Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit
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The Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit project is an experimental people-mover in Morgantown, West Virginia, in the United States, by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Boeing Vertol in the 1970s. This college-town system is a sister project to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), of San Francisco, California.
In 1974, Boeing Vertol began construction of the first major PRT project, designed for West Virginia University, in Morgantown. WVU's two campuses, Downtown and Evansdale, are two disconnected parcels located on other sides of Morgantown.
The WVU PRT began operation in 1975. There was an interruption in service during the 1978/1979 school year to allow system expansion from the Engineering station to new stations at the "Towers" dormitories and the WVU Medical Center. During this time, WVU provided bus service between the campuses. The PRT handles about 15,000 riders per day (as of 2003). The record for most riders in a day is 31,280, set on August 21, 2006. The system uses about 70 vehicles, with an advertised capacity of 20 persons each (8 seated, 12 standing)[citation needed]. The system connects the university's disjointed campus through five stations (Walnut, Beechurst, Engineering, Towers, Medical) and a four-mile (6-kilometer) track. The vehicles are rubber-tired and powered by electrified rails. Steam heating keeps the elevated guideway free of snow and ice. Most students habitually use it. This system was not sold to other sites because the heated track proved too expensive.
The Morgantown PRT was built in the mid 1970s. Many of its peculiarities are thought to be the result of the management program: the program's director was changed several times during the construction, causing bureacratic problems. The system runs boxy, rectangular cars on a cement-surface track. The cars are equipped with eight seats, four in the front and four more in the back, and four PVC poles for standing riders to grasp. The system is powered by a 300-volt direct-current electric motor driving the four small pneumatic tires. Though the motor uses direct current, the track uses a three-contact system that looks like a three-phase system. Steam heat appears to be supplied to the track partly by the riverside power plant that heats the campus buildings during winter with excess or 'waste' steam. Additional steam can be provided by several boiler plants along the track. The track itself is made of poured concrete, with some spans up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) above the ground. Instead of rails, the wheels roll on bare cement, presumably because of the very steep climb from Beechurst to Evansdale.
In recent years, the old automation system has been replaced and somewhat upgraded, and new insulation has been added to the external steam lines for the track heat.
The Morgantown system demonstrates automated control; but authorities no longer consider it a true PRT system, for its vehicles are too heavy and carry too many people. During off-peak hours (primarily evenings and weekends), it does not operate in a point-to-point fashion for individuals or small groups, but runs as an automated people mover or elevator from one end of the line to the other. It thus has lower capacity utilization than true PRT. Morgantown vehicles weigh several tons and run on the ground for the most part, with higher land costs than true PRT.
Each car has a capacity of 20 individuals. However, during Mountaineer Week, an event called the Mountaineer Cram takes place in which student organizations try to pack as many individuals as possible inside a PRT car. The record of 97 was set in 2000 [1].
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- West Virginia University official site
- Progressive Engineer: "Still in a Class of Its Own" (PRT system)
- Morgantown People Mover — Updated Description: Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C, January 2005
[edit] External links
- WVU's Morgantown PRT, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, US (Boeing)
- WVU's Campus Map includes PRT Track, Morgantown, West Virginia, US
- Jon Bell's personal PRT page, with pictures, Morgantown, West Virginia, US
| Currently operating urban people mover and monorail systems in the United States |
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| Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit | Detroit People Mover | Jacksonville Skyway | Miami Metromover | Las Colinas APT System | Las Vegas Monorail | Seattle Center Monorail |
