"Smart Train" on virtual tracks

[modernrail]

There could be immediate calls for this post to be deleted as not only is the subject not heavy rail, there are no rails at all!! Disgraceful.

What do people think of the "Smart Train" concept recently unveiled and running in China?

https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/worlds...ed-in-china-it-runs-on-virtual-tracks-1769429

The rail system called Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) can carry up to 300 passengers in its three carriages and has a top speed of 70 kilometres per hour. According to People's Daily, its flexible design makes it ideal to navigate through city traffic. With just 10 minutes of charge, the train can operate for up to 25 kilometres.

A hybrid that "combines the advantages of modern trams and buses", it runs on virtual tracks marked by white dotted lines painted on the city streets, reported Channel News Asia.

The system uses rubber wheels, super-capacitor charging and runs on virtual tracks along normal roads or dedicated routes fixed by GPS.

Is this the sort of solution that might be a game changer for light rail schemes that struggle to stack up because of the cost and intrusive works associated with traditional trams/light rail.

Three immediate possibilities spring to mind.

1. Oxford Street in London. As Westminster have thrown their toys out of the pram as usual could this be the answer to terminating buses at Marble Arch and Holborn and running a virtual train between the 2 places?
2. Could this be the answer for Leeds - dreadfully behind on urban transport but maybe this is the perfect answer.
3. Might this be a good solution to reopen routes that don't justify full heavy or light rail? I am thinking, for instance, Leeds to Otley.

A final question. Does anybody think this system could be adapted to also run on steel wheels as a road/rail hybrid. I am guessing too complicated?

 

[rebmcr]

It's just an electric guided bus.

 

[modernrail]

Incredible insight duly noted. However, could it be a useful system within the UK context - to deal with that awkward space between light rail, rail and bus? I am not aware that we currently have miles of electric guided buses, and certainly none that are articulated over 3 sections and this sort of solution could be useful in many places, particularly those places that have not benefitted from billions in spending and are not likely to thanks to our London first Government.

One of the main passenger dislikes of buses is how you get thrown about at the whim of the driver and the noise and smell. This system looks to deal with all of these points. Personally, I think this system has a lot of potential in the UK.

 

[mushroomchow]

It's an interesting concept, but I'll reserve judgement until it's implemented more widely. China are developing a bit of a track record of cool ideas that never come to fruition.

After all, it wasn't too long ago that people were excited by the idea of the "Skybus" that straddled the road. It got about as far as the Bennie Railplane, in as much as they built a short demo track which ran for all of one test run before the project collapsed into failure and scandal.

 

[takno]

Incredible insight duly noted. However, could it be a useful system within the UK context - to deal with that awkward space between light rail, rail and bus? I am not aware that we currently have miles of electric guided buses, and certainly none that are articulated over 3 sections and this sort of solution could be useful in many places, particularly those places that have not benefitted from billions in spending and are not likely to thanks to our London first Government.

One of the main passenger dislikes of buses is how you get thrown about at the whim of the driver and the noise and smell. This system looks to deal with all of these points. Personally, I think this system has a lot of potential in the UK.

I can't see any real benefits over an electric bendy bus. Obviously people being thrown around laterally by the driver could be a much bigger issue than I'm aware of. The key downside over a bus would seem to be the inability to steer around obstacles. The key downside compared to a tram is that the running route is less clearly demarked, so it's far easier to accidentally park in the way.

All the guided busways I've ever been on have had pretty terrible ride quality, and the only real advantage has been that the track is separated from the road and therefore difficult to drive/park in, and can be narrower if necessary on flyovers etc. I'm not sure how confident I'd building a narrow flyover be with something that followed a white line and wasn't physically restricted to the path.

Just some thoughts. I'll be as pleased as anyone if the Chinese make a success of it, and once they have would be the time to start looking at it here.

 

[PeterC]

My only thought is that it requires less infrastructure than the ones tried in France with a central guide rail and OHLE otherwise it shares all their disadvantages.

 

[MarcVD]

Guided transport systems running on rubber tires quikly destroy the pavement they are running on, because they all pass at exactly the same place. No other material than metal or very dense concrete can whitstand such a treatment.

 

[TRAX]

This shouldn’t be called a train or a tram, as it is a bus.
It also shouldn’t be called a "world-first", as buses guided optically (like this, with lines painted on the road) have existed for a few years now, for example in the French city of Rouen.

Nothing new, here.

 

[edwin_m]

With all the wheels of all the vehicles following exactly the same path, this probably needs a concrete slab rather than an asphalt surface which will rut. And once it's a concrete slab it brings in many of the problems of building a tramway. I'm increasingly thinking that the numerous proposals for "intermediate modes" between bus and tram just combine the disadvantages of both.

 

[Lucan]

The key downside compared to a tram is that the running route is less clearly demarked, so it's far easier to accidentally park in the way.

Perhaps Chinese cities are less clogged by cars than UK ones. If this thing cannot steer around improperly parked cars then it is a non-starter here unless on dedicated busways. Check YouTube for parked car problems with rail running on road on the Weymouth Key branch, despite visible rails and yellow hatchings over the route. People do not park on double yellows, pavements and yellow hatching "accidentally", it is deliberate and they think and know they will get away with it.

Seems the only thing the Chinese idea saves is a driver, a paradox as I thought that nation was not short of people.