PRT@LHR Trip Report by Ingmar Andréasson
PRTi@LHR
ATRA has organised its first conference in Europe. The PRT conference at London Heathrow on April 21-23 attracted 120 delegates (picture). The conference seems to have covered its costs with support from BAA and others.
Malcolm Buchanan (chair ATRA Europe) presided over the conference in BAA facilities at the airport. Conference organisers PTRC and BAA had made an excellent job in the planning of program, facilities, site inspections and logistics.
Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport with 68 M passengers per year. The motto for Heathrow is “making every journey better” and BAA assessment concluded that PRT was the best way to improve the land transport part.
The first morning focused the ULTra system which is being implemented at Heathrow terminal 5. Delegates were able to see a vehicle running (picture) and docking in one of the stations in a remote parking area and to sit in parked vehicles at the depot. We were particularly impressed by the aesthetic design of vehicles (exterior and interior) and stations. Public operation with 18 vehicles on the 3.8 kms guide way is planned for later this year. The first year of operation will be a trial period. When proven successful the PRT system may be extended to 30 kms and 350 vehicles.
The afternoon session included presentations by Vectus and 2getthere. Vectus impressed with films of their winter testing on the Uppsala test track. Robbert Lohmann of 2getthere revealed a picture of the first PRT prototype (picture) ready to be delivered to Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
The second day provided insights into PRT planning in UK, Sweden, Holland, Italy and the USA. Nick Ford of Frost&Sullivan presented their study of the global market for PRT. They conclude that airports, urban areas, tourist attractions and shopping malls hold the largest potential for PRT applications. They see 278 possible PRT applications by year 2020 in Europe, Middle East and North America.
Phil Bly in his summary concluded that it can not be expected from a city to bear alone the cost and risk of being the pilot for urban PRT. The experience from that city will be valuable not only for other cities in that country but for all cities. It would be natural to expect EU to support the first urban system.
The Swedish government has assigned Mr Kjell Dahlstrom to assess which city would be most appropriate for a Swedish pioneer PRT system. His report is due by end August this year. Will Sweden or UK see the first urban PRT?