|
HAMILTON ENGINEERS |
HAMILTON ENGINEERS 3400 S. Federal Blvd. Englewood, CO 80011 |
Phone:
303 761-4419 Fax:
303 695-9184 E-mail: WRHAMILTON@worldnet.att.net |
Operating policies are an
important part of an automated vehicle system and determine many aspects of the
system and hardware design. Some of the
more important policy issues are addressed below. These issues will be changed to include the issues that the
controlling authority may impose that are not adequately addressed here.
NFPA-30
At the discretion of
local fire officials, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 130 standard
will be used as a guide but not necessarily fully implemented. This code imposes several constraints of the
design of AGT Systems including walkways along the guideway and fire walls in
stations. These portions of the code
significantly detract from the aesthetics of the AGT system, add to the code
and are the subject of some debate. In
these cases, an acceptable alternative to the specific design solutions
specified may be proposed.
Walkways in the guideways
are intended to permit emergency egress in the event of a disabled vehicle or
in the event of fire aboard the vehicle.
The walkways normally detract significantly from the aesthetics of the
guideway and add weight and cost.
NFPA-30 states that a walkway or other suitable means to evacuate
passengers from vehicles must be provided. Vehicles will also be equipped with
rope ladders.
The perceived similarity
between the passenger compartments of AGT vehicles and automobiles suggests
that laws governing seat belts, air bags and infant/toddler seats may
apply. It is important to note,
however, that the similarity between AGT vehicles and automobiles does not
extend beyond the passenger compartment.
Unlike automobiles, head-on collisions in AGT systems are
impossible. The speed of the AGT system
is well below freeway speeds. Also, AGT
operate with automated controls therefore eliminating the human operator error
that causes the majority of accidents in automobiles.
The brick-wall stopping
criterion is a standard applied to set the minimum allowable distance or time
headway between vehicles moving along a guideway. If two or more vehicles are moving along the guideway at line
speed, the distance between each pair of adjacent vehicles must be such that if
the leading vehicle comes to an instantaneous stop, the following vehicle has
sufficient room to stop without either exceeding emergency jerk or acceleration
comfort limits or hitting the stopped vehicle.
The minimum allowable headway is important because it determines the
line capacity. For example, a system
that operates at a one-second headway has five times the line capacity of a
system that operates at a five-second headway.
Close headway operation (less than two seconds) may not be required
during initial operation but may be required as ridership and travel demand
grows.
People walking along the
top of the guideway present a danger to themselves, vehicle passengers and to
people beneath the guideway. There are
several options available to deter people from walking on the guideway. Barriers may be placed between the platform
and vehicles with doors that only open when a vehicle is in place. Notices may be placed indicating the dangers
associated with walking on the guideway, and institute large monetary penalties
for doing so. Use and open truss near
stations. Use proximity detectors on
guideway to detect if a person is on the guideway. Use safety barriers between the station platform and the guideway
positioned below the platform and guideway surface.
To prevent unattended
stations from being used by criminals as sites for assaulting or robbing
passengers, a closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system will be
installed. Cameras mounted in the
stations would be connected to monitors at Central Control. Station platforms should be unobstructed to
provide a clear view to cameras, and the station design should eliminate
potential hiding places. Coverage will
be provided for all stairwells, elevators doors, ticketing areas and other
passenger facilities such as change machines and public phones. Motion sensors will alert Central Control to
the presence of people in the station during off-peak or late-night hours. If a motion sensor is triggered, the appropriate
camera view will be brought up on the monitors at Central Control. Emergency call buttons should be
conveniently positioned and voice actuated alarms may be used.
After a passenger enters
a vehicle but just before the door closes, a person intent on robbery or
assault might enter the vehicle. The
passenger would then be trapped in the vehicle with the person for the duration
of the trip. If Central Control
receives a distress call, police may be directed to the destination station or
the vehicle may be rerouted by Central Control to the maintenance facility
where security or police could control the situation.
Adequate protection must
be provided to the support columns to prevent automobiles and or trucks from
striking the column and knocking it down along with a section of the
guideway. The guideway may be designed
with enough redundancy and bread-away features to allow one support column to
be knocked down and still remain in tact.
