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Posted by southern california transit system (salaamallah) on Sun Feb 22 22:10:45 2004
http://www.avt-train.com/main.html
..A KCBS CHANNEL 2 CBS TV Special Assignment
Feb 16, 2004 8:45 pm US/Pacific
LOS ANGELES (KCBS) Our freeway traffic is rated the worst in the nation. And experts say it's only going to get worse as millions more cars hit the road in the next few decades. But a train like nothing you've ever seen before may be the answer to gridlock. As CBS anchor Linda Alvarez shows us, a local engineer says his Supertrain would put you in the fast lane permanently
Special Assignment: "Supertrain" originally aired Monday, February 16, 2004 at 5 p.m.
Bumper to bumper, brake light to brake light, there's no such thing as rush in Southern California's rush hour.
"Everyday I turn on the traffic report in the car and everyday it always says really heavy through Sherman Oaks," commuter Vanessa Ryden says.
Ryden is about to get on the 101 freeway and get stuck in traffic. It's 2:45 in the afternoon, and she's commuting to work. She works a swing shift, drives outside peak traffic hours but traffic is still at a crawl. Her commute is just 15 miles but she gives herself nearly an hour to get there.
"It's just a huge waste of time everyday."
Los Angeles commuters waste 136 hours a year sitting in gridlock
But engineer Frank Randak says he has an answer, it's in the form of an elevated train like none you've ever seen before. The train would carry you and your car.
"It's a transporter that runs on an elevated guideway 30 feet over the shoulder of the freeway," he says.
It's called the Advanced Vehicle Transport train or AVT.
"W have a shuttle, which carries your car, catches up to the train just like you merge on to the freeway," Ryden says
A conveyor belt would then transfer the car from the shuttle to the train. Once on the train, the driver could relax, walk around, use the Internet.
"When you get to your destination the shuttle is waiting for you there. The door opens and the car is transferred to the shuttle and the shuttle takes you to the exit station."
The AVT would move on a continuous loop. It's a maglev train like trains used in Japan that float on a magnetic field. It's an expensive proposal but Randak's not concerned.
"It pays for itself because people are willing to buy tickets on the train."
Critics argue that Randak should focus on getting people out of their cars and into alternative means of transportation.
"We should all move next to the freeway in apartments so we can walk right to the train to get on and get off. But Southern California is about suburban living. Realistically it's never going to happen," Randak says
The Federal Highway Administration calls the AVT train a promising plan but says any major changes in freeway technology would be difficult to justify from economic, social and institutional perspectiveS
But Randak thinks he can justify his AVT
"In about five years we'll have a test facility that you can take your car on and ride on."
Just a few weeks ago, Randak was able to get a meeting with the Federal Highway Administration in Washington, D.C., about his train.
They want more information about the AVT's impact on existing freeways and projected ticket sales.
WHAT A BUNCH OF.............BULL==========T !!
http://www.avt-train.com/main.html
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