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wedeTrack System is far from alone in advocating automatic transport systems with the use of beams above ground. There are roughly speaking 4 types of information sources on the Internet: Big, established companies that build various types of automatic systems, if that´s what the customers want. They usually don´t care much for the development of technology; they are in it for the money. Small companies like SwedeTrack, which have visions for a better world, or at least solutions for the energy predicament that this world soon will be facing. But they usually lack money for development and marketing, and thus also lack customers (which is the reason why they lack money). Designers of all kinds of technology and implements that can be of use to these kind of transport systems. Interest groups and general information websites. Good ideas Good ideas (or bad?) can be picked up at: the PeoplePods website, (which, among other things, writes about 100 mph personal MagLev). Although this website still exists, it has been superseded by SkyTran (see further down). Arthur D. Little Enterprises´ website for Innovators, MegaRail, Sund Bytrafik in Denmark, the UTOPIA site. and Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies This last site promises "clean, safe, 4 hour world transport, sustainable for all by year 2032". World Transport Policy & Practice (WTPP) is a quarterly journal in Great Britain which provides a high quality medium for original and creative work in world transport. Those of you who are fond of statistics can check out Bureau of Transportation Statistics in USA. Interest Groups The Monorail Society is an all-volunteer organization in the US, founded to foster more awareness and promote this still rather unique method of transit. As they correctly state on their web-site: "Monorails are NOT just for theme parks and zoos!" See their technical page for more info. Of course, monorails are usually trains, i.e. interconnected cars, for mass transit. They are not meant for individual transportation. Cimarron Technology Ltd. is a Colorado partnership, established in 1980 for the purpose of furthering development of the "Integrated Transportation System". This website contains some very relevant essays about the upcoming oil crisis. Railings against Light Rail can be found on an American website named Railroading America. This site is actually quite good when it comes to researching how U.S. tax money is wasted on inefficient transport systems. An increasing number of people realize that motorcars have got to reduce their presence in our cities. There is, of course, Reclaim the Streets, which has blossomed into an international movement. Then there is World Transport Policy & Practice, which is a quarterly journal, published on the web. Their website is quite interesting reading. Automated Peoplemover Standards Committee has a website run by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This is an American organisation which has published proposed People Mover Standards, collected in three parts, each of which can be bought over their website. An exhaustive Railroad Index can be found on the Tad Lane website. PRT and Monorail reference sites To get an overview of PRT and Monorail systems, take a look at: Advanced Transportation, which is an "eGroup" for all advanced transportation technologies. Advanced Transportation Links for transportation related sites. Intelligent Transportation Systems, which apparently have changed their address, SmartSkyways has an interesting comparison of existing and projected systems, including links to all their websites, and also links to related sites. A very useful reference site. The ALWEG Archives presents the History of the Alweg Monorail system The very best reference site for alternative transportation technologies is "Innovative Transportation Technologies". It has a complete listing of websites that promote different and (sometimes) very innovative ways of moving people and freight. This site also monitors the Transit-Focused Development, all over the world, with slight emphasis on the USA. You will also find a comparison matrix of more than 40 existing and proposed transportation technologies around the world, where they are compared according to 7 important criterias. More links can be found on the Innovative Transit website. MagLev Systems Magnetic levitation and magnetic propulsion are seen as elegant solutions also for beam-carried systems. This technique is used in regular train service today, and provides for very high velocities. Links to MagLev websites: The International Maglev Board Japanese Chuo Shinkansen. RTRI - Japan. NRP-41 - Switzerland SwissMetro - Switzerland. Baltimore - Washington Maglev - USA. ITT - USA. Magnetic Support Technology for Transport Applications. Official Reports The Swedish Institute for Transport and Communications Analysis (SIKA) has produced this report, which is a case study within the project 'The value of alternative transport systems'. More reading about similar systems First, check out this extensive listing of Recommended Reading Materials! For information about costs of different transport systems, read the article "Comparison of Costs between Bus, PRT, LRT and Metro/rail" written by Goran Tegner of the Swedish consulting firm Transek. Norsk Sportaxi in Norway, is a close associate of SwedeTrack System. On their site can be found a more extensive link-list to relevant websites. The Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. is a unique suburban job center in the U.S., with 30,000 workers from the same powerhouse company within one square mile. The area has terrible traffic congestion, and Microsoft has announced plans to add another 12,000 workers. Bettercampus.org has proposed a unique solution for Microsoft campus. Animation is available in WVM, DIVX, RM versions, with BitTorrent. A high resolution aerial photo with the PRT system layout is also available. Click to subscribe to eunitrans Eunitrans (EUropean Network for Innovative Transit) is a western European forum for discussion, consisting of roughly 25 small companies interested in automatic transport systems. It's fun to have your website reviewed! Take a peek at this Florida-based site.

