ASSESSMENT OF OPERATIONAL AUTOMATED GUIDEWAY SYSTEMS - JETRAIL

The report is an assessment and evaluation of the Braniff International Airlines Jetrail system located at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, the first operational completely automated, demand-responsive, group rapid, intra-airport transportation system. It connects a parking lot at the entrance to Love Field and the Braniff terminal with three-quarters of a mile of double-lane mono-rail and has ten suspended vehicles, a maintenance facility, and three stations. The system was intended to retain passengers in the face of increased congestion at Love Field. Jetrail operated successfully from April 1970 to January 1974, at which time Braniff moved to the new Dallas-Ft. Worth Regional Airport. Over six million passengers were carried 1.3 million miles during this period without a fatality or major mishap. The system did this in spite of the engineering novelty and early, low reliability of the propulsion and control system. The Jetrail system continues to be used as an engineering test-bed for a prototype linear induction motor propulsion system. This latter system, Astroglide, is being developed by PRT Systems Inc. Since the motor has no moving parts, it is more simple than the rotary motor and drive train of the Jetrail system. This report provides information on the Jetrail operational experience and the Astroglide prototype for transportation planners, designers, developers, and operators of AGT systems for intra-airport, urban, recreational, and freight applications.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Systems Center

  55 Broadway, Kendall Square
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02142

  Urban Mass Transportation Administration

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Anagnostopoulos, G
  • Wlodyka, R A
  • Mitropoulis, I A
  • Putukian, J
  • Kangas, R D
• Publication Date: 1977-12

Media Info

• Pagination: 276 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airports; Automated guideway transit; Automated vehicle control; Automatic control; Demand responsive transportation; Elevated guideways; Evaluation; Induction motors; Intelligent transportation systems; Intra airport transit; Linear systems; Monorail transportation; Parking; Passenger transportation; People movers; Railroad stations; Rapid transit; Traffic congestion; Transportation planning; Urban transportation; Vehicles
• Identifier Terms: Dallas Love Field; Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
• Geographic Terms: Dallas (Texas); Texas
• Old TRIS Terms: Advanced systems; Automated transit system; Rapid transit railways
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00175502
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DOT-TSC-UMTA-77-55 Final Rpt., UMTA-MA-06-0067-77-1
• Files: NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: May 31 1982 12:00AM