Skip to main content

Skytrains being planned for major cities in China

City planners in China are conducting feasibility studies and initial planning to develop skytrain, an elevated transportation system, in order to ease deteriorating traffic congestion in the urban areas of major cities. The benefits of skytrain include shorter construction period, quiet operation and cheaper construction cost – about one tenth of the cost of metro systems. In addition, since the skytrain runs on elevated viaducts and stations are built above ground, there will be less disruption to the sur
March 27, 2012 Read time: 1 min
City planners in China are conducting feasibility studies and initial planning to develop skytrain, an elevated transportation system, in order to ease deteriorating traffic congestion in the urban areas of major cities. The benefits of skytrain include shorter construction period, quiet operation and cheaper construction cost – about one tenth of the cost of metro systems. In addition, since the skytrain runs on elevated viaducts and stations are built above ground, there will be less disruption to the surface landscape. The operation and maintenance costs will be also much lower than a metro system.

The system is being studied and proposed in more than seven cities in China, including Shanghai, Tianjin and Wenzhou.

Related Content

  • Driverless vehicles will cause changes in society
    May 31, 2013
    Paul Godsmark gives his views on what the advent of autonomous vehicles would mean for the wider society. Further to your article ‘Driver not required…’ in the Jan/Feb edition of ITS International which gave some great background to autonomous road vehicle (ARVs), I feel that the bigger picture is needed to aid understanding. There is a ‘technology freight train’ heading our way that is going to transform our roadways but we don’t seem to be aware of it and, therefore, are in no hurry to react.
  • Telvent, Siemens, IBM, and Cisco will prosper in traffic management systems market
    July 20, 2012
    According to a new report from ABI Research, as the global population hurtles past the seven billion barrier, more and more people are living in cities than ever before. This is especially true of developing countries which account for 20 of the world’s 27 megacities. With above average levels of population and economic growth in these regions, traffic congestion has quickly ensued, which is detrimental to GDP, the environment, as well as health and safety. The new ABI Research report predicts that companie
  • LiDAR sets its sights on future problems
    February 23, 2017
    AAdvances in LiDAR are helping transport authorities improve services and identify potential problem areas, as geospatial technology expert Dr Neil Slatcher explains. The effects of climate change on the transport infrastructure have long been a cause of concern within the transportation sector - and not only on the structures themselves but also on the surrounding areas. This year, those concerns have become reality with landslides, structural collapses and surfacing issues impacting services across the wo
  • Taking tolling towards new opportunities
    May 18, 2016
    Vinci’s André Broto presented his views on how the tolling industry could play an important role in helping authorities ease urban congestion, to delegates at the IBTTA conference. As director of foresight and strategy at Vinci Autoroutes, France, André Broto has been spending some time considering the future of tolling in his own country and worldwide. He presented his thoughts, which include a very different angle of the causes of, and solutions to, congestion at the IBTTA’s (International Bridge, Tunnel