CHINA: Bus, car and battery manufacturer BYD unveiled its first monorail at a 4·4 km test track at its headquarters in Shenzhen on October 13.
SkyRail is the result of a five-year 5bn yuan R&D project and is aimed at small and medium sized cities, as well as tourist attractions and central business districts. It offers a capacity of up to 30 000 passengers/h per direction and a maximum speed of 80 km/h.
‘As a rail transport option with relatively small passenger capacity, SkyRail can complement existing public transport systems to create a layered transport system encompassing underground, roadway and elevated elements’, said BYD President Wang Chuanfu.
The first customer for SkyRail is the city of Shantou in Guangdong province, where a 250 km network is planned.
