Infrastructure

The infrastructure means here the visible fixed part of the TS that is require to run the vehicles, hence:

• tracks: these are guideways, rails, roads or whatever is necessary to control a vehicle to its destination A special element of the track are stops (see Section 1.6.4); stops, are stations where vehicles halt to let passengers in and out or to (un)load freight
• support structures for tracks like columns, stays, bridges and tunnels

The infrastructure should have the following general features:

• the passengers or goods being transported should be able to reach any point of the network without intermediate transfers from one vehicle to another

• the track should provide cost effective and high quality transport (see Section 1.4.2) for all transport applications, including door-to-door, indoor, inter-urban and inter-city connections (for more details, see subsections below)

• the infrastructure should visually fit into city architecture or landscape

• security-critical parts of the infrastructure should be permanently camera supervised

• the design should look well designed and elegant

It is apparent that there is not one type of track satisfying all conditions. The infrastructure of the TS should be designed such that it can be adapted costs, capacity, flexibility and speed.

infrastructure for local door-to-door and in-door transit

This transport category stands for short distance transport; for example, from a residence to the local shopping center or indoor transport. The infrastructure for this application should have the following features:

• travel distances up to $5$km

• maximum speeds of $25$km/h, walking speed when space is shared with pedestrians

• high flexibility: can be highly branched, with short distances (several meters) between stops, merges, or diverge points
• compact: branches and stops take up the minimum of space

• low to medium carrying capacity
• low cost where low usage

• safe for small children travelling unsupervised

• option for overhead guideways for in-door applications with heavily used floor space

infrastructure for inter-regional and inter-urban transit

The infrastructure for this application should have the following features:

• travel distances typically from $1$km to $50$km
• line speeds from $60$km/h to $130$km/h
• stops, merges or diverge points typically every $1$km to $10$km
• high carrying capacity

• compact guideways in city centers
• low visual impact
• separation from pedestrians

infrastructure for inter-city and inter-national transit

The infrastructure for this application should have the following features:

• long-distance: typically greater than $50$km
• high speed: faster than $130$km/h. There is no reason to set a maximum speed as long as safety and comfort criteria are satisfied (see Section 1.4)
• simple network topology: few stops, merge or diverge points
• medium to high carrying capacity
• separation from pedestrians

Stops

Depending on the type of track, the appearance of stops can change significantly. They all have in common that the platform from where vehicles are loaded and unloaded is flush even with the bottom of the vehicles. There are:

• single berth stops which operate independently from one another even when they are close together
• multiple berth stop where vehicles can be loaded in parallel, which requires coordination of both vehicles and passengers

Passenger stops will usually be different to freight stops.

passenger stops

All passenger stop must be accessible by the deaf, blind and disabled. Optionally, passenger stops can be equipped with:

• a stop-type or call-type user terminal (see Section 1.7.2) for programming of trips or for calling vehicles (for details see Sections 1.7.1, 1.7.4 and 1.7.5)

• passenger boarding facilities: passenger boarding facilities are useful for multi-berth stops for organizing and controlling the parallel boarding of a large number of passengers. A generic boarding facility is sketched in Fig. 1.2. Boarding facilities can be designed in various ways as long as they satisfy the following conditions:
  • Among the passenger(s) in the waiting zone is one user whose user id is known to the system

  • the passenger(s) in the waiting zone will enter the vehicle that corresponds to this waiting zone
  Both conditions can be satisfied, using an electronically gate that unlocks when a user inserts his travel card into the travel card reader of the boarding facility, (see Fig. 1.2)

Figure 1.2: Sketch of a generic boarding facility.

freight stops

Freight stops are simply places where freight can be loaded or unloaded (manually or automatically). Optionally, Freight stops can be equipped with:

• a stop-type or call-type user terminal (see Section 1.7.2) for programming trips or for calling vehicles (for details see Sections 1.7.1, 1.7.6 and 1.7.7)

• freight loading facilities: freight loading facilities are used for the automated loading or unloading of freight (for example standard industrial pallets, packages, letters etc) Freight loading facilities can be designed in various ways as long as they satisfy the following conditions:
  • user id of the user who is responsible for the transport of this particular freight at this stop is known to the system

  • the freight that is loaded with this facility enters the right vehicle
  Both conditions can be satisfied when a computer system controls and coordinated loading as well as the programming of the destination (see computer-type user terminal in Section 1.7.2)

Freight transport operations are explained in Sections 1.7.6, 1.7.7 )