System for transporting vehicles on rails by gravity

Transport system, comprising

• a transport track (9) formed by at least one running rail (1, 2),
• at least one vehicle (3) to be transported, and
• a running device connected to each vehicle and arranged on the said at least one running rail so as to be able to run thereon, the vehicle (3) provided with the running device having a resistance to running on the said at least one rail (1, 2),
• the said transport track (8, 9) having at least one descending track section (14, 14′, 14″, 14″′) having sufficient slope so that the said resistance to running of each vehicle is overcome, each vehicle thus running on the said at least one descending section by simple gravity,
• characterised in that the transport track has a starting point (10) and an arrival point (11) having an altitude equal to or higher than the starting point, and comprises several sections of descending track (14′, 14″, 14″′) between which there is in each case arranged a section of ascending track (12′, 12″, 12″′) on which each vehicle provided with the running device is driven by a driving device, in that the slope of each section of descending track being insufficient to produce a continuous acceleration of the said at least one vehicle (3) on the said at least one running rail (1, 2), each vehicle having there a substantially constant speed, balanced by the said resistance to running with other resistances added, such as the resistance to air of the vehicle (3), the transport track (9) having a route along which no vehicle at any point is raised higher than the altitude that the vehicle would have at this point on the transport track having a single descending section (14) provided with the above-mentioned slope between the starting point and the arrival point.