Dugout Loop
I don&#x27;t get it. How does this improve on the underground subway? I&#x27;m unconvinced that making the tunnels smaller means that the construction costs will be significantly cheaper and faster. Further, the electric skates make no sense from an operational or RAMS perspective:<p>1. They&#x27;re smaller so you need a lot of them, which means wear and tear = possibility of failure is higher;<p>2. They&#x27;re inefficient in terms of energy use (gotta charge those batteries first) vs third rail that supplies continuous redundant power;<p>3. How are the electric skates driven? Autonomous? If they&#x27;re relying on cameras to do autonomous driving, any disruption in the tunnel lighting will kill them all dead.<p>4. Lighting those tunnels continuously will not be cheap.<p>5. If the electric skates are driven independently, how will others behind know if one has broken down in front?<p>6. How do you maintain headway if the electric skates don&#x27;t know positions of those in front of them? How do you make sure they don&#x27;t collide if all you have is a camera?<p>7. Emphasis on average speed is weird, no passenger actually cares about the average speed of the carriages carrying them, only the frequency between those carriages that they can get onto to get to their final destination.<p>8. How do those electric skates know they&#x27;ve reached their destination and open the doors for passengers to get off? The illustration shows tightly packed electric skates. Do they travel up the loop lifts and then exit? How will these loop lifts be operated?<p>This doesn&#x27;t seem any different from a regular subway, only smaller tunnels, and smaller carriages carrying passengers, without any rail and other wayside equipment. Why not a battery-electric bus?