In certain situations,
such as if the cabin filled with smoke or the vehicle loses electrical power,
there is a need to open the door manually.
Manual latches should be provided both inside and outside the vehicle. The door should not be able to be opened
from the inside if the vehicle is not in a station. In case the vehicle is being filled with smoke, an emergency
ventilation system should be provided.
Handicapped access must
comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. The level of handicap that must be
accommodated is the primary issue.
Quadriplegics should be accompanied.
Visually impaired can be accommodated with Braille plaques and
prerecorded or voice synthesized messages.
Also surface textures may also be employed as a means of communicating. Hearing impaired may be accommodated with
video, and LCD visual displays.
Illiterate and foreign passengers may be accommodated with graphic
designs and user selected language displays or audio messages.
PASSENGER COMFORT AND
CONVENIENCE
UNACCEPTABLE VEHICLES
Activities of a passenger
may leave a vehicle in a condition that is unacceptable to subsequent
passengers. A vehicle reject button is
provided to request a rejection of the vehicle by Central Control. The first time a vehicle is rejected it is
sent to the next open station. If it is
rejected again it is sent to the maintenance facility. If a passenger rejects two vehicles, Central
Control would contact the passenger to determine appropriate action.
Windshield wipers are not
necessary and will not be provided.
They are a high maintenance item and add to the capital cost of the
vehicle. Instead, a hydrophobic
exterior coating along with hot air defrosters and imbedded resistive heaters
will be used to remove snow and ice from the windows and windshield.
OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE
DISABLED VEHICLE
If a vehicle becomes
disabled during a passenger trip, Central Control will attempt to complete the
trip by intervening with manual control commands. If unsuccessful, a trailing vehicle will be employed to push the
disabled vehicle to the next available station. The passengers from both vehicles will then be disembarked and
reassigned to other vehicles to complete their trip. Central Control will then decide the proper course of action to
return the disabled vehicle to revenue service. It will either dispatch maintenance personnel to the vehicle for
temporary repairs or move the vehicle to the maintenance area for the repairs. In the worst case where the disable vehicle
cannot be moved, evacuation vehicles will be dispatched to the disabled vehicle
to remove the passengers and assess further the problem. In the worst case scenario, equipment will
be dispatched to the disabled vehicle to reattach the vehicle to the guideway
properly, repair any parts of the vehicle that may prevent it from moving and
manually move the vehicle to the maintenance area.
Central Control can issue
announcements to all vehicles, all stations, specific vehicles and or specific
stations or any combination. Two way
voice communication can be conducted with passengers in vehicles and/or
stations. The two way communication may
be initiated by either the passenger or Central Control. Visual displays will be provided in each
vehicle and at each station gate. The
visual displays will be controlled by Central Control and may indicate a
variety of information including advertising and shopping/lodging
information. The displays in the
station areas will assist passengers unfamiliar with the system in its proper
use.
FARE POLICY
PASSENGERS PER VEHICLE
The cost of a trip will
be charged per passenger and not per vehicle.
The
collector/distribution routes will be on a flat fare basis.
Fare may be collected in
a variety of ways. Magnetically encoded
cards and chip-based smart cards are some of the ways that fare may be
collected.
WEATHER
WIND
The system is designed to
operate in a wide range of weather conditions.
The system will have three levels of operation depending upon the
severity of the weather conditions.
Under conditions of high wind,>70 mph, the system will close down by
delivering all onboard passengers to their destinations and not accepting any
new passengers. For wind conditions
>30 mph and <70 mph, the system will operate in a degraded speed
mode. For wind conditions <30 mph
the system will operate in normal mode.
The system is designed to withstand 100 mph winds with no damage to the
vehicle, guideway or equipment.
The guideway will be
designed with active heating along the paths of guide and traction wheels. The power bars will be protected from frost
accumulation. A maintenance vehicle
equipped with snow plows is used to remove accumulated snow from the guideway
surface. The maintenance snow plow
vehicle is equipped to operate automatically in the mix vehicles.of the
passenger