The KL Monorail in Kuala Lumpur, a colorful straddle-beam monorail

A monorail is a transportation system based on a single beam. The KL Monorail is a Monorail system (previously known as Peoplemover Rapid Transit - PRT in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, opened 31 August Kuala Lumpur (ˈkwɑːləlʊmˈpʊər Malay /kwɑlɑlʊmpʊ/ and locally /kwɑləlʊmpɔ/ or even /kɔlɔmpɔ/ or often abbreviated as K The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles travelling on such a beam or track. The term originates from the contraction of the words mono (single) and rail, from as early as 1897^[1], as early systems used metal rails. The transportation system is often referred to as a railway^[2].

Differentiation from other transport systems

Monorail systems have found shared applications in the transportation market in airport transfer and some medium capacity metro systems. To differentiate monorail systems from other transport modes, the Monorail Society further clarifies the definition of a monorail such that the beam in a monorail system is narrower than the vehicle^[3].

Similarities

Monorails are often but not exclusively elevated, sometimes leading to confusion with other elevated systems such as the Docklands Light Railway, Vancouver SkyTrain and the JFK AirTrain. The Docklands Light Railway (DLR is a Light rail system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of East London England. The SkyTrain is a two-line urban mass transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. AirTrain JFK is an 81- Mile (13- km) People mover system in New York City that connects John F Monorail vehicles are often at first glance similar to other light rail vehicles, and can be both manned and unmanned. For specific light rail systems many of which use the words "light rail" as part of their name see List of light-rail transit systems. Monorail vehicles can also be found in singular rigid format, articulated single units, or as multiple units coupled into 'trains'. In common with other advanced rapid transit systems, some monorails are driven by linear induction motor. Advanced Rapid Transit or ART is the current name given to a Rapid transit system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation; it was originally named A linear motor or linear induction motor is essentially a multi-phase Alternating current (AC Electric motor that has had its Stator "unrolled" In common with other dual rail systems, the vehicle bodies are connected to the beam via bogies, allowing curves to be negotiated. A bogie (ˈboʊgi (BŌ-gē is a Wheeled wagon or trolley In mechanics terms a bogie is a Chassis or framework carrying wheels attached to a vehicle

Differences

Unlike some trams and light rail systems, modern monorails are always partitioned from other traffic and pedestrians. A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train For specific light rail systems many of which use the words "light rail" as part of their name see List of light-rail transit systems. Monorails are both guided and supported via interaction with the same single beam, in contrast to other guided systems such as Rubber-tyred metros, such as the Sapporo Municipal Subway; or guided buses or trams, such as Translohr. A rubber-tyred metro (or rubber-tired in non-British English is a form of Rapid transit system that uses a mix of road and rail technology is the Rapid transit system in Sapporo Hokkaido, Japan. It is operated by the Sapporo City Transportation Bureau. Guided buses are Buses steered for part or all of their route by external means usually on a dedicated track. Translohr is a Guided bus system manufactured by Lohr Industrie of France. Monorails also do not use pantographs. A pantograph is a device that collects electric current from Overhead lines for electric Trains or Trams The term stems from the resemblance to pantograph

Maglev

Under the Monorail Society beam width criteria, some but not all maglev systems are considered monorails, such as the Transrapid and Linimo. MAGLEV, or magnetic levitation, is a system of transportation that suspends guides and (usually propels vehicles predominantly trains using magnetic forces Transrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. formally the is a Magnetic levitation train line in Aichi, Japan, near the city of Nagoya. Maglevs differ from all other monorail systems in that they do not (normally) physically contact the beam.

History

Gyroscopically balanced monorail (1907) by Brennan and Scherl

Main article: Monorail history

Early years

Attempts at creating monorail alternatives to conventional railways have been made since the latter part of the 19th century. The gyro monorail, gyroscopic monorail, gyro-stabilized monorail, or Gyrocar all denote a single rail Land vehicle, road or rail The term monorail or industrial monorail is used to describe any number of transport systems in which a chair or carrier is suspended from or rides on an overhead rail structure "Railroad" and "Railway" both redirect here For other uses see Railroad (disambiguation. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Early designs centred on use of a double-flanged single metal rail alternative to the double rail of conventional railways. A flange is an external or internal Rib, or Rim (lip for strength, as the flange of an Iron beam or I-beam Wheels on this rail would both guide and support the monorail car. A surviving suspended version is the Wuppertal monorail. Into the 1900s, Gyro monorails, with cars gyroscopically balanced on top of a single rail, were tested but never developed beyond the prototype stage. The gyro monorail, gyroscopic monorail, gyro-stabilized monorail, or Gyrocar all denote a single rail Land vehicle, road or rail The Ewing System, used in the Patiala State Monorail Trainways in Punjab, India, relies on a hybrid model with a load-bearing single rail and an external wheel for balance. The Ewing System was a system for balancing Monorails developed by British inventor W Patiala State Monorail System (PSMT was a unique railway system running in State of Punjab from 1910 to 1927 Punjab (ਪੰਜਾਬ पंजाब pəɲdʒaːb is a state in northwest India. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country

