Ansaldo STS
Mon, 2010-03-29 21:43 — superadmin
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Sustainable Public Transportation
I had the intensely educational experience of working for Ansaldo STS (Then Union Switch & Signal - an Ansaldo Transporti subsidiary, and now a part of Ansaldo STS) on the Copenhagen metro project. Among the features that made this particular system especially sustainable:
The stations are at 20m (60 ft) below the surface, while the tunnels between the stations range about 40-100 m below the surface. When a train leaves a station, if has a significant downhill portion to assist in accelerating to speed with a minimum of energy expenditure. Likewise, the entrance to a station is uphill, saving on braking effort.
The trains are driverless - one of the first major systems to be certified by TÜV for driverless operations. Safety is assured by on-car audio and video monitoring, platform screen doors on the underground portion and platform intrusion systems and video monitoring on the above ground stations.
Rather than send larger trains out during peak times, the Copenhagen system uses a fixed, 3-car train. During peak times the number of cars in the system are increased. This means the trains arrive at the station more quickly (as little as 90 seconds apart during peak) and the wait time for passengers is decreased dramatically over a traditional system.
This system is being reproduced in Milan & Brescia Italy, and in Shanghai.
http://intl.m.dk/
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