5 ms·

I'm honestly surprised the monorail never took off. The only reason I can think of is that "monorail" sounds like some kind of disease — perhaps "air rail" or

I'm honestly surprised the monorail never took off. The only reason I can think of is that "monorail" sounds like some kind of disease — perhaps "air rail" or "sky train" would have worked better? Safe, efficient, quiet — it seems like these would go far with regard to public transportation in many cities.

jessriedel 10y ago
There seems to be some common confusion surrounding the term "monorail". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorail Do you actually mean single rail? Or alternatively do you mean elevated rail and/or maglev? I'm under the impression that true monorails have essentially zero advantage over standard birails. (Narrower and more elegant support structures casting smaller shadows is of course desirable, but I don't think the number of rails is a confining parameter in modern tech.)
- ianbicking 10y ago
  Monorails typically use rubber wheels, which DO have a lot of advantages (maximum grade, sound, stopping distance), but I'm also unclear why that couldn't be applied to birails. Monorails might also have a smaller turn radius? Ultimately I feel like the problem with monorail is that public transit is primarily a political, not technological, phenomena, and so while there might be a good idea in monorails, or iterations where it could be combined with birails to make something truly technologically superior, but it just doesn't matter.
jonknee 10y ago
It's expensive and provides few (if any?) advantages over conventional rail. Especially these days with safety codes such that you need to provide a way for passengers to exit the train in an emergency.
willyt 10y ago
Monorails and maglev both have the disadvantage that they don't do junctions very well. You have to swap a massive peice of straight structure for a massive piece of curved structure to form a junction.
yongjik 10y ago
Monorails are still used as a part of "subway" systems around the world, but (from what I heard) they usually have less capacity than regular railways, so most big cities end up building conventional subway system. Also, it turns out residents and shop owners hate a gigantic elevated structure that blocks sunlight half of the day.

jessriedel 10y ago

There seems to be some common confusion surrounding the term "monorail". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorail Do you actually mean single rail? Or alternatively do you mean elevated rail and/or maglev? I'm under the impression that true monorails have essentially zero advantage over standard birails. (Narrower and more elegant support structures casting smaller shadows is of course desirable, but I don't think the number of rails is a confining parameter in modern tech.)

ianbicking 10y ago
Monorails typically use rubber wheels, which DO have a lot of advantages (maximum grade, sound, stopping distance), but I'm also unclear why that couldn't be applied to birails. Monorails might also have a smaller turn radius? Ultimately I feel like the problem with monorail is that public transit is primarily a political, not technological, phenomena, and so while there might be a good idea in monorails, or iterations where it could be combined with birails to make something truly technologically superior, but it just doesn't matter.

jonknee 10y ago

It's expensive and provides few (if any?) advantages over conventional rail. Especially these days with safety codes such that you need to provide a way for passengers to exit the train in an emergency.

willyt 10y ago

Monorails and maglev both have the disadvantage that they don't do junctions very well. You have to swap a massive peice of straight structure for a massive piece of curved structure to form a junction.

yongjik 10y ago

Monorails are still used as a part of "subway" systems around the world, but (from what I heard) they usually have less capacity than regular railways, so most big cities end up building conventional subway system. Also, it turns out residents and shop owners hate a gigantic elevated structure that blocks sunlight half of the day.