1900s-1950s

The first half of the 20th century saw many further proposed designs, that either never left the drawing board or remained as short lived prototypes. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on

1950s-1980s

In the latter half of the 20th century, monorail designs had settled on using larger beam or girder based track, with vehicles supported by one set of wheels and guided by another. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on These designs featured vehicles supported, suspended or cantilevered from the beams. In the 1950s the ALWEG straddle design emerged, followed by an updated suspended type, the SAFEGE system. ALWEG was a transportation company known for pioneering straddle-beam Monorails History Alweg was founded by Swedish industrial magnate Dr SAFEGE is an acronym for the French consortium S ociété A nonyme F rançaise d' E tude de G estion et d' E

During this period, major monorails were installed at Disneyland, California, Seattle, and Japan. Disneyland, marketed as the happiest place on Earth, is an American Theme park in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Monorail systems were also heavily promoted as futuristic technology with exhibition installations and amusement park purchases, as seen by the number of legacy systems in use today. However, monorails gained little foothold compared to conventional transport systems.

Niche private enterprise uses for monorails emerged, with the emergence of air travel and shopping malls, with many shuttle type systems being built. Air travel is a form of Travel using an Airplane. The comfort experienced when traveling by air depends on several factors starting with the airport the A shopping mall or shopping centre is a building or set of buildings that contain Retail units with interconnecting Walkways enabling visitors

Perceptions of monorail as public transport

From 1950 to 1980 the monorail concept may have suffered, as with all public transport systems, from competition with the automobile. The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 67 as it was commonly known was the World's Fair held in Montreal, Canada from April 27 to October Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller ( July 12, 1895 &ndash July 1, 1983) was an American Architect, Author The Biosphère ( of Environment Canada is a museum in Montreal dedicated to Water and the environment. Monorails in particular may have suffered from the reluctance of public transit authorities to invest in the perceived high cost of un-proven monorails when faced with cheaper mature alternatives. There were also many competing monorail technologies, splitting their case further.

This high cost perception was challenged most-notably in 1963, when the ALWEG consortium proposed to finance the construction of a major monorail system in Los Angeles, in return for the right of operation. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West This was turned down by the city authorities in favour of no system at all, and the later subway system has faced criticism as it has yet to reach the scale of the proposed monorail.

Several monorails initially conceived as transport systems survive today on revenues generated from tourism usage, benefitting from the unique views offered from the largely elevated monorail installations. Tourism is Travel for Recreational or Leisure purposes The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel

Resurgence

From the 1980s onwards, with the rise of traffic congestion and urbanization, monorails have experienced a resurgence in interest for mass transit usage, notable from the early use by Japan and now Malaysia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and Monorails have also seen continuing use in niche shuttle markets, as well as amusements parks.

Modern mass transit monorail systems have settled on developments of the ALWEG beam and tyre approach, with only two suspended types in large use. Some systems have also settled on maglev technology. Magnetic levitation, maglev, or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is suspended with no support other than Magnetic fields The

Types and technical aspects

The Schwebebahn Wuppertal, the world's first suspended monorail

Modern monorails depend on a large solid beam as the vehicles' running surface. There are a number of competing designs divided into two broad classes, straddle-beam and suspended monorails.

The most common type of monorail in use today is the straddle-beam monorail, in which the train straddles a reinforced concrete beam in the range of two to three feet (~0. Reinforced concrete is Concrete in which reinforcement bars (" Rebars quot or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen a material that would otherwise be 6-0. 9 m) wide. A rubber-tired carriage contacts the beam on the top and both sides for traction and to stabilize the vehicle. This article is about tires used on road Vehicles including pneumatic tires and solid tires. The straddle-beam style was popularized by the German company ALWEG. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. ALWEG was a transportation company known for pioneering straddle-beam Monorails History Alweg was founded by Swedish industrial magnate Dr

There is also a form of suspended monorail developed by the French company SAFEGE in which the train cars are suspended beneath the wheel carriage. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. SAFEGE is an acronym for the French consortium S ociété A nonyme F rançaise d' E tude de G estion et d' E In this design the carriage wheels ride inside the single beam. The Chiba Urban Monorail is presently the world's largest suspended monorail network. The is a third-sector two-line transportation system Established March 20, 1979, the system is operated by, headquartered in Chiba.

