A transport internet system for the mid 21^st century

This long term transport proposal will be split into two parts; addressing the needs of mid century motorists, them suggesting an improved rail transport system for foot passengers.
We will refer to our home continent of Europe, but the principles are applicable elsewhere.

 1  A transport internet for motorists and goods movement

Aims:

(i)           To provide a system that will allow motorists driving battery driven cars to make journeys of several hundred miles in a day, without requiring any breakthroughs in battery technology.

(ii)         To speed up integrated road and rail goods movement.

 Shifting people and goods by rail produces far less pollution than using cars and lorries. Rail transport also offers manpower efficiency advantages; Long distance commuters can spend their travel time on office work and freight companies don't have to pay drivers wages.

So, why don't we all want to travel by train?

The snag is that people cherish the go-anytime, door-to-door freedom that road transport brings. Cars also provide private spaces that are extensions of our homes.

 One way of giving travellers the best of both transport systems would be to build a Europe-wide network of new railway lines which run alongside the existing motorway networks. In areas where land prices are high, the railway track could be built over the line of the existing motorway.

The new railway network would be used primarily for roll-on, roll-off transport of cars, lorries and lorry trailers.

Once the vehicles are loaded, they could be inductively coupled to power supply units that re-charged the batteries on electric vehicles. This would allow electric vehicles to be used for long distance travel, using existing battery technology. The on-train power supplies could also be used to power mobile home offices.

Motor manufacturers would be offered a new motor vehicle market, requiring vehicles which become mobile electronic offices, fully kitted out with state of the art computer and communication systems.

To speed up the loading and unloading, the vehicles could be moved on and off the rolling stock using “smart” trolleys which support the vehicle front wheels, taking over the steering and traction roles.

As for today's train journeys, it may be necessary to change trains on complex journeys. To make the transition easier, vehicles would reside on the same trolley throughout the whole of their journey.

The trolley system could be used to speed up the transfer of vehicles between different gauges of railway stock and ferries.

To save on trolley weight, electric vehicles could be designed to integrate with the railway system. These would include an automated over-ride to take over from the driver, using the vehicles own drive system to manoeuvre the vehicle into position on board the train.

 The main body of the trains, which would offer catering, shop and toilet services, would remain in constant motion along the main line of the track, with additional stock from feeder lines from the loading stations being shunted onto the front and rear ends of the moving train.

In flight docking has been used by the military for the last fifty years, so there is no reason why trains should not adopt it during the next fifty.

 Mobile phones would act as pagers, reminding drivers to return to their vehicles in good time for disembarkation.

The internet analogy

Today's telecommunications internet makes cost effective use of the transmission network by splitting information into packages and shifting the packages round the network wherever transmission space is available. In a similar manner, vehicles and their passengers travelling on long complex routes could be moved on and off rolling stock at any of the feeder stations along a route, to make maximum use of the network.

Figure 1. Car travellers using the Transport Internet to travel from Perth in Scotland to Swansea in Wales may need to make several train swaps along the route. In this diagram, the different coloured lines represent different main line routes and the circles represent stations where the transfer from one main line to another may be made. The decision on the optimum route would take into account known patterns of internet usage and current information relating to such factors as road works and large scale public events in the vicinity of stations.

2 A transport internet for foot passengers

Aim: To speed up complex journeys by allowing passengers to switch trains which they are moving.

 For maximum flexibility, foot passengers would be served by separate trains to motorists. These would use the existing rail networks as well as the new lines.
The principles of the system would be the same, but with passengers having the ability to walk between carriages attached to the front and rear ends of the main body of the train. This would allow large permutations of stations to be accessed by the system, without the train having to lose time by pulling into stations.

For infirmity and other seasons, some passengers may be incapable of moving between carriages during movement. Their needs could be catered for by ensuring that carriages in successive trains offered different permutations of beginning and end points. Several carriages a day would offer single carriage transport between the principle stations throughout the network. That is, they would offer a similar average travel time to today’s rail transport systems.

For details of a traction and braking system that offers close control of adjacent trains as they couple up while in motion, please contact us.

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