Monorail

History

In France, it seems that the first monorail is that of Larmanjat whose line was brought into service between Raincy and Montfermeil, in 1868. The system comprised only one guide rail for vehicles with 3 wheels. The difficulty was already to ensure that the wheel guide remains on its rail and the system did not have great success!

The monorail on central rail

The monorail of Duchamp was brought into service at the exposure of Lyon in 1872 out of 1 km. The coaches were with horse on the way located at nearly 4 m of the ground and the principle of traction per cable was close to the Téléphérique. It transported 3500 travellers per day during the exposure.

The monorail of Charles Lartigue whose prototype rolled in 1880 in Algérie to transport the Alfa was undoubtedly the first functional monorail at long distance is 90km. On this principle, a line of demonstration to traction vapor was carried out with London in 1886 and another of 15km was built and exploited in Ireland in the Comté of Kerry between Listowel and Ballybunion of 1888 with 1924. It gave satisfaction but its closing was one of the consequences of the Civil war of Ireland and in spite of studies on the possibilities of electric traction, the system did not have other continuations.

The principle of the monorail overhanging its central rail is used on the monorails developed by German company ALWEG, like those of the airport of Tokyo Haneda or Seattle.
This typology is also found in the Disney parks with the the United States.

The suspended monorail

The suspended monorail ( Wuppertaler Schwebebahn ) of Wuppertal, in Germany, which goes back to 1901, is the oldest system of this type still in exploitation.
This type of monorail is connected with a telpher carrier with a Boggie circulating on the rail and a cabin suspended under the guide rail.

The technology of the Safège type

In 1965, a project of line of 3 km is launched between Charenton-School and the crossroads of Echat in Creteil. Technology selected is of the suspended monorail type. The project superintendent is the Safège company, the cars are manufactured by Renault with Choisy-the-king and are propelled by engines produced by Alsthom with Tarbes.
The Safège system comprises a hollow rail under which the cars are suspended. The Boggie S of the system of bearing are interns to the rail, therefore with the shelter of the bad weather. The wheels of the bogie trucks are equipped with tires, according to a principle identical to the tyred subway (Line n°1: Defense <--> Castle of Vincennes.)
In spite of the advance of the studies, the project is abandoned in October 1966. The prototype car, after multiple transfers, is stored on military base since then of Orleans-Bricy by the care of the ARSATI.

Various achievements were born in Japan starting from the Safège principle. In Shonan, in the south-west of Tokyo, a line of 6,6 km functions since 1970. In Chiba City, a line of 15,5 km was open in 1988.

Brakes with the monorail installation of

The complexity of shuntings of the monorail, sometimes advanced to show the limits of them, is not really one. It can have various solutions and one will read with interest, on this subject, the site of the “Society Monorail” describing of the operating systems.

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