Power

Almost all modern monorails are powered by electric motors fed by dual third rails, contact wires or electrified channels attached to or enclosed in their guidance beams. An electric motor uses Electrical energy to produce Mechanical energy. A third rail is a method of providing Electricity to power a railway through a continuous rigid conductor alongside the railway track or between the rails There is a startup called Metrail that has built a hybrid prototype using diesel power to generate electricity for the motors.

Magnetic levitation

Transrapid maglev on monorail track

Magnetic levitation train (maglev) systems by the German Transrapid were built as straddle-type monorails, as they are highly stable and allow rapid deceleration from great speed. Transrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. MAGLEV, or magnetic levitation, is a system of transportation that suspends guides and (usually propels vehicles predominantly trains using magnetic forces Transrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. When in full-speed operation maglev trains hover over the track and are thus not in physical contact with it. The maglev is the fastest train of any type, the experimental JR-Maglev having recorded a speed of 581 km/h (361 mph). Determination of the fastest railed vehicle in the world varies depending on the definition of " rail " JR-Maglev is a Magnetic levitation train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway Technical Research Institute (association of The commercial Shanghai Maglev Train has run at 501 km/h (311 mph). Shanghai Maglev Train (Shanghai Transrapid) ( is the first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world

In addition, Linimo was inaugurated in Japan in 2003. formally the is a Magnetic levitation train line in Aichi, Japan, near the city of Nagoya.

UniModal has patented the SkyTran "pod monorail" which would use an Inductrack passive maglev monorail track for personal rapid transit. SkyTran is a patented Personal Rapid Transit system first proposed by inventor Douglas Malewicki in 1990 and under development by UniModal Transport Solutions SkyTran is a patented Personal Rapid Transit system first proposed by inventor Douglas Malewicki in 1990 and under development by UniModal Transport Solutions Inductrack is a completely passive, Fail-safe Magnetic levitation system using only unpowered loops of wire in the track and permanent magnets (arranged Magnetic levitation, maglev, or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is suspended with no support other than Magnetic fields The Personal rapid transit (PRT, also called personal automated transport (PAT or podcar, is a Public transportation concept that offers on-demand non-stop The system remains in the conceptual stage.

Switching

Switching section on the Chester Zoo Zoofari Monorail ride.

Some early monorail systems--notably the suspended monorail of Wuppertal (Germany), dating from 1901 and still in operation--have a design that makes it difficult to switch from one line to another. ||-||} Wuppertal (ˈvʊpɐtaːl is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Some other monorail systems avoid switching as much as possible, by operating in a continuous loop or between two fixed stations, as in Seattle, Washington.

Current operating monorails are capable of more efficient switching than in the past. In the case of suspended monorails, switching may be accomplished by moving flanges inside the beamway to shift trains to one line or another.

Straddle-beam monorails require that the beam structure itself be moved to accomplish switching, which originally was an almost prohibitively ponderous procedure.

Sydney's monorail avoids switching by operating in a single loop.

Now, however, the most common way of achieving this is to place a moving apparatus on top of a sturdy platform capable of bearing the weight of vehicles, beams and its own mechanism. Multiple-segmented beams move into place on rollers to smoothly align one beam with another to send the train in its desired direction, with the design originally developed by ALWEG capable of completing a switch in 12 seconds. ^[4] Some of these beam turnouts are quite elaborate, capable of switching between several beams or even simulating a railroad double-crossover. This article primarily uses North American terminology British and Commonwealth terms are given in parentheses

In cases where it must be possible to move a monorail train from one beam to any of a number of other beams, as in storage or repair shops, a traveling beam not unlike a railroad transfer table may be employed. A transfer table, also called a traverser (especially in the UK is a piece of railroad equipment A single beam, at least long enough to carry a single monorail vehicle, is aligned at an entry beam to be mounted by the monorail cars. The entire beam then rolls with the vehicle to align with the desired storage beam.

