Passenger Acceptance of Alignments with Frequent Curves in Maglev or Other Very-High-Speed Ground Systems

DraftPDFTech ReportCurves (Geometry)High speed ground transportationMagnetic levitation vehiclesAcceleration (Mechanics)AlignmentHuman factors engineeringMotion sicknessPassenger comfortRide qualityUnited States. Federal Railroad AdministrationPollard, John K.Katz-Rhoads, LeonoreMengert, PeterDisario, RobertSussman, E. D.John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITYNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human FactorsVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterProposed high-speed ground transportation systems, such as Maglev, may have motion characteristicsaffecting passenger comfort which set them apart from anything previously experienced. Operating ataircraft speeds along rights-of-way established for conventional ground vehicles, Maglevs may subjectpassengers to significantly larger vertical accelerations and roll rates than they have ever felt on existingcommon-carrier modes. If the design limits for guideway curvature are set too high in the interest ofachieving the shortest travel times and/or maximum utilization of existing, short-radius right-of-way,substantial numbers of passengers may find the ride quality unacceptable because of excessive verticalacceleration and roll rates. In that case, speed would be reduced, resulting in moderately longer triptimes. In areas where new right-of-way is unavailable, the question becomes how can a Maglevguideway be optimally fitted to it and what speeds should be used