SkyTran Preface At the end of the cold war, the American taxpayer was promised a "peace dividend" in which much of our high-tech arsenal would be beaten into the "plowshares" of a peacetime economy. Unfortunately, few such uses have been found for the skills and machinery used to build thermo-nuclear devices, long-range missiles, or chemical and biological weapons. One outstanding exception to this otherwise disappointing transfer of technology lies in magnetic levitation. When combined with continuing advancements in computers, control, and sensing, MagLev is poised to revolutionize transportation. The ability to "levitate" vehicles in a cost effective manner is the basis for a remarkable new transportation system called SkyTran™ that will revolutionize the way we live, work, and play.SkyTran combines the advantages of mass transportation with the privacy and convenience of the automobile. Lightweight, low-cost, two-passenger SkyTran "pods" will be magnetically and frictionlessly suspended from an equally low-cost, three-dimensional monorail track grid system. A single lane low-cost SkyTran track (patents applied for) will be able to carry the same number of commuters per hour as a three-lane highway. With a large number of readily available pods always in the system and any number of conveniently located stations, customers can come and go as they please, similar to the way they currently use their automobiles. SkyTran commuters, however, will be able to relax the entire time while
traveling back and forth to work at a steady 100 mph. Their small, aerodynamic shape also means that SkyTran pods will cruise along with an equivalent energy efficiency of 200 miles per gallon. Clean SkyTran electric power combined with a proportionate reduction in traffic on our already overburdened roadways has the potential to greatly reduce toxic fossil-fuel emissions. SkyTran’s benefit to overall quality of life will be multi-faceted -- not only will commuters enjoy a convenient, less stressful journey to work, but it will be much faster and cleaner as well.Commuters are not the only ones who will benefit from the SkyTran system. Despite the system’s obvious speed and convenience advantages, SkyTran’s capital costs will surprisingly be 1/30th that of conventional light rail. The low cost of the SkyTran system is a result of the following factors:
- An innovative integration of proven "off the shelf" technologies
- Low-cost vehicles (minimum weight means less energy and capital to produce and operate)
- Low-cost tracks (lightweight vehicles can be safely supported with lighter weight tracks)
- Low or non-existent real estate right-of-way costs (small, lightweight SkyTran can be erected on existing highway medians, ordinary sidewalks or even attached directly to existing buildings)
- Lower maintenance costs due to the "solid state" (no moving parts) nature of the system
Perhaps the most important of the direct benefits SkyTran offers is safety. The most obvious will be the reduction in automobile-related deaths (43 thousand annually) and disabling injuries (2 million annually). As roadway and highway volumes decrease in the wake of SkyTran implementation, traffic injuries and deaths will decline proportionately.
The combined appeals of safer, cleaner communities should prove irresistible to politicians. All other competing transportation designs are less efficient than SkyTran, not only in their ability to move people but also in their construction and operation costs. When the advantages of the SkyTran system are clearly explained, an informed public will not only desire but will demand SkyTran implementation.
The technology exists, the need exists, and when the public understands what SkyTran has to offer…the sky will be the limit.
