RailCab is a research project by the

University of Paderborn Paderborn University () is a public research university in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter semester 2016/2017 in 62 different degree programmes. ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Its purpose is the examination of the use of linear engines for the propulsion of autonomous, rail mounted vehicles. Similar to the

Transrapid Transrapid () is a German-developed high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Planning for the system started in the late 1960s, with a test facility in Emsland, Germany, inaugurated in 1983. In 1991, technical readiness for ...

the coaches are moved by

linear motor A linear motor is an electric motor that has had its stator and rotor (electric), rotor "unrolled", thus, instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. However, linear motors are not necessarily straight. ...

s, which have a very low need for maintenance. In contrast to Transrapid a magnetic field is only used for acceleration, the vehicles run on wheels on tracks. This concept allows for modification of existing conventional railway tracks.

Overview

The cabs can be ordered via cell-phone or the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

, and will be configured accordingly to the demands of the customer. In comparison to usual trains these vehicles are means of individual transport. Neither big stations, timetables nor prescribed routes are needed. An important feature is the creation of convoys of several cars with up to 10 passengers on the most frequently used tracks. The cars are not connected, but drive with low distance from each other. This reduces drag and so saves energy. Electronic systems and computers ensure that the cars maintain a certain distance from each other, and organize a fluent transport.

Experimental track

An experimental track exists near

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

, which allows the evaluation of the system.

References

External links

RailCab website in English
{{coord, 51, 42, 19, N, 8, 46, 04, E, display=title, region:DE-NW_type:landmark_source:dewiki Rail technologies