On the CNN’s website there has been published an article about the SkyWay development in the UAE. The journalists of the publication described the main advantages of the string transport, informed where the future tracks can be built, and prepared a short video from the UST Centre in Sharjah. Here are the highlights from the CNN story in our summary.
At the beginning of the article, the authors noted that the SkyWay urban network can handle 10,000 passengers per hour at the speed of 150 km/h. During the tests in Sharjah, however, the vehicles travel at lower speeds for safety reasons.
The article further mentions that the cost of building 1 km of SkyWay is $10 million. For comparison: the construction of the same section of subway costs much more - up to $150 million. The project manages to reduce construction costs due to the smaller amount of materials used.
Stephanie Haag, associate partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Company, commented on the benefits of the string transportation in an article:
«SkyPods (the SkyWay brand in the UAE) are often compared to monorail or cable cars, but SkyPods offer more flexibility. In a ropeway, you have one vehicle and it always moves at the same speed. In SkyPods, you can use many different vehicles on a particular infrastructure».
The most interesting part of the material is dedicated to the prospects of SkyWay in the UAE. In particular, the journalists pointed out that the project had received preliminary approval for the construction of the track in the city of Khor-Fakkan. In addition, there is interest in the SkyWay technology in Dubai. At the same time, a representative of the UST Centre in Sharjah highlighted that the development of the project is not limited to the UAE:
«We see the most promising areas for us are in the Middle East and Asia, places with the natural population growth, such as India and Pakistan.
More interesting facts about SkyWay can be found in the video, also produced by CNN reporters.