Moving Platforms is a concept for the future of rail travel.
We have been designing high speed trains around the world for a few years now. Our experience of various systems has led us to conclude that it is hugely inefficient to run a new 21st century high tech, high speed train service on a 19th century infrastructure that was invented for steam trains.
As a result, Paul has come up with an ingenious solution that can potentially revolutionize the rail industry the way the internet revolutionized the way we communicate.
Moving Platforms is a totally inter-connected rail infrastructure where local trams connect to a network of non-stop high speed trains enabling passengers to travel from their local stop to a local address at their destination (even in another country) without getting off a train.
‘I’m under no illusion this is a big idea’ says Paul, ‘but we have to think big. The world is going to a be a very different place in 10 to 20 years time and we have to think of alternative ways of travel’.
“You could get onto a tram on your street and then seamlessly travel from that onto the high-speed line and then get off at your destination in another city, then onto a tram and then end up at your destination without ever having gone in your car or perhaps got on a bus,” Priestman told CNN.
The tram would speed up while the train slowed down, allowing the two to safely dock for the same time a train would normally spend sitting in a station. Passengers could also use trams to transfer from one high-speed train to another.
Paul Priestman introduces Moving Platforms from Priestmangoode on Vimeo.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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