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ATRA envisions a
future when trans-
portation will all be
orchestrated for the
convenience of people
and their businesses
– as well as for the
benefit of our planet.
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ATRA Heathrow Conference - April 2009 
ATRA is hosting a Euro-ATRA event at Heathrow Airport on April 21-23, 2009, where the ULTra PRT system will be operating.
More information will be posted as it develops. Or, contact lfabian@airfront.us
Call For Papers
Click for Call For Papers in printable PDF format.
Heathrow Airport (LHR). The system will comprise some 4 kilometers of track and will link
one station in terminal 5 to 2 alternative stations on the business carpark. This simple
application will later be expanded to include 30 kilometers of track, 350 vehicles and 50
stations serving terminals 1, 2, 3 and 5 and linking them to office blocks and hotels in the
vicinity of the airport. The system selected for this first application is the ULTra System
designed by Martin Lowson. It comprises small, light, rubber tyred, battery powered vehicles
which run nonstop from the boarding station to the alighting station carrying 1-4 passengers.
On the assumption that this first UK system works satisfactorily, PRT systems are likely
soon to have urban and suburban applications. PRT’s great strength will be its ability to
compete with the private car in the dispersed suburban travel markets which have largely
been created by the car. There are already proposals for urban PRT systems in the UK,
while overseas there have been feasibility studies of regional and even national systems.
The object of the conference is to allow delegates to see the ULTra system in action at LHR,
to inform them about progress being made elsewhere and to consider the future roles and
significance of PRT. On the third morning on the conference, delegates will additionally be
able to hear presentations from the European CityMobil groups who have been exploring
other ways in which 21st Century technology may transform urban transport.
The conference already has a rapidly filling programme of technical papers which describe
the ULTra system, the way it will function at LHR and some of the feasibility studies already
carried out of its applications elsewhere. The conference organizers would now like to invite
papers on similar PRT systems and feasibility studies, which can be presented at the
conference and form part of a bound set of conference papers. Interested authors should
initially submit a 500 word (maximum) synopsis of their proposed paper to Sally Scarlett at
PTRC, 1 Vernon Mews, Vernon Street, London, W14 0RL, (sallys@ptrc-training.co.uk).
DOCUMENT# 2042
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