Systems and Infrastructure

The Roadway

The Roadway will be based on the existing trackway being built. This is typically 19m wide and is designed for 1100 seat trains travelling at 225mph. However instead of railways, a simple screed surface engineered for low rolling resistance and noise levels will be overlaid. We envisage a central barrier system and 3m high walling at sides to protect against accident, to prevent trespass by animals or humans and also to attenuate noise. As described in our White Paper the barriers would have several safety and security measures integrated.

A preferred option would be to weather protect the track by installing a canopy over the roadway. Our suggested canopy design is dual pitched in the same direction, rather than conventionally pitched. This would allow more efficiency for solar panel placement (towards South West not North East) whilst reducing overall height. However a conventional double pitched design with the apex at the centre would also suffice and simplify slightly rainwater drainage.

The dual parallel pitch design also has added benefits. This would also a greater number of solar panels on the roof to be facing South West than a conventional double pitched roof, whilst not being a high as a single pitched roof with a pitch angle of 20 to 40 degrees.

A suggested additional option would be to also install 1.2m diameter micro turbines in the air gaps above the barriers . These would provide energy generation from prevailing wind and vehicle turbulence. These could be vertically aligned or horizontally aligned. The roof structure would be robust enough to hold these turbines and allow servicing without disruption to the trackway. The output of individual devices may be small but if we imagine 160km of trackway with a canopy between London and Birmingham and 8 devices every 10 meters, then that would be 128k turbines (in centre area only) that can be wired directly with solar panels to the grid and to battery storage facilities. We suggest this as an option, because viability will depend on a cost benefit analysis of production and installation costs verses output.

One could also imagine the roof structure with a single or dual pitch design acting as an aerofoil to allow larger wind turbines located on the eastward side to operate efficiently.

We would also recommend pest proofing netting to be installed to stop birds roosting and nesting. This in turn would reduce debris on track surface. On the other hand the external walling can be built to encourage nesting birds. The roofing would also be designed to discourage bats from roosting,

However we would encourage nesting boxes and other refuges for wildlife on the external walls/ Also due to the low height of the vehicles (2.4m), there would be more scope for building land bridges (cut and cover) across suitable areas to allow wildlife to cross, and farming, habitat growth and recreational activities to take place

At several points additional slipways (1km long each) may be installed to allow emergency access or to serve intermediate stations . In general one lane would be used by Shuttles for cruising at a set speed, and the other for Robocars travelling at a higher set speed. This would also allow continued operation (albeit at a slower speed) in the event of a breakdown or maintenance, such as sweeping, which would be carried out late at night. This is not possible for HS2 which will close every night between midnight and 5am for maintenance work.