Archive for May, 2018

Dr. J. Edward Anderson Receives ATRA Award

May 11th, 2018

ASC

ATRA instituted the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Advanced Transit in honor of individuals who, by their work and commitment, have contributed to the advancement of technology, to the dissemination of knowledge and to public acceptance of advanced transit.

 Nominations were invited from all over the world. The award committee unanimously decided to present this year’s award to Dr. Anderson.

 The motivation reads: “Dr. Anderson has inspired a generation of researchers and industrialists to build on his research to get advanced transit systems developed and proven in public operation.”

 The award is presented every two years in conjunction with the APM-ATS conference. The ceremony took place in Tampa on May 2nd.

 In his acceptance speech Dr. Anderson pointed out other PRT pioneers who inspired him during the early years of advanced transit in the sixties and seventies.

 thumbnail-3

ASCE APM STANDARDS COMMITTEE ACCEPTS ALTERNATIVE TO BRICK WALL STOP

May 11th, 2018

President

A recent ballot to remove an onerous requirement for ATN systems with offline stations and less than 25 passengers received 24 yes-votes, two abstentions and zero no-votes from ASCE APM Standards Committee members. This requirement mandated that a following vehicle must assume a preceding vehicle can stop instantaneously (as in hitting a brick wall that suddenly appears in its path). It effectively limits ATN systems to minimum headways of three to four seconds.

The requirement is replaced with a requirement to rigorously maintain a separation zone between any two vehicles based on the maximum stopping speed of the front vehicle and the minimum stopping speed of the rear vehicle including any effects of latencies and failures in either vehicle and/or wayside equipment. In a perfect world, this could allow sub-second headways. Even if headways only improve by a factor of two, this will be significant to the viability of ATN.

At their May 2, 2018 meeting in Tampa the Committee dealt with comments raised in the balloting process. They then agreed to move ahead and incorporate this change in the 2018 edition of the Standards due out later this year.

 

ATRA President Muller discusses balloting comments at the ASCE APM Standards Committee Meeting in Tampa

President

History of the Advanced Transit Association (ATRA) Year by Year (14)

May 11th, 2018

atravid

by J. Edward Anderson, first ATRA President.

1989 – The Fourteenth Year.

Please click on link below for Year 14 history.

The History of the Advanced Transit Association Year 14 (1989)