Transit Papers
Our sincere thanks to the many authors presented here; for helping set the transportation agenda for the 21st century, and for informing and educating the public. Keep up the good work!
- A Nationwide High-Speed Monorail Grid for the United States. Viable? Desirable? Achievable? by Thomas H. Hopkins. Technologies, economics, environmental impact, and politics of transit in the 21st Century and develops a vision for a new national transit grid, G4. (pdf)
- Bombardier INNOVIA 200 Monorail Technology 2010 (Las Vegas).
- Bombardier INNOVIA 300 Monorail Technology 2010 (Riyadh, Sao Paulo)
- Chongqing Monorail Train Data (2.2 MB pdf)
- CHSST: "Assessment of CHSST Maglev for U.S. Urban Transportation" FTA Report, July 2002 (FTA-MD-26-7029-2002.1) , June 2003 (FTA-MD-26-7029-2003). Japan's urban maglev technology assessment by FTA. (2.5 MB pdf)
- CHSST: "Applicability of CHSST Maglev Technology for U.S. Urban Transportation", June 2003 (FTA-MD-26-7029-2003). Japan's urban maglev technology is described and assessed for the USA in this FTA report. (1.5 MB pdf)
- Considering Monorail Rapid Transit for North American Cities. by Ryan R. Kennedy. (1.9 MB pdf)
A good overview of current monorail technology and applications throughout the world. (pdf)
- Economic Analysis of Monorail Link Between the Stratosphere Tower and Downtown Las Vegas. by Andrew Jakes. Informative study results for City of Las Vegas of what may become the next extension of the Las Vegas Monorail. (pdf)
- Franchise Agreement with the City of Indianapolis: a New Approach to People Mover Implementation in American Cities. by Andrew Jakes. A unique franchise agreement is resulting in a people mover system at no cost to taxpayers. (pdf)
- Hitachi Small Monorail (New Solution for Urban Traffic: Small-type Monorail System). by Takeo Kuwabara, Motomi Hiraishi, Kenjiro Goda, Seiichi Okamoto, Akira Ito and Yoichi Sugita. The study results of a new Alweg-based Hitachi monorail for smaller cities. (pdf)
- Hitachi Straddle-type Monorails with Driverless Train Operation System. 2004 by Masamichi Kato, Kenichi Yamazaki, Toshiharu Amazawa and Takayuki Tamotsu.
- The Las Vegas Monorail: A Unique Rapid Transit Project for a Unique City. by Thomas J. Stone, Ph.D., P.E., Carlos A. Banchik, P.E., and Jeffery B. Kimmel, Esq. This system broke ground in a number of ways. Read the details behind the deal and the technology. Graphics included.
- Maglev 2000. MAGLEV 2000 of Florida Corporation has designed magnetic levitation and propulsion technology for high-speed intercity transportation systems capable of operating at speeds in excess of 300 mph, or that can also be adapted for slower speed urban transit operations where operating speeds of 30 to 120 mph will be used. (pdf)
- Maglift Monorail: A High-Performance, Low-Cost, and Low-Risk Solution for High-Speed Ground Transportation. by Thomas H. Hopkins, Julio Pinto Silva, Barry Marder, Bob Turman, and Bruce Kelley.
Comparing conventional rail, maglev, and a proposed high-speed monorail. (pdf)
- Magnemotion Maglev M3. The MagneMotion Urban Maglev System, a proposed $20 million per mile maglev system. (pdf)
- Pinellas Mobility Initiative Final Report (2003). Grimail Crawford Inc.'s excellent study for an extensive monorail system for Pinellas County, Florida. (6.9 MB pdf)
- Riding High in Las Vegas. by Carlos A Banchik, P.E., and Harry Jasper, P.E. Courtesy of Carlos A. Banchik and Civil Engineering Magazine. Technical details of Las Vegas Monorail construction. (4.2 MB pdf)
- Scomi Sutra brochure In December of 2007, Scomi revealed their new Sutra monorail train to much fanfare. This is Scomi's information brochure describing Sutra. (576 KB pdf)
- Technology Development for U.S. Urban Maglev. by In-Kun Kim, Robert Kratz , David Doll, General Atomics. On key technical aspects of US Maglev Project.
- The Physics of SERAPHIM. by Barry Marder, Sandia National Laboratories. The Segmented Rail Phased Induction Motor (SERAPHIM) has been proposed as the propulsion for the High-Speed Monorail, as well as other forms of ground transportation. This report describes the technology, different designs and examines weaknesses and strengths.
Please submit transit paper or "Request for Papers" to our email found on our Contact page (pdf format preferred). We especially welcome papers regarding state-of-the-art in non-air transportation technologies, straddle monorails, suspended monorails, maglevs, linear motors, PRT, new construction materials/methods, the politics of transit, how to win a petition drive, case studies on attracting riders, or profitable transit systems and how they got there. We also invite those with opposing views.