doi: 978-981-08-6396-8_plenary5

Plenary Session 5 Rail Transit Operation &Maintenance
Title Fully Automated Rail Transit: The Economic Solution for Intermediate Capacity City Transport
Speaker Professor Brian Mellitt
Director, BMCONSULT Ltd;
Senior Associate, Vision Transportation
Chairperson Mr Colin Lim
Group Director, Vehicle &Transit Licensing
Land Transport Authority of Singapore
Date/Time Thursday, 21 October 2010 / 14:30
Venue Compass Central Ballroom

Professor Brian Mellitt has worked in non executive, strategic business development and railway engineering specialist roles with major UK and international companies since retiring from the board of Railtrack Plc in 1999. He has also acted as Rail Adviser to N M Rothschild for international railway restructuring projects and provides consultancy services for major organisations in rail transport through his own company BMCONSULT Ltd. Since 1999 he has undertaken assignments for organisations in Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan and the UK.

He was Director of Engineering and Production and Group Board Member of Railtrack PLC from 1995 to 1999, Director of Engineering and Board Member of London Underground Limited from 1988 to 1995, and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Head of the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Birmingham, prior to his appointment at London Underground Limited.

Professor Mellitt is Honorary Professor of Electronics at the University of Birmingham, Past-President of the IEE (now IET) and the Welding Institute, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, and Honorary Life Fellow of the Association of Project Managers. He holds honorary doctorates from 3 UK universities.

Abstract
During the late 19th century the development of major commercial centres in Europe and the USA led to the emergence of the rapid transit system. The purpose of these systems was to provide high-capacity short-distance railbased public transport, with frequent station stops, within the developing commercial zones of major cities. Over the last 25 years driverless rapid transit systems have been introduced and have an excellent record in operation. Without a driver it is practicable to support a frequent service throughout the full working day. This is significant for light rail and intermediate capacity rail based systems.

Heavy rail systems, that typically can deliver 75,000 people per hour in each direction, require separation of rail vehicles from road traffic, using tracks in tunnels, tracks on elevated structures or tracks at grade segregated rights of way. Lower capacity light rail systems can operate alongside road traffic using common rights of way. While this minimises construction costs the average speeds achieved are low because of the need for traffic management and the impact of road intersections.

Intermediate capacity systems, delivering up to 25.000 people per hour per direction, at the average speeds that are characteristic of ‘heavy’ railways provide cost effective systems using segregated track that is made up of elevated and at grade sections, depending on the topology of the city. Reliability and quality of service are key system deliverables in any transit system. Automation of the driving function and other operational systems provides the opportunity to minimise deviations from scheduled performance, as well as reducing current account costs over the long term.

The paper describes the key features of Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) systems that provide fully automated driverless rail transit systems for intermediate capacity requirements. These systems which normally use either an elevated railway or an at grade railway, are delivered at a lower capital cost, for intermediate capacity requirements, than the use of a tunnelled railway. The economics of railway are such that tunnelled construction can only be justified for the high passenger carrying capacities required by heavy rail transit.

The paper reviews the key system features of 13 fully automated systems that are in current operation. These involve traction drives that utilise conventional adhesive rotary traction motors, non adhesive linear induction motors as well as rubber tyred adhesive drives.

Keywords: Rapid Transit systems, Automated rail transit.

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