Ultra (rapid transit)
Personal rapid transit system / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ultra (a term formed from the first letters of the words in the phrase "urban light transit") is a personal rapid transit podcar system developed by the British engineering company Ultra Global PRT (formerly Advanced Transport Systems).[1][2]
A request that this article title be changed to Ultra pod transit system is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
The only publicly operating Ultra pod system opened at Heathrow Airport in London in May 2011 and is referred to as the Heathrow pod system. It consists of 21 vehicles operating on a 3.9-kilometre (2.4 mi) route connecting Terminal 5 to its business passenger car park, just north of the airport.[3]
To reduce construction costs, Ultra largely uses off-the-shelf technologies, such as rubber tyres running on an open guideway. The approach has resulted in a system that Ultra believes to be economical: the company reports that the total cost (vehicles, infrastructure, and control systems) is between £3 million and £5 million per kilometre (0.62 miles) of guideway.[4] By contrast, the Heathrow deployment cost £30 million for 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi) of guideway.