The Chinese train that never stops

[Civil War]

 I want Lionel to build one of these for my layout.

First read the description below then watch the video from You Tube. Sorry it is in Chinese.

A brilliant new Chinese train innovation - get on and off the

bullet train without the train stopping. No time is wasted. The

bullet train is moving all the time. If there are thirty stations between

Beijing and Guangzhou , just stopping and accelerating again

at each station will waste both energy and time.
   A mere five minute stop per station (elderly passengers cannot

be hurried) will result in a  total loss of five minutes times thirty

stations, or two-and-a-half hours of train journey time!
    How it works - read then view the movie - (the commentary is

in Mandarin though):
   1. For those who are boarding the train: The passengers at

a station embark onto to a connector cabin well before the train

even arrives at the station. When the train arrives, it will not stop.

It just slows down to pick up the connector cabin which will move

with the train on the roof of the train.
   While the train is still moving away from the station, those passengers

will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train's

roof. After fully unloading all its passengers, the connector cabin will

be moved to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing

passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the

connector cabin at the rear of the train roof.
   2. For those who are getting off: As stated, after fully unloading

all its passengers, the connector cabin will be moved to the back

of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want

to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the

rear of the train roof. When the train arrives at the next station,

it will simply drop the whole connector cabin at the station itself

and leave it behind at the station. The outgoing passengers can take

their own time to disembark at the station while the train has already

left. At the same time, the train will pick up the incoming embarking

passengers on another connector cabin in the front part of the

train's roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at

the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front

part of the train's roof at each station.

 

Chinese Train

[Phoebe Vet]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K27VmNfwsaQ&feature=related 

Here it is in english.

Wouldn't it be easier to just use a DMU and a siding?

[tomikawaTT]

This thing accelerates from zero to ??? in about 1.75 x length of train.  HEL-lo G loadings!

Not to mention, there's overhead wire in the cartoon.  What are the pantographs doing during this gyration?

Call me a pessimist, but on a practability scale of 1 to 10 this is about a negative six.

 As for the claim that, 'Elderly passengers cannot be hurried..."  Maybe not in China.  They sure don't need five minutes to make a station stop on the Shinkansen!

Chuck

[dougdagrump]

Didn't Lionel already make something similar ?

 

Sorry, just couldn't resist.

[Civil War]

dougdagrump

Didn't Lionel already make something similar ?

 

 

I was thinking of that. It wouldn't be too hard to make one of these. I'd love it.

 

 

[lionelsoni]

I'm sure I recall reading about a scheme to drop passenger cars off moving trains, perhaps back in the 1950s or '60s, to be braked to a stop at the station by a conductor; but I can't find any mention of it among the tubes of the Internet.

[Timboy]

 

[tomikawaTT]

lionelsoni

I'm sure I recall reading about a scheme to drop passenger cars off moving trains, perhaps back in the 1950s or '60s, to be braked to a stop at the station by a conductor; but I can't find any mention of it among the tubes of the Internet.

The British used 'slip coaches,' dropped off the rear of the non-stop expresses, to serve smaller cities between terminals.  They were returned to the originating termini by 'stopping' trains traveling at more mundane speeds and making the usual stops.

Chuck

[lionelsoni]

That's the idea exactly.  I have the feeling that I might have read about an American experiment with this British idea, which would have been newsworthy at that time.  That was when American railroads were beginning to try to cut their losses in passenger service and might have tried anything.  The RDC worked out better for them, I guess.

[Train-O]

Doug, I like your concept better. Ralph