Portal:Rapid transit/Selected article/Archive/Week 13 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Advanced Rapid Transit or ART is the current name given to a metro system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation; it was originally named ICTS (for ‘Intermediate Capacity Transit System’), and is sometimes referred to generically as ‘advanced light rapid transit’. It is used by metro lines in Vancouver, Toronto, Detroit, New York, and Kuala Lumpur. A future system in Yongin, near Seoul, South Korea is to use the technology as well. It was proposed for Bangkok, Thailand’s Skytrain, but dropped in favour of standard light-rail technology.
The technology was developed in the 1970s by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, a Crown corporation of the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was among the first to make use of linear electromagnetic propulsion. ART is not, however, a magnetic levitation system; the train’s weight is supported by the wheels even while in motion. The train is propelled by magnetic forces acting against currents induced in a conductive strip located between the rails, essentially pulling itself along without requiring a motor with moving parts.
ART trains are also capable of running under computer control, without drivers, and have steerable axles, allowing them to turn tighter corners than most trains of the same length. They are also lighter than most conventional metro trains, and can run on smaller elevated guide-ways and in narrower tunnels.
