Innovia Metro

The technology was developed in the 1970s by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, a Crown corporation of the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was among the first to make use of linear electromagnetic propulsion. ART is not, however, a magnetic levitation system; the train’s weight is supported by the wheels even while in motion. The train is propelled by magnetic forces acting against currents induced in a conductive strip located between the rails, essentially pulling itself along without requiring a motor with moving parts.

ART trains are also capable of running under computer control, without drivers, and have steerable axles, allowing them to turn tighter corners than most trains of the same length. They are also lighter than most conventional metro trains, and can run on smaller elevated guide-ways and in narrower tunnels.

While its linear motors and steerable axles are relatively rare, the ART has a number of competitors in the field of automated metros, including the VAL and the Meteor technology used by Line 14 of the Paris Métro. All current ART lines are predominantly elevated, but there is nothing in their design to prevent them from performing equally well underground.

ART systems are often referred to as ‘light rail’, however their use of automated operation and third-rail power make them unsuitable for the unprotected street-level tramways that the term suggests for some people. However, sections of existing ART systems, such as Vancouver's SkyTrain, operate at-grade with high barbed-wire fences. Also, the term 'light rail' carries a variety of meanings and is increasingly being used to refer to ART and similar systems, especially in Asian countries.

The SkyTrain Expo Line opened in late 1985. Vancouver’s trains have operated from the start in fully-automated mode. With the opening of the Millennium Line in 2002, Vancouver added to its original Mark I fleet the longer, articulated ART Mark II trains first used in Kuala Lumpur, which allow for significantly greater capacities. The SkyTrain is the largest ART system in operation, and consists of two lines; the Millennium Line and the Expo Line.

Vancouver is currently preparing two further lines, including the Canada Line, a metro line which will run in subway tunnels through downtown and central Vancouver and then rise above ground to two elevated branches to the suburb of Richmond and Vancouver International Airport, and a street-level light rail line connecting the Millennium Line to Coquitlam in the north-east known as the Evergreen Line. Neither of these lines, however, will use ART trains. Rotem, a division of the Hyundai Motor Group, will be supplying automated metro trains for the Canada Line. Bombardier will likely be one of the competitors to supply trams for Coquitlam, but ART technology requires grade-separation throughout the route and so cannot be used for such a street-level system.

In 1981, the Toronto Transit Commission was planning to build an elevated streetcar line serving the city’s eastern suburb of Scarborough, but the Ontario provincial government convinced it, by agreeing to pay for the line, to use the then-new ICTS technology instead so that it could act as a demonstration system for other transit operators considering buying the trains. The six-station Scarborough RT line opened in 1985. Although its ICTS Mark I trains are capable of driving themselves, the TTC chose to run them with operators on board in order to allay public safety concerns.

The future of the line is uncertain; it has proved expensive to run, and has never been extended. Only two of its stations are used on a level comparable to those of the TTC’s conventional subway lines, and most passengers see it merely as an extra transfer they must make in order to get onto a higher-volume line running downtown. Its Mark I fleet will soon be due for replacement, and it would be expensive to either resume production of the old models, or upgrade the line to handle the longer Mark II trains. [1]

The thirteen-station Detroit People Mover is a fully-automated system, using the same ICTS Mark I trains as Toronto and Vancouver.

The Kelana Jaya Line in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is fully automated, and opened in 1998. There are plans for extension of the line. It introduced the longer, articulated Mark II version of the ART train.

The alignment starts from the Depot in Subang and ends at Terminal Putra in Gombak totaling to 29km in length with a total of 24 stations.

Its first operation commenced on 1 st September 1998 between Subang Depot to Pasar Seni Station and section two, between Pasar Seni to Terminal Putra in June 1999.

In 2002, the system carried its 150 millionth passenger, with an average of 160,000 passengers riding the system daily. Today, it carries over 170,000 passengers a day and over 350,000 a day during national events.

A scene in the 2003 movie Paycheck shows Ben Affleck running in front of a train in the Vancouver SkyTrain system.

• Bombardier ART official site
• The Scarborough Rapid Transit Line (includes historical information about ICTS technology)