High speed transit system

A method of operating a rapid transit system having an underground tube which slopes downwardly between a pair of stations comprising the steps of:

• maintaining a vacuum in the tube;
• suspending a vehicle in the tube by a magnetic suspension system;
• gravitationally accelerating the suspended vehicle down the descending portion of the tube whereby substantially all of the vehicle's gravitational potential energy is converted to vehicle kinetic energy;
• gravitationally decelerating the vehicle in the ascending portion of the tube whereby substantially all of the vehicle's kinetic energy is converted back into gravitational potential energy;
• and
• transferring passengers between a station and the interior of the vehicle when stopped at the station without removing the vehicle from the vacuum environment of the tube without pressurizing the tube.

A pressurized rapid transit vehicle adapted for travel in a vacuum tube guideway composed of a train of detachably coupled, independently pressurized cars;

• means for allowing said train to negotiate curves in both horizontal and vertical planes;
• means for pressurizing each car independently of all other cars in said train, said pressurizing means comprising:
• a car coupling system that comprises an air-tight coupling seal around the end periphery of each car;
• air-tight bulkheads located near each end of each car such that the chamber formed by the bulkheads at the ends of a pair of coupled cars and the car hulls on each side of the air-tight coupling seal forms an airlock between each pair of coupled cars;
• and
• means for pressurizing or evacuating said airlock independently of each adjacent car without disturbing the pressure environment in the interior of each adjacent car in the pair;
• said airlock adapted for transferring passengers from one car to an adjacent car and sealing off each car from the remaining cars of said train without having to stop the train or without having to repressurize the vacuum tube guideway and comprising an airtight chamber between adjacent cars including a flexible articulated wall portion and an airtight pressure door at the end of each car communicating between the interior of such a car and the airtight chamber;
• said airlocks partitioning said train into several independently pressurized car cabins.

A rapid transit system comprising a tube and a plurality of vehicles adapted for travel through the tube, wherein said tube is partitioned along its horizontal mid-plane throughout its length forming two corridors, each said corridor adapted to guide a vehicle so as to allow two-way traffic in opposite directions through a single tube;

• an escape system on each vehicle moving on upper and lower level corridors of said tube, said escape system being means by which passengers stranded between stations in a disabled vehicle can be safely rescued from it without requiring the passengers to enter a corridor guideway or without having to tow the vehicle to the next station, said means comprising:
• a plurality of escape hatches mounted on the floor of each upper level vehicle and on the ceiling of each lower level vehicle and spaced apart so that when a lower level vehicle is directly below an upper level vehicle, the escape hatches on each side of the tube partition in each vehicle are opposite each other;
• a retractable, flexible tube mounted around each escape hatch for manual extension to engage and completely surround an opposite escape hatch;
• means for opening each escape hatch after engagement so that passengers can be evacuated without entering any guideway corridor, whereby every upper level vehicle can be used to rescue passengers stranded in a disabled lower level vehicle and every lower level vehicle can be used to rescue passengers stranded in a disabled upper level vehicle anywhere in the tube.