SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
                                             March, 2001

The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system allows passengers to make trips on a public transportation system in a mode that provides nonstop, origin to destination station, on demand travel for either you or your private group.  The vehicle passenger capacity is typically three to six.  A typical PRT trip involves the passenger arriving at a station to make a trip to another station.  The passenger then purchases a ticket or uses a prepaid pass at an automatic ticket dispensing machine.  The patron then proceeds to the vehicle boarding gate and selects a destination station at the Ticket Validation Console (TVC) located directly at the boarding gate.  The TVC prompts the patron to insert the ticket after which the system will subtract the appropriate fare and record the destination station.  The patron can then board a waiting vehicle and the vehicle will close the door and proceed, nonstop directly to the destination station where it will stop at a gate and open the door, after which the passengers can disembark and leave the station.  The system is fully automated in that all vehicle movements are scheduled and controlled by an automatic control system.  The total system involves vehicle, wayside, station and central controllers.  There is a comprehensive wide-band data, voice and video communication system that connects all vehicles, stations and maintenance operations to the Central Control Center.  In this way, not only the normal communication required to operate the vehicles and stations is achieved, but sufficient communication for handling passenger inquiries, operational emergencies and passenger safety concerns is available.

 

The following sections describe the primary requirements for each of the major system components:

 OVERALL SYSTEM PARAMETERS  

  1. Vehicles will operate with less than 5 seconds headway.

  2. Vehicles will accommodate single or small groups of passengers.  They will also accommodate handicapped passengers according to the ADA requirements.

  3. The maximum admissible waiting time for a vehicle once a request has been made is 3 minutes.

  4. The overall system availability must be at least 99.7%.

 ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

  1. The system, including guideway expansion joints, will be designed to operate in ambient temperatures from 130 def. F to - 40 deg. F.

  2. The system will operate in precipitation conditions of up to 5 in. rain/day and with up to 18 in. of snow/day.

  3. The system will operate in normal mode in wind conditions from 0 to 50 mph and in a reduced performance mode in wind speeds from 50 mph to 80 mph.  In conditions where the wind velocity is sustained greater than 80 mph, the system will empty all cars and park them.  The system will not sustain any wind damage in conditions where the wind is gusting or has a sustained velocity of 110 mph.

 VEHICLE SYSTEMS

  1. The vehicle capacity will be between 3 and 6 persons.

  2. Interior space will be provided to accommodate small packages and/or other personal items.

  3. The vehicle will provide a suitable interior environment so that passengers will be comfortable in all weather conditions.  The environmental control system will have air conditioning, heating and forced ventilation with individual air nozzles.

  4. The vehicle will have a design operating speed on the main line of 40 mph.  The station speed will be 15 mph.

  5. Vehicle longitudinal acceleration is 10 ft/sec2 maximum for normal operation.

  6. Vehicle braking longitudinal deceleration is 12 ft/sec2 normal maximum and 33 ft/sec2 crash avoidance.

  7. Vehicle maximum lateral acceleration is 4 ft/sec2 net (accounting for super elevation).

  8. Passenger restraints are required.  Air bag protection is not required.

  9. Propulsion system is either linear induction motor (LIM) or rotary motor.

  10. Vehicle doors are sliding plug doors with electric control and pneumatic actuation.  The door may be opened manually in the station area only, by passengers from the inside of the vehicle in the case of an emergency.  The vehicle door may be opened manually, from the outside of the vehicle, by maintenance personnel anyplace on the system, in the case of an emergency.

  11. The vehicle will have an emergency two-way voice communication system that connects the vehicle with Central Control.

  12. The vehicle will have a computerized display system that can be used for system as well as commercial messages.

  13. All moving parts for the switch are onboard the vehicle.  The switching mechanism will be a bistable, overcenter locking system that precludes ambiguous switching actions.  The steady state condition of the switching mechanism must, at all times, be in a state that causes the vehicle to remain on the main line,  cause the vehicle to switch off or onto the main line.

  14. Access doors or easily removable panels will be provided to afford ready and easy access to all onboard operating equipment.

  15. Passengers will be protected and vehicles will remain on the guideway in the event of a vehicle crash.

 GUIDEWAY 

1.     The guideway has a “U” shaped cross section.  It has no vertical surfaces within the cross sectional profile  of the vehicle.

2.    The guideway switches have no moving parts.

3.    Maximum super elevation is 10%.

4.    Maximum grade is 15%.

5.   Minimum horizontal radius is 50 ft.

6.   Minimum vertical radius is 100ft.

7.   Maximum guideway twist is 0.2 deg./ft.  Spirals will be used to minimize jerk.

8.   The drive wheel (if used) running surface will be heated in freezing conditions to prevent ice from accumulating on the surface.  Any surface that depends upon the coefficient of friction for braking action also must be heated in freezing conditions.

9.   The guideway will have three electrical conducting power bars.  One will conduct +600 vdc, one is neutral 0 vdc and one is a ground.  The ground is required in the station areas only.

10. The power bars will be protected from frost and ice accumulation.

11.  The power bars will have a nonconducting cover to minimize the electrical shock hazard to maintenance personnel.

12.  The power bars will be mounted in a horizontal position on the inside of the guideway vertical surface.

13.  The guideway will have vertical surfaces on either side to provide a running surface for the vehicle lateral guidance wheels.

14.  The guideway will accommodate a slotted microwave guide for both data and other communication between the vehicle and the control system.

15.  Guideway columns will accommodate vertical and lateral adjustment of the horizontal surface of 1 in. in each direction.

16.  Guideway surfaces will accommodate snow plowing operations.

 POWER DISTRIBUTION

1.    Electrical substations will be modularized and located near or in stations.  They will be controlled by         Central Control.

2.   Each substation will have an auxiliary power unit that can supply electrical power to the PRT system if the    power grid fails.

3.   Power lines will fully incorporate Ground Fault Detection and Interruption circuits.

 FIRE PROTECTION 

1.   A system wide policy of nonsmoking will be implemented.

2.   Each vehicle will be equipped with a fire extinguisher.

3.   Each vehicle will be equipped with smoke detectors that can cause a vehicle to be routed to the maintenance area when activated.

4.   Vehicles will be constructed of fire retardant materials throughout.

5.   Vehicles will be equipped with forced ventilation systems to remove smoke from the vehicle interior.

6.   Metal bulkheads will be incorporated to separate compartments containing electrical equipment from the passenger compartment.

 DISABLED VEHICLE REMOVAL

1.   Vehicles will be designed to be pushed by a trailing vehicle in the event a vehicle fails on the guideway.

2.   Each vehicle will incorporate a pushing mechanism and a coupling mechanism to allow pushing of a stalled vehicle.

3.   There will be a maintenance vehicle that is diesel powered that has the capability of pushing or towing a stalled vehicle to the maintenance area.  This vehicle will also have the capability of plowing snow off of the guideway.  It also has the capability of safely evacuating passengers from a stalled vehicle that cannot be readily moved.

 COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM

  1. The Command and Control System (CCS) will use a moving block or point follower concept

  2. TCS will allow a fully automated vehicle operation.

  3. The CCS will provide automatic vehicle protection.

  4. The CCS will consist of the Central Control, Wayside Control, Onboard Vehicle Control and  Station Control as well as the communications network for both data and audio/visual communications.

  5. The system will utilize checked redundant computers with continuous cyclic two-way communication between the wayside and vehicles.

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