SUPPLIERS
Suppliers
The main four suppliers of operational straddle-beam (ALWEG) monorail systems, each have a product line that features different types and size of system depending on capacity requirements. It is our view that a large high-capacity monorail system would be unsuitable for the WestOx proposal but each of these suppliers can provide a system that would be ideal for a Witney to Oxford Rapid Transit.
In addition to monorail, there are exciting developments in maglev (magnetic levitation) technology that could also be considered for a Witney to Oxford rail link.
Bombardier
Canadian company that has 25 years’ of successful monorail design. Systems in operation include Las Vegas and Sao Paulo (Line 15). The latest technology is employed in Bombardier’s Innovia Monorail 300 which offers CITYFLO driverless operation and regenerative braking. Over 500 Innovia Monorail vehicles have been ordered or are in operation – including the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) monorail, currently under construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Scomi Engineering Bhd
A global service provider in the oil & gas and transport solutions industry based in Malaysia. Scomi supplied the original carriages for the Kuala Lumpur monorail when it began service in 2003 (an upgrade to Scomi SUTRA 4-car type began in 2014). Scomi pioneered the first Indian monorail in Mumbai which they constructed and operate (until 2029) with partners Larsen & Toubro. The company increasingly specialise in monorail and are currently constructing the monorail Line 17 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Kualar Lumpar, Malaysia
Hitachi
Since providing the Tokyo monorail in 1964, Hitachi Monorail Systems have continued to be refined over 4 decades. The straddle design is based on the ‘Alweg’ system and utilises a narrow beam that is slimmer and therefore less intrusive than other designs. The beam is produced off site allowing the route corridor to remain highly accessible to the public during construction. The design uses less construction material and results in significant cost savings. Hitachi Monorail System has been selected for mass transit corridors in Kita-Kyushu, Osaka, Tama and Okinawa. Hitachi has pioneered the development of the compact monorail – SMARTRAN – which can be seen operating in Sentosa, Singapore. Hitachi’s most recently completed system is Line 3 of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit in Daegu, South Korea.
Hitachi offers three vehicle sizes and other subsystems to meet different passenger carrying capacities:
Small Type
Medium Type
Large Type
Intamin Transportation
Based in Switzerland, Intamin began developing amusement rides (INTernational AMusement INstallations) before evolving into a supplier of automated ‘People Mover’ systems, including monorail. Intamin have successfully completed a number of monorail projects including Moscow’s 4.7km system. Three system platforms, the P6, the P8, and the P30 capable of handling inclinations up to 15 to 20%, compound curves, and 1,000 to 5,000 persons per hour and direction. Intamin monorail systems are currently in development in China, Nigeria, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
P30 monorail design for 2017 Asian Games, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Port Harcourt, NIgeria
Intamin's P30 People Mover is being used to provide a monorail system proposed to cover approx. 20km serving 14 stations within the city of Port Harcourt
The monorail project is part of the city’s and River State infrastructural investments to improve the traffic situation.New Paragraph
BYD SkyRail
In addition to these four established monorail providers, electric vehicle manufacturer BYD of China has recently developed a new monorail system. In a project that employed 1000 engineers over a five-year period, BYD developed 'SkyRail'. BYD builds the entire SkyRail system, including the complete vehicle, tracks, stations and communication systems.
BYD's first 5.4-kilometer trial line was unveiled in October 2016 linking BYD’s headquarters in Shenzhen with a nearby high-speed railway station. Last year BYD signed an agreement to build its first monorail system in South America in the city of Salvador The new installation in Salvador, Brazil, joins a handful of SkyRail installations in China and others in the Philippines, Egypt, Morocco, and Cambodia.
BYD use the latest technology on its vehicles including full automation, energy storage on stopping and deceleration and on-board batteries that allow trains to run for up to 3km in the event of a power failure.
Below is a short promotional video for SkyRail
Transport System Bögl
Developed by German engineering company, Max Bögl, this medium speed urban system utilises maglev (magnetic levitation) principles to provide zero contact between the train sets and the track. The tecchnology provides a vibration-free, noiseless system with a maximum speed of 150km/h.
" With the Transport System Bögl, we have developed a public transport system that is ready for the future. Thanks to maglev technology, this system is quiet, flexible and reliable while also saving space and lowering emissions".
TSB recently transported the first two production trains to China where, along with their Chinese partner Xinzhu, they will begin demonstrating the system to interested parties.
