Installation For Transportation By Trains Made Of Different Types Of Carriages

Abstract

An installation for transportation by trains made up of carriages able to move first within a network of their own, which may be a rail system, and then in an ordinary automotive vehicle network. Passengers pass from one network to another whilst remaining in the same carriage, thus abolishing loss of time due to halts for loading. Carriages circulate in the first network according to the principle of segmented trains, then as convoys, and lastly as individual vehicles.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 84,729 filed Oct. 28, 1970, now abandoned.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an installation for transportation, in particular urban and suburban transport, without halts for loading, using the "segmented train" principle as hereinafter defined.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

In recent years, the increasing importance of problems posed by transportation, in particular urban and suburban transport, has led to application studies of transport systems, both for capitals with well over a million inhabitants and for medium-sized urban centers, or even for such places as an airport, university campus, exhibition, etc.

These studies have established the following facts:

Users have great difficulty in defining the presentday demand for transport, and above all the change in this demand at a future period that is long enough to ensure a reasonable return of outlay from a transportation installation. It would therefore be most advantageous to have a system able to adapt to increasing outputs and variable tracks.

However interesting the time-saving arrived at through a means of transportation, the duration of the passenger's journey is above all conditioned by the halts for loading. It would therefore be advantageous to have a system enabling the number of halts for loading to be reduced.

Investment costs are so high that it is important to seek optimization, simultaneously on the technical and economic plane.

In the case of urban and suburban transport, at least three service zones should be distinguished.

A. the city urban center: it is a zone with very heavy traffic, but where demand for transport is generally stabilized in space, if not in time. Here, it is thus possible, and even necessary, to provide means of transport on their own ground, with large output, and having a substructure which is generally quite big.

B. the immediate urban circumference: it should be served regularly, but less often than zone (a). The demand for transport here is also more variable. It is thus necessary to provide means of transport that still allow quite a large output, but having a relatively smaller substructure which does not constitute an obstacle to the future development of lay-outs.

C. the suburbs or neighborhood: the density of traffic here is much less, due to less use being made of available space. For the same reasons, the demand for transport here is very unstable. It is thus necessary to provide means of transport with as small a substructure as possible but which, on the other hand, will not have to be capable of large outputs.

None of the known means of transport is capable of adapting simultaneously to the three sets of conditions successively defined above. It is therefore necessary to treat the problem of each of the three service zones separately, the city center, for example, being served by an Underground railway, the immediate circumference by a bus network, and the outer suburbs by occasional buses and private vehicles.

As in known, this solution presents many and serious drawbacks and in particular imposes halts for loading which lead to additional fatigue and considerable loss of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims at remedying these drawbacks.

For this purpose, the invention relates to an installation for transportation by trains made up of different types of carriages, intended to serve selectively zones having different densities of traffic, characterized by the fact that it comprises at least one network on its own ground, linked to an ordinary track network, the transportation trains functioning without halts for loading, on the one hand, in accordance with the segmented train principle in zones with heavy traffic, these complete or divided trains serving, on the other hand, zones with less traffic by traveling in convoy with all carriages stopping at each station, these convoys finally splitting up into individual vehicles to go along ordinary routes, the whole network being run in both directions.

In accordance with an additional characteristic of the invention, the substructure comprises radiating tracks which subdivide from the heavy traffic zone towards less dense zones, the substructure of the heavy traffic zone allowing the implementation of segmented trains, that of the zone immediately adjacent allowing functioning in convoy with a stop at all stations, and the third zone, having the least traffic, not having a substructure, and carriages there using ordinary roads.

It will be seen from the foregoing that this invention aims at an installation for transportation allowing in each case for adjustment of the amount of expenses and their division between the substructure, and exploitation for the probable duration of the proposed service.

The invention also aims at abolishing halts for loading, thus obtaining high commercial speeds for each of the journeys concerning more than one of the zones served, the heavy traffic zone already offering a high commercial speed.

This invention also aims at an installation presenting increasing flexibility from the city center to the suburbs, and which is very flexible at the ends of its branches to enable it to be adapted to the development of the locality in time and space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims.

The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following descriptions of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, and in which:

FIG. 1 represents a plan drawing of an installation serving a locality.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the functioning of a segmented train.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view in accordance with FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The installation and in particular its substructure are represented in FIG. 1. They are made up of three concentric zones. Thus a zone A of heavy traffic can be distinguished, corresponding to the center of a locality to be served, a zone B forming the immediate circumference of the central zone A and surrounding it over a certain width, and lastly a zone C called suburbs and whose configuration is much less definite than the zones A and B that it surrounds.

Traffic is progressively less dense from zone A to zone C. This is due to the fact that the various passengers leaving zone A split up between the various lines of transport, whose number increases from zone A to zone C.

The organization of this installation, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1, is constituted in a specific way adapted to each of zones A, B, C. Thus, in accordance with a preferred embodiment, the zone A substructure is on its own ground, for example an Underground or aerial railway network, made up of lines A.sub.1, A.sub.2. A connection 10 is shown, as an example, at the intersection of lines A.sub.1, A.sub.2. In this embodiment, line A.sub.1 has been made to branch into two lines A'.sub.1, A".sub.1.

The group of lines comprise stations A.sub.10, A'.sub.10, A".sub.10, A.sub.20.

In the same way, the immediate circumference B network is made up of a network on its own ground which may be, depending on the case, an underground, aerial or ground-level track network. In this case, each line A.sub.1, A.sub.2, A'.sub.1, A".sub.1 is such that it can continue along one or more corresponding lines in the immediate circumference.

