Metrail Test Track Photo Essay
page three of three

One of the concerns I had about a hybrid monorail was what would the noise factor be? What about those diesel engines? I paid close attention to the sound of the train throughout our visit and I can say without hesitation, excess noise is NOT a factor. The train creates about the same amount of sound under diesel power and it does under pure electrical power, which is minimal. Like other monorails, the low-decibel hum of air conditioners is usually what you hear when the train passes. I must add that those air conditioners were quite welcome in the sweltering, humid heat of Malaysia.

A beautiful train, back at its parking spot. This Metrail configuration consists of cars and track very similar in size to that of a Bombardier M-VI, however more space is available inside because of the flat floor configuration above the bogies, with the walk-through capability.

Above is a diagram of the Metrail Standard, which is what the test track has. The Metrail Standard has a capacity of five to ten thousand passengers per hour, suitable for resorts or smaller city duty.

The Metrail Plus is a longer train designed for regular city service of ten to twenty thousand passengers per hour.

At the top of the spectrum, Metrail has a larger car monorail on the drawing boards, the Metrail Ultra. This train for high-volume operations of thirty to forty thousand passengers per hour. The Minimum curve radius for Metrail Ultra is 45 meters. (drawings courtesy of Metrail)

Don't try this at home, kids! Gordon got this nice photo of us on the guideway, taken for scale reference (photo courtesy of David M. Ice). The white stripe indicates the approximate location of the floor level. Our sincere thanks to Gordon and all the fine folks at Frazer-Nash and Metrail for showing off their promising new technology.

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