Atlanta airport people mover — The fifth generation system by Westinghouse

The Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport is the second busiest airport in the world second only to Chicago's O'Hare. This year a projected 15 million passengers will flow through the Atlanta Terminal. This figure is expected to double by the year 1990. For the past ten years planners have been attempting to come up with a functional design that would handle the projected passenger flow through the year 2000. The design finally selected employs the use of a People Mover System whlch will carry passengers between the terminal and four concourses. The People Mover System is the fifth generation system built by Westinghouse. Westinghouse has deployed People Mover Systems in Tampa, Seattle, and Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. Another system will go into operation at Miami International Airport late in 1978. The Atlanta Airport People Mover System will begin operation in mid-1980. The People Mover System will utilize new technological advancements recently developed for the Westinghouse system. These are the use of a new switch design, a new power rail system and use of microprocessors to control the operation of the Vehicle system. The system will provide a service availability of greater than 99%. The People Mover System will provide continuous passenger service and will consist of six trains of up to four cars each. The trains will circulate over 12,000 feet of guideway in a tunnel designed for that purpose. Thirteen transit switches will be used to facilitate a reverse turnback movement and provide for redundant operational modes in cases of failures. The system will operate on headways of less than 100 seconds. The paper will describe the Atlanta People Mover System with emphasis on the new technological advances made by Westinghouse.