Faster Better Cheaper - Transportation

There are two philosophies for improving anything. One is “continual improvement” through a series of small changes that eventual add up to create a big change. The opposite is the “tear it down and replace” approach. I think we all have the innate desire to tear it down and start anew. Different problems require different approaches, but more often than not, continual improvement is the more effective method. By making a small and somewhat obvious changes to the way we load and unload our commuter trains, they instantly become so much more practical.

The key is to always enter and exit from the last car and to only accelerate and decelerate the last car.

For each station we have a separate car used for loading and unloading passengers. The Loading car is loaded before the train passes the station (figure #1).

As the train nears the station (figure #2), the last car decouples from the train and the loading car begins to accelerate.

The last car is then shuttled (figure #3) onto a separate track leading to the station.

Finally (figure #4) the last car stops at the station, where the passengers disembark. Later it is loaded with new passengers for the next train. At the same time, the loading car couples to the train.

All the while, the train does not stop or even slow. Travel time is greatly reduced because the train moves at a constant speed. An added benefit is that the fuel usage is reduced because we are only accelerating the load car and not the entire train at each station.

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