Advantages and disadvantages

Old Soviet monorail in Ukraine (now abandoned)

Advantages

• The primary advantage of monorails over conventional rail systems is that they require minimal space, both horizontally and vertically. Monorail vehicles are wider than the beam, and monorail systems are commonly elevated, requiring only a minimal footprint for support pillars.
• A monorail track is less expensive to build than a comparable elevated conventional rail line of equal capacity.
• Due to a smaller footprint they are seen as more attractive than conventional elevated rail lines and block only a minimal amount of sky. The sky is the part of the Atmosphere or of Outer space visible from the surface of any Astronomical object.
• Monorail is, by design, a grade-separated system. They do not interfere with existing transport modes.
• They are quieter, as modern monorails use rubber wheels on a concrete track (though some non-monorail subway systems, like certain lines of the Paris Métro and all of the Montreal metro, use the same technique and are equally quiet)
• Unlike conventional rail systems, straddle monorails wrap around their track and are thus not physically capable of derailing, unless the track itself suffers a catastrophic failure. The Montreal Metro is a Rubber-tired metro system and the main form of Public transportation in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Rubber-tired monorails can climb steeper grades better than ordinary steel wheel trains, with Hitachi monorails designed to cope with 6% grade. A rubber-tyred metro (or rubber-tired in non-British English is a form of Rapid transit system that uses a mix of road and rail technology ^[5]

Disadvantages

The Mud Island Monorail, in Memphis, Tennessee (2005)

• Monorail vehicles are not compatible with any other type of rail infrastructure, which makes (for example) through services onto mainline tracks impossible. The Memphis Suspension Railway or Mud Island Monorail is a suspended Monorail that connects the city center of Memphis with the entertainment park Memphis is a City in the southwest corner of Tennessee, and the County seat of Shelby County. Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
• Monorail tracks do not allow at-grade intersections. An at-grade intersection is a junction at which two or more transport axes cross at the same Level (or grade)
• In an emergency, passengers may not be able to immediately exit because the monorail vehicle is high above ground and not all systems have emergency walkways. The passengers must sometimes wait until a rescue train, fire engine or a cherry picker comes to the rescue. A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting Fires by transporting Firefighters This article is about a Vehicle. For the historical British Regiment, see 11th Hussars. Newer monorail systems resolve this by building emergency walkways alongside the entire track, at the expense of visual intrusion. Suspended railways resolve this by building aircraft style evacuation slides into the vehicles. Japanese systems use the next train to tow broken down trains to the next station, but this has yet to occur.
• Turnouts, especially high speed ones tend to be difficult. Traversers might be substituted. A transfer table, also called a traverser (especially in the UK is a piece of railroad equipment
• Monorail infrastructure and vehicles are often made by separate manufacturers, with different manufacturers using incompatible designs.

Monorail systems

Main article: List of monorail systems

References

See also

• Transrapid
• Marge vs. the Monorail - The Simpsons episode satirizing monorail development
• Slope car

External links

Monorails in general

• Innovative Transportation Technologies - a website for the Transportation engineering and Urban planning programs at the University of Washington
• The Disneyland Monorail - Article on how a rubber-wheeled monorail works. Transrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. " Marge vs the Monorail " is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons ' fourth season and originally aired on January 14 1993 A is a small automated Monorail, or a fusion between monorail People mover, and Rack railway. Transport engineering (alternatively transportation engineering) is the science of safe and efficient movement of people and goods ( Transport) See Washington (disambiguation for other uses The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research University
• The Monorail Society - home page of a volunteer organization promoting monorails, with separate pages on monorail switches and a backyard monorail

Monorail advocacy groups

• 2045 Seattle - a grassroots movement that supports the construction of rapid transit monorail in Seattle, WA
• Austin Monorail Project - a non-profit advocating monorail transit for Austin, TX
• The Monorail Society - an all-volunteer organization founded to foster more awareness and promote this unique method of transportation

Organizations/views opposing monorails

• Las Vegas Monorail: Troublesome Technology in a Unique "Niche" Application - a critical article on the Las Vegas Monorail from Light Rail Now!, a pro-light rail organization in Austin, TX opposed to monorails
• Monorail Capital Costs: Reality Check - a critical article on the capitial costs of monorails. From Light Rail Now!
• Monorails, Light Rail, and Automated vs. Non-Automated Transit Operation: Comparative Costs in Japan and USA - a critical article on the cost differences of monorails, whether they are automated or not. From Light Rail Now!