Monorail

Like other advanced rapid transit systems, monorails can be driven by linear induction motors; like conventional railways, vehicle bodies can be connected to the beam via bogies, allowing curves to be negotiated.

[citation needed] Compared to the elevated train systems of New York, Chicago, and elsewhere, a monorail beamway casts a narrow shadow.

[11] In addition, monorails must either remain above ground or use larger tunnels than conventional rail systems, and they require complex track-switching equipment.

Also in the early 1900s, Gyro monorails with cars gyroscopically balanced on top of a single rail were tested, but never developed beyond the prototype stage.

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.

This train moved on spherical wheels with electric motors embedded in them, which were located in semi-circular chutes under a wooden platform (in the full-scale project the trestle would have been concrete).

[23] In the latter half of the 20th century, monorails had settled on using larger beam- or girder-based track, with vehicles supported by one set of wheels and guided by another.

In March 1972, Alejandro Goicoechea-Omar had patent DE1755198 published, on a 'Vertebrate Train', build as experimental track in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.

Modern mass transit monorail systems use developments of the ALWEG beam and tyre approach, with only two suspended types in large use.

Since the 2000s, with the rise of traffic congestion and urbanization, there has been a resurgence of interest in the technology for public transport with a number of cities, such as Malta[28][29] and Istanbul,[30][31][32] today investigating monorails as a possible mass transit solution.

This is because Chongqing is criss-crossed by numerous hills, mountains and rivers, therefore tunneling is not feasible except in some cases (for example, lines 1 and 6) due to the extreme depth involved.

The National Transportation Safety Board found the cause of the accident to be human error by both the driver and controller, contributed to by a lack of standard operating procedures.

Line 15 was partially opened in 2014, will be 27 km (17 mi) long when completed in 2022 and has a capacity of 40,000 pphpd using Bombardier Innovia Monorail trains.

Now 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.

The Thunderbirds February 1966 episode "Brink of Disaster" is about the financing and building of a high speed driverless cross-country monorail project.

Two of the Thunderbirds-crew find themselves trapped on board the a monorail train, and with no possibility of escape, when it is discovered it is speeding towards a stricken bridge.

During Live and Let Die (1973), a prop monorail is shown in the villain's lair on the fictional Caribbean island of San Monique.

Its popularity has still endured over thirty years later, where Lego has paid homage in promotional sets and fans have manufactured compatible components.

At the time, the post–World War II optimism in America was riding high and people were buying automobiles in large numbers due to suburbanization and the Interstate Highway System.

Monorails in particular may have suffered from the reluctance of public transit authorities to invest in the perceived high cost of un-proven technology when faced with cheaper mature alternatives.

This high-cost perception was challenged most notably in 1963 when the ALWEG consortium proposed to finance the construction of a major system in Los Angeles County, California, in return for the right of operation.

Several monorails initially conceived as transport systems survive on revenues generated from tourism, benefiting from the unique views offered from the largely elevated installations.

[64] In 1919/1920, however, the hand-operated monorails gradually disappeared and were replaced by narrow-gauge railways with steam locomotives as forest utilization changed.

[65] In the 1920s the Port of Hamburg used a petrol powered, suspended monorail to transport luggage and freight from ocean-going vessels to a passenger depot.

[67] In the Soviet Union the Lyskovsky monorail in the Nizhny Novgorod region was designed by the engineer of the timber industry Ivan Gorodtsov.

Following this example a separate 42 kilometres (26 mi) cargo-and-passenger monorail was built from the town of Bor to the village of Zavrazhnoe, where forest and peat were exploited.

[citation needed] The British firm Road Machines (Drayton) Ltd developed a modular-track ground-level monorail system with a 9 in (230 mm) high rail segments, 4 to 12 ft (1.2 to 3.7 m) long, running between support plates.

[73] In the mining industry suspended monorails have been used because of their ability to descend and climb steep tunnels using rack and pinion drive.

This significantly reduces cost and length of tunnels, by up to 60% in some cases, which otherwise must be at gentle gradients to suit road vehicles or conventional railways.

[74][75] A suspended monorail capable of carrying fully loaded 20' and 40' containers has been under construction since 2020 at the Port of Qingdao, the first phase of which was put into operation in 2021.