Um… sort of like Walt Disney’s Peoplemover?
This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. What happens when the new train is too crowded or someone is just too slow and they’re still in the doorway when the boarder train runs out of track? Emergency stop on a HST? Anybody who has ridden a subway knows that people suck at boarding and require constant warnings to stand clear of the door, and sometimes physical assistance from the metro staff.
It’s like those airplane loading simulations that assume everybody is traveling alone and has no carry-on bags to stuff in a slightly too small overhead bin and is perfectly efficient at finding their seat and getting out of the walkway.
What, no helicopters and sharks?
Note: Requires spherical humans of uniform density.
Americans?
Being able to drop cars and add cars while at speed seems much simpler and safer to me. No messy humans are having to transfer laterally, and you don;t need as much track modifications. The drawback is that you’d be limited to a single door when you wanted to change passenger seating and luggage transfer.
Oh, well done.
This sounds less sensible than Zeppelins. Anyway, if you have to transfer to another train, which will then, you know, decelerate and drop you off at a stationary platform, are you going to save that much time anyway?
It depends how many stops you’re going. If you get on at one stop, then get off at the next one - it probably saves you no time, or even costs you a bit of time. But if you ride through ten stops, it would probably save you a fair amount of time.
It also depends how long the stops are. The East-West train across Canada (in every way the opposite of a high speed train, so really not a reasonable comparison) has many many stops on its route, some of which are over an hour long when the train takes on fuel, food, water, etc, not counting the time to manoeuvre off the main line and onto the side line that goes to the train station, then get back out to the main line again. If it could just keep making headway as shuttle trains pull up alongside it at various towns and cities, a longer-haul trip could be cut down by many hours
It’d still probably be easier and cheaper to just lift passengers of the roof by helicopter than this foofaraw. It’s kind of heartening to see that the spirit of modern Mechanix blue-sky crazypants is not dead, however. now, about these Zeppelins…
I agree that that is a much simpler solution. Keeping in mind, it means people would need to change cars during transmit to be able to get off at the correct intermediate destinations.
I’m thinking helicopter is still the best method. Has some disadvantages in tunnels however.
Now I’m imagining the seats on the rain moving in their own peoplemover track. You stay seated, the seat moves to the back of the train and transfers cars when its time to get off. Probably as practical as zeppelins,. but it’s a fun mental image!
Bit like Asimov’s rows of moving walkways with gradual steps up in speed between them.
You people are all overlooking the simplest solution: Rocketboots.
The Roads Must Roll!
Yeah, it struck me that obstructing the doors is low-hanging fruit if you want to create extreme mischief… some vigilant security would probably be required.
Otherwise, pretty brilliant idea.
