There is nothing worse than having to wait an hour or more for your next train. Luckily, leading British transport designers Priestmangoode have revealed a concept for a high-speed train that would allow passengers to transfer from one connection to another while they are in motion, negating the need to stop at a station.
The concept is called Moving Platforms and is a completely inter-connected rail network of non-stop high-speed trains where passengers could travel around a country without needing to get off a train. The system mimics the way the internet works in that it creates a system similar to the one that allows your home PC to connect to a computer on the other side of the world, via a series of connected networks.
High-speed trains that run on the system would be connected to a line that passes outside towns and cities. A network of local ‘feeder’ trams would then carry passengers from local stops out to meet them. As they near each other, the high-speed train would slow down slightly and the tram would speed up alongside it. The trains would then connect via a docking system allowing passengers to move across services. Once transfers are complete, the trains separate and the high-speed train continues along its route while the tram returns to the city.
The system would not only allow for faster long-distance journey times, but would save on money and resources needed to construct new train stations. The trains would also save vast amounts of energy by forgoing the need to slow down or accelerate. As rail infrastructure is already in place, Moving Platforms would also not take up any more land.
“I can’t believe that across the world we are spending billions on high speed rail making it run on a network that was invented in the 19th Century,” said Paul Priestman of Priestmangoode. “I’m under no illusion that Moving Platforms is a big idea, but if we really want high-speed rail to be successful and change the way we travel, getting people off the roads and reducing the number of short haul flights, it is imperative that the infrastructure we use works with, not against, this new technology to enable a seamless passenger journey from start to destination. The days of the super-hub train station are over, connectivity is the way forward.”