Justification
of $1 Million Per Mile Cost Estimates
A
mile of "track" consists of all of the following
elements:
Robotic in place
manufacturing of track
Support poles
Exit lanes and
merging lanes
Stations
Electrical
power sources and controls
Information
network
Note: the
SkyTran vehicles that ride trapped to the track themselves are not
considered part of the track. They are a separate costing
item.
All prior estimates are being
updated for the inclusion of the Inductrack passive MagLev
technology and will be conditional on both our obtaining the license
and the additional costs associated with payments for that license.
Earlier detailed cost estimates
without Inductrack were showing that per mile costs would be about
two thirds of a million dollars. We always used the figure of
$1 million to have a suitable contingency.
We have invented several methods
to accomplish passive all solid state electronic methods to have the
SkyTran vehicles exit the main freeway and merge back onto the main
100 mph SkyTran freeway. Mechanical switches, as used in old
fashioned trains, is not acceptable for high speed, high capacity
operations
Semi-automatic
Track Fabrication: Initially, the track will be produced
in short 30 foot sections at a small fabrication facility.
These sections will be taken to the site to be raised, attached and
aligned individually. As the demand for SkyTran systems grows,
the company will invest in the development of mobile custom roll
forming machines, capable of producing track continuously
on-site. These machines will be a key technological innovation
to reducing total installed track costs to under $1
million per mile. If such a machine seems a bit incredulous,
read about Malewicki's other monster machine called Robosaurus
which much more complicated and is now in its 10th successful year.
As shown above, these big machines will roll form track from raw
coil stock on location, up in the air - attaching it to the support
poles as it drives slowly along at .06 mph (1 foot every 10 seconds
= 1 mile per 16 hours). Computer controlled sheet metal
shrinkers and stretchers will enable the track to be gradually
curved and banked left or right, up or down as desired. Once
all the support poles are installed and aligned, two TRACK FORMER
machines operating 16 hours per day will mean one mile of main
two-way SkyTran freeway track can be completed per day!
(Each mile will also require one each
exit lane and merging lane section plus one each station drop-down
and climb-up track section. These track sections and a
series of thermal expansion slip joints will be pre-fabricated
off-site.)