the downtown people mover in Miami (expanded several times)
>>
>>Westinghouse wanted Sky bus to create manufacturing jobs in Pgh.
>>
>>In fact they did.  Plant is in West Miflin.  Ownership went from
>>WElectric to
>>AEG Westinghouse to Adtrans to now Bombardier
>>
>>They did bring jobs to Pgh
>>
>>Harold Geissenheimer
>>
>>Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>But it works thoroughly well at a variety of airports I've visited!
>>>      
>>>
>RR
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