To simplify the account, the same indices have been used for these lines in zone B as for the corresponding lines in zone A. Thus the line A'.sub.1 branches in zone B into three secondary lines B'.sub.1, each of which comprises a certain number of stations B'.sub.10.

At the edge of zone B, each of the lines B'.sub.1 may end in one or more lines C'.sub.1 serving zone C.

In accordance with a preferential embodiment of the invention, the lines C'.sub.1, etc., have no substructure of their own and use ordinary routes. For this reason, they may have more flexibility and be modified as required by the changing and development of this suburb.

Thus it is possible to envisage an underground network for the lines in zone A, tracks similar to tram- or railway lines for those in zone B, and ordinary roads for those in zone C.

In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention, substructure lines are formed by tracks in zones A and B, these tracks being equipped, for example, with steering rails. The circulation network on its own ground may comprise ordinary railway tracks. However, it may also comprise routes similar to automotive vehicle roads, used solely by vehicles in accordance with this installation. In the latter case, the means of support are, for example, wheels with pneumatic tires suitable for the entire network.

On the other hand, when the network comprises both tracks and routes, carriages are fitted with dual purpose wheels having tires for traveling on rails, and pneumatic tires for traveling on automotive vehicle roads.

Thus, in zone A the carriages are joined together like made-up trains preferably functioning in accordance with the principle of segmented trains. This functioning method will be described in greater detail later, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. These segmented trains allow all the advantages of this method of transport to be used on lines A.sub.1, A.sub.2, A'.sub.1, A".sub.1, up to the circumference of zone A.

From this limit, the segmented trains become normal made-up railway trains, with all the carriages on each line stopping at all stations.

Depending on the circumstances, when the lines in zone B issue from a single line in zone A and subdivide on entering this zone B, a lesser density of trains is obtained, depending on this subdivision. This characteristic is particularly applicable for line A'.sub.1 which branches into three lines B'.sub. 1. As an example, it is possible to envisage either dividing the different made-up trains between the subdivisions 40.sub.1 without spearating the carraiges or subdividing each madeup train into a certain number of convoys each having one or more carriages traveling on each respective line of zone B.

The different or unique types of carriages used in the installation in accordance with the invention are thus able to move on the tracks in zones A and B, and on ordinary automotive vehicle roads in zone C.

It is thus possible to provide an automatic pilot and position control for the trains in zones A, B. Steering is then effected, for example, electronically, by means of an electric rail on the ground.

Installations are also provided along the track, enabling the functioning of segmented trains, which is to say that such installations may be automatically controlled locally or remotely to effect coupling and uncoupling of the carriages as required.

In accordance with one characteristic of the invention, it is essential that each different type of carriage has its own means of propulsion.

When a vehicle travels along ordinary roads, such as highways, its autonomy may be assured either by its own means if it has an autonomous motor, or by means of an automobile traction engine.

In zone C, vehicles must be driven by a driver, as opposed to zones A and B where steering is normally automatic.

The foregoing description relates basically to traffic going from zone A to zones B and C. It is obvious that circulation in the opposite direction is effected in the opposite manner. Thus, the various vehicles in zone C regroup at the circumference of zone B. From this point, vehicles are regrouped into convoys which travel along the return routes of the tracks in zone B and these convoys lastly reach zone A, where they regroup into trains functioning in accordance with the principle of segmented trains.

In the system called "segmented trains", a made-up train travels along a line at high speed, without stopping at intermediary stations. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the train T.sub.1 on track A'.sub.1, on approaching such a station as A.sub.10, may drop off one or more of the rear carriages RC.sub.1 and RC.sub.2, which stop at the station platform. The same train, on leaving the station picks up in front of it carriages FC.sub.1 and FC.sub.2 left by a preceding train T.sub.2 and whose speed has previously been increased to a suitable rate to allow this junction to be effected. When trains T.sub.2 and then T.sub.1 arrive at station 3, the carriages making up each of them may be divided as required between the various tracks linking station 3 to stations 3', 3", 3'" in track system B'.sub.1 :

For reasons of clarity, the above-mentioned specification has been limited to the trafic which passes through station 3. However, it is obvious that all the other stations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 constitute metting points between areas A and B. All other drawing references not described in the specification have been inserted again in order to give a whole picture of the installation, since the above-mentioned explanations may apply to all the branches of the net-work.

Symetrical notations have been used with respect of the various references.

The steering rails referred to above may conform to the disclosure in the copending application of Jean Gayot, Ser. No. 85,963, filed Nov. 2, 1970 and corresponding to French application No. 69 37 895 filed Nov. 4, 1969 and its addition No. 70 36 613 filed Oct. 9, 1970, and this also holds true for the disclosure of a different or unique carriage or car embodying its own propulsion and steering system.

This system of segmented trains presents the advantages of continuous means of transportation: high commercial speed and comfort. It is more specially adapted to an average amount of traffic of the order of 5,000 to 25,000 passengers/ hour and its substructure is relatively small.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of transporting passengers on trains between concentric areas of variant traffic density including stations within a first central zone of greatest density, including stations within a second intermediate zone of density less than the central area and including local stops at a third outer peripheral zone of at least traffic density, comprising: constantly propelling each train without stopping between stations in the first zone while separating therefrom a vehicle to be dropped at such a station and picking up a vehicle previously dropped at such a station; stopping each entire train at stations within the second zone; and separating the train into individual vehicles serving the third zone.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein tracks are provided for the trains in the first and second zones, wherein the pneumatic tires are provided for the vehicle comprising the trains, and wherein the vehicles in the third zone travel along ordinary automobile roads.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the trains in the first and second zones are guided by electric rails and wherein each vehicle has its own propulsion system for travelling the automobile roads.