Bombardier Advanced Rapid Transit
From Freepedia
Advanced Rapid Transit or ART is the current name given to a metro system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation; it was originally named ICTS (for 'Intermediate Capacity Transit System'), and is sometimes referred to generically as 'advanced light rapid transit'. It is used by metro lines in Vancouver, Toronto, Detroit, New York, and Kuala Lumpur. A future system in Yong-In, near Seoul, South Korea is to use the technology as well. It was proposed for Bangkok, Thailand's Skytrain, but dropped in favour of standard light-rail technology.
Contents |
Technology
The technology was developed in the 1970s by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, a Crown corporation of the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was among the first to make use of linear electromagnetic propulsion. ART is not, however, a magnetic levitation system; the train's weight is supported by the wheels even while in motion. The train is propelled by magnetic forces acting against currents induced in a conductive strip located between the rails, essentially pulling itself along without requiring a motor with moving parts.
ART trains are also capable of running under computer control, without drivers, and have steerable axles, allowing them to turn tighter corners than most trains of the same length. They are also lighter than most conventional metro trains, and can run on smaller elevated guide-ways and in narrower tunnels.
While its linear motors and steerable axles are relatively rare, the ART has a number of competitors in the field of automated metros, including the VAL and the Meteor technology used by Line 14 of the Paris Métro. All current ART lines are predominantly elevated, but there is nothing it their design to prevent them from performing equally well underground.
ART systems are often referred to as 'light rail', but this is somewhat deceptive, as their use of automated operation, third-rail power, and an aluminium induction strip all make them unsuitable for anything other than a fully grade-separated metro rather than the street-level tramways that the term usually suggests.
Metros using ART technology
Toronto
In 1981, the Toronto Transit Commission was planning to build an elevated streetcar line serving the city's eastern suburb of Scarborough, but the Ontario provincial government convinced it, by agreeing to pay for the line, to use the then-new ICTS technology instead so that it could act as a demonstration system for other transit operators considering buying the trains. The six-station Scarborough RT line opened in 1985. Although its ICTS Mark I trains are capable of driving themselves, the TTC chose to run them with operators on board in order to allay public safety concerns.
The future of the line is uncertain; it has proved expensive to run, and has never been extended. Only two of its stations are used on a level comparable to those of the TTC's conventional subway lines, and most passengers see it merely as an extra transfer they must make in order to get onto a higher-volume line running downtown. Its Mark I fleet will soon be due for replacement, and it would be expensive to either resume production of the old models, or upgrade the line to handle the longer Mark II trains. [1]
Vancouver
The SkyTrain Expo Line opened in late 1985. Vancouver's trains have operated from the start in fully-automated mode. With the opening of the Millennium Line in 2002, Vancouver added to its original Mark I fleet the longer, articulated ART Mark II trains first used in Kuala Lumpur, which allow for significantly greater capacities. The SkyTrain is the largest ART system in operation, and consists of two lines; the Millennium Line and the Expo Line.
Vancouver is also constructing the new Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Line, which will run in tunnels through central Vancouver and then rise above ground to two elevated branches to the suburb of Richmond and Vancouver's airport. The new line is scheduled to open in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. No announcement has yet been made about the technology to be used for the line; as it will not be interconnected with the existing lines, it may not use ART trains.
Vancouver's transit authorities also plan to build a street-level light railway connecting the SkyTrain to Coquitlam in the north-east, but it will not be based on ART technology.
Detroit
The thirteen-station Detroit People Mover is a fully-automated system, using the same ICTS Mark I trains as Toronto and Vancouver.
Kuala Lumpur
The Putra LRT system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is fully automated, and opened in 1998. There are plans for extension of the line. It introduced the longer, articulated Mark II version of the ART train.
New York
AirTrain JFK connects John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to the conventional trains of the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road.
Movie appearances
Kuala Lumpur's Putra LRT was featured in the closing scene of the 1999 Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones movie Entrapment, and a scene in the 2003 movie Paycheck shows Ben Affleck running in front of a train in the Vancouver SkyTrain system.
External links
- Bombardier ART official site
- The Scarborough Rapid Transit Line (includes historical information about ICTS technology)
