wrote:
I think its more like the internal system at Stansted that takes you from
the departure/arrival areas out to the piers. There is a picture of one of
the 'trains' being craned down an access shaft in Modern Rail this month. It
is referred to as a 'tracked transit system (TTS)' but looks just like a bus
to me - the large rubber tyres being the biggest giveaway!


Rubber tyres don't necessarily make it a bus. How about Metro line 1
in Paris? Those
trains have rubber tyres.

As do all four lines of the Montreal metro.

--

Stephen

Rory: What does a stroke feel like?
Lorelai: I dunno. Bad.

Stephen Farrow wrote:

Rubber tyres don't necessarily make it a bus. How about Metro line 1
in Paris? Those
trains have rubber tyres.

As do all four lines of the Montreal metro.

Can't remember what the Paris metro is like but the Montreal one has a
bouncy unpleasent ride from what i remember. Not sure what the
advantage
the rubber tyres is (better on gradients?) but comfort doesnt' seem to
be one of them.

B2003

Boltar wrote:
Stephen Farrow wrote:

Rubber tyres don't necessarily make it a bus. How about Metro line 1
in Paris? Those
trains have rubber tyres.
As do all four lines of the Montreal metro.

Can't remember what the Paris metro is like but the Montreal one has a
bouncy unpleasent ride from what i remember. Not sure what the
advantage
the rubber tyres is (better on gradients?) but comfort doesnt' seem to
be one of them.

I don't remember the ride on the Montreal metro being bouncy or
unpleasant, though it's certainly different from the ride on
conventional steel-wheeled trains (you want bouncy and unpleasant, try
the Bury line on the Metrolink in Manchester).

As for the rubber tyres, I believe their advantages are partly about
negotiating gradients, and partly about negotiating curves without
slowing right down.

--

Stephen

If I believed in fairy tales I never would have dropped out of kindergarten.

Maybe it could connect with Airtrain @ JFK?

wrote:
Maybe it could connect with Airtrain @ JFK?


Well, the Vancouver Skytrain certainly could, because it's the same
technology (as is the Scarborough RT line in Toronto).

--

Stephen

I could hop up on a unicycle and balance a wheelbarrow on my eyebrows
but I’m far … too … busy.

Stephen Farrow wrote:
and partly about negotiating curves without
slowing right down.

Thats probably more to do with the side wheels on the bogies the
rubber tyred systems have. I should imagine derailing such a setup is
almost impossible unless the train actually rolls over.

B2003

Boltar wrote:
Stephen Farrow wrote:
and partly about negotiating curves without
slowing right down.

Thats probably more to do with the side wheels on the bogies the
rubber tyred systems have. I should imagine derailing such a setup is
almost impossible unless the train actually rolls over.

Probably, yes, but those *are* the two reasons why the rubber-tyred
system was chosen for Montreal (where there would never be any traction
problems for the rubber tyres in wet weather, because the entire system
is underground. There isn't even any open-air access to the depots,
because the system is designed to remain unaffected by Montreal's very
severe winter weather).

--

Stephen

It's never too late, as a wise person once said. I think it was Kylie.

Stephen Farrow wrote:
is underground. There isn't even any open-air access to the depots,
because the system is designed to remain unaffected by Montreal's very
severe winter weather).

There must be some sort of open air track access to at least one depot
to get trains in and out unless they crane them in a la the W&C line.

B2003

Boltar wrote:
Stephen Farrow wrote:
is underground. There isn't even any open-air access to the depots,
because the system is designed to remain unaffected by Montreal's very
severe winter weather).

There must be some sort of open air track access to at least one depot
to get trains in and out unless they crane them in a la the W&C line.

There is track access from the Metro's four lines to the depots, but
it's covered (you can see this, for example, at Angrignon station, which
has a depot next door - the station, which is also completely covered,
is slightly below ground level, as is the depot, and the depot's roof
covers the access tracks from the main tunnels).

--

Stephen

Clifford: The fact is, Mrs. O, my life seems completely grey, bleak and
pointless.
Mrs. Overall: Well, sometimes that's God's way of getting you to enjoy
"Gardener's World".

Boltar wrote:
Stephen Farrow wrote:

There isn't even any open-air access to the depots,
because the system is designed to remain unaffected by Montreal's
very severe winter weather).

There must be some sort of open air track access to at least one depot
to get trains in and out unless they crane them in a la the W&C line.

Not necessarily... maybe the system is linked to a tunnel section of the
national railway.