Mennen Infrastructure & Development Co. Ltd
(MIDCL) is the development arm of Mennen Group with proposed plan to set up futuristic monorail—a modular Light Rail Transit System proposed to cover 2.5 Km in phased manner in India.
This technology is also called "Railroad in the Sky", which features a vehicle that is suspended from cables along which self-propelled vehicles travel.
The light and modern vehicles is made of the newest composite materials and will be constructed using as few as 2 or up to 9 modules with a capacity ranging between 40 and 222 passengers. The vehicles are capable of speeds up to 40 Mph and produce virtually no noise and pollution and can be operated in semi-automatic or automatic modes.
The cables are supported by large pylons and the cable suspended overhead guide way uses the weight of the vehicle passing over it to force the track into a horizontal path for smooth trestle passage without noticeable bumps or sways at speeds of up to 40 mph. Two different sets of cables (suspension and runway covered with an Aluminum rail interconnected by vertical hangers) are used. There are four cables per track. Electric motors are used for vehicle propulsion.
The minimum operational headway is about 90 seconds. Maximum commercial speed is 40 mph and the time needed to load/unload is estimated to be 20 seconds. Capacity is pegged at up to 10,000 persons per hour per direction. Grades of up to 8 per cent are believed to be possible and the normal height above ground level would be 16.5 to 19.5 feet.
The suspended Light Rail Transit System will be used for moving people or cargo in both urban and suburban settings. The proven technology, which does not congest streets or contaminate the air, is a dramatic advancement of the conventional monorail concept. Based on engineering principles, which have withstood the test of time, the suspended Light Rail Transit System is seen as the mass transit mode for the next century.
|
