Technology ´88: transportation

This review of 1987 developments discusses the growing impetus toward automatic train control in the wake of the January 1987 accident involving an Amtrak passenger train. Also discussed are the growing use of gate-turnoff-thyristor-based converters in railroad equipment; growing interest in high-speed trains; and air safety problems. An expert opinion is offered by Richard A. Uher, director of Carnegie-Mellon University´s Rail Systems Center, Pittsburgh, who describes two energy-cost-reduction schemes for transit systems.<>