by jwhite07
Promotional literature I have from the 1996 US demonstration tour claims that the Adtranz Flexliner was capable of coupling and uncoupling units while moving at low speed.
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jwhite07 wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 5:53 am Promotional literature I have from the 1996 US demonstration tour claims that the Adtranz Flexliner was capable of coupling and uncoupling units while moving at low speed.Yes, that's the one. I was trying to remember that train with the rubber donut up front that could do this. Thanks!
Allen Hazen wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2020 11:13 pm I believe there was some development work and experimentation done in France on an automated (no on-board crew) "people mover" system called Aramis. Self-propelled cars would leave stations when passengers got on, but (to save track space?) they would form up with other cars in trains for the line haul. A first idea was that the trains would be united by "virtual couplers": no physical connection, but controlled to maintain a constant, short, distance between cars. Precise enough control to make "virtual couplers" practical was... not possible with the technology of the time. (1970s, I think, but I'm not sure.) So, I believe, later iterations of the scheme involved cars making physical contact to form trains. I don't think the scheme ever reached the stage of a usable system, but the basic ideas seem feasible.I have this crazy idea (or maybe fear) that the future could be exactly this with self-driving trucks. Think of a moving " train" of self-driving trucks running along a rail line at 100 mph. WIth advanced technology, certain trucks drop out of the string and go their merry way to online yards for local delivery. Others leave the same yards and catch up with the "train" and head to their destinations.