Like to view pictures? Visit "Transportimages" website! It is important to differ between Monorail and GRT/PRT. Monorail systems, while often automatic, are still more like trains. They are based on "mass transit" thinking, they usually use trains consisting of several cars and they run according to a schedule, so passengers need, at least during low-traffic times, check a time table. While certainly a step in the right direction, monorail misses the real advantage with computer-controlled traffic; which is that it makes individual travel in small vehicles economically viable. This is an example of how difficult it is for old, seasoned traffic planners to think along new lines. Conventional transportation systems around the world are presented on many WWW-sites. Good listings can be found at: Rail and Trolleybus Transit Cities, and Transit Systems Worldwide. This last site contains maps of various underground railway systems. Jane´s website has a big and up-to-date "Transport"-section with lots of information. In addition, Jane´s has a good news reporting service about upcoming exhibitions and conferences. MTR or Mass Transit Railway is the metro system of Hong Kong. First opened for service in 1979, the network has since expanded to encompass seven metro lines and 53 stations, with further expansions planned. Suppliers of APM-technology The best-known suppliers of APM-technology at the present are: ADtranz (APM, small monorail) Advanced Transport Group at the University of Bristol, UK (PRT) Alstom (APM, automated light rail) Bombardier (monorail, APM) Doppelmayr Cable Car (DCC) (cable cars) MATRA Logplan Gmbh. (APM) NCTransportation Otis (APM, cable APM) Raytheon (Light Beam PRT) Siemens (cable APM) Southern California Maglev (magnetic levitation systems) Sumitomo/Mitsubishi (APM) Taxi 2000 Corporation Titan Global Technologies (Light Beam APM) Unitrak Partners (small monorail) Aeromobile Inc., is a company in California, USA, that makes air cushion vehicles. Their Aeromobile-Aeroduct System is a concept with automated air cushion vehicles traveling in elevated rights of way, similar to the beams used in APM systems. Taxi 2000 Corporation is engaged in the Phase I Prototype effort in Minnesota, since Taxi 2000 has raised sufficient private funds for this project. Manufacturers that promote Light Beam transportation technology are hard to find. Siemens has built the SIPEM system, which has been operating smoothly in Dortmund, Germany, since 1984. In July 2002 a similar system was brought into service in Duesseldorf, Germany. Stefan Zelazny lives near the construction site, and has provided som photos that can be viewed on this page. Although SIPEM is just a shuttle, it embodies some of the technology that SwedeTrack builds its own concept upon. Siemens no longer promote PRT. Raytheon has also given up on Light beams, after devoting quite a lot of time and effort in marketing PRT. Titan Global Technologies seem still to be interested. Driveswarehouse stocks a wide variety of AC Motors and DC Motors. All products from Driveswarehouse are backed up 12 months warranty and tech. support by a company that has been in drives business over 45 years. Suppliers of Monorails NCT promotes a wrap-around-the-beam design, where the cars are driven by linear motors. It´s a high-speed monorail system, perfect for intercity travel. The Urbanaut® monorail technology is substantially different from conventional straddle-beam type monorails and proposes to solve many of the problems encountered by them. It has been designed so that it does not have to straddle the beam way, but rides on top of a runway and is guided by a central rail. Aerobus is a Texas-based company providing suspended vehicles, which can carry up to 300 persons and/or cargo. Companies with Ideas Magplane is an American company, a spin off from MIT. A small American company is Higherway Transit Research. This company promotes 3 very interesting beamcar-designs for dual-mode vehicles in a low-cost ground-level suburban PRT/skyhook-system. A company in Austin, Texas is Roane Inventions, which promote the TriTrack transit solutions, in the form of very interesting beamcar-designs for dual-mode vehicles for elevated monorail. Another American company, SkyTran, has some superb designs of small beamcars, and some noteworthy comments about the rate of traffic accidents, etc. And, also in the USA (in Charleston, SC), you will find FUTREX, which has a very snazzy and informative website. In Germany and England, you will find "Modular Automated Individual Transport", (MAIT), "the next generation transportation concept!'' On this site you will find a Innovative Transport Simulator (iTS), an extensive program for simulating traffic situations in PRT, GRT and AGV networks. You can read more about this simulator here. The MonoMetro website presents the elegant "Dragonfly MonoMetro" concept. Looking at a cut-through view of a station, it´s easy to see where they got the name "Dragonfly". They use elevated platforms, as do most systems. Unfortunately MonoMetro has yet to disclose the gravity swivel switching system design. Systems under construction or in operation ULTra in United Kingdom is presently testing a 1 kilometer test track in Cardiff in Wales. The project is run by professor Martin Lowson at Bristol University, as part of the EU-sponsored EDICT program. The idea is to build a link between central Cardiff, Cathay´s Park and Cardiff Bay during the year 2004. A new ULTra PRT paper has been published in the U.K. It is available as a pdf file of 1.8+ megabytes. It has some very good photos and interesting text. About 7 pages in length. An apparently operating suspended system in India is described on the Konkan Railway Corporation website. A Park Shuttle system in Rotterdam, Holland. This ParkShuttle is a low-capacity automatic navigating vehicle that operates without any physical guidance. It finds its way automatically and travels on a simple ground-level asphalt track. Seattle: A proposed monorail system for Seattle, USA, is presented on the web. A 14-mile (21 kilometers) line is planned to be opened in December 2007. You can read more about it on the Seattle Monorail Project website. At least two interest groups oppose the Seattle Sound Transit project, deeming it to be "far inferior and will take much longer to build than the project promised to the voters in exchange for their consent to be taxed". Trust and Transit are trying to get on the November 2004 ballot, by collecting 200,000 signatures by July, 2004. CETA (Coalition for Effective Transportation Alternatives) will continue to provide information and analysis about effective transportation alternatives. You can also visit the website for the "Campaign for Advanced Transit for Metropolitan Seattle". Minneapolis City Council member Dean Zimmermann has created a PRT plan for Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is an exciting development that helps prepare Minneapolis to take the lead in developing PRT.

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