Futuristic Elevated Transport System to Be Built in Israel

California-based skyTran has teamed up with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to construct the world’s first public pilot project for skyTran’s elevated transit network.

A number of skyTran projects are being planned globally, including in India and the United States, pending the success of the pilot in Israel.

The pilot will be a 400-500 yard loop built at IAI’s campus near Ben Gurion Airport and, if successful, will be followed by a commercial network in Tel Aviv in the coming years, skyTran CEO Jerry Sanders told
Reuters, without disclosing the cost.

SkyTran is a rapid transit system in which lightweight two-person vehicles are suspended from elevated magnetic levitation tracks. The skyTran vehicles in the pilot will cruise at speeds of up to 50 mph, but that will jump to over 150 mph at the commercial phase, Sanders said.

Tel Aviv is often gridlocked with commuter traffic, as there is no subway and many commuters travel by car.

The first components will be pre-assembled at skyTran’s headquarters at the NASA Research Park in California. The rest will be constructed locally, and the system should be running by the end of 2015, Sanders added.

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the June 26th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.