News from ULTra
- Video of ULTra application at Heathrow from BAA (January 2008)
- Graham Bradburn - Chief Executive Officer (December 2007)
- First production vehicle delivered to Cardiff trials site (August 2007)
- Steve Raney joins ATS Inc as Principal Consultant (June 2007)
- Construction Underway at Terminal 5 (June 2007)
- Multi Vehicle Operations Demonstrated (October 2006)
- ATS Seeks New CEO (September 2006)
- ATS to be Partner in CityMobil Project (August 2006)
- Frost & Sullivan Movers & Shakers Interview with CEO of Advanced Transport Systems Ltd (June 2006)
- ATS Begins Heathrow Pilot (June 2006)
- Production Vehicle Manufacturing Programme Launched (April 2006)
- Successful AVP test (March 2006)
- PRT endorsed by Leading City Planners in UK and US (February 2006)
- First BAA Milestones Met (December 2005)
- BAA Choose ULTra (October 2005)
- ULTra new website (October 2005)
- £1M Investment (April 2005)
- Edict Conference Questionnaire Results (November 2004)
- EDICT Conference Cardiff October 25 and 26 (November 2004)
- Ultra Design Council Case Study (July 2004)
- Dual Mode Questionnaire Results Now Available as Excel Spread Sheet (July 2004)
- SWRDA Contract for Pilot Application Studies (May 2004)
- New Video Available (May 2004)
- Research and Development Award (January 2004)
- ATS Ranked in SW Fastest Growing Business for the Second Year Running (October 2003)
- NESTA Announces a Further Award to ATS (September 2003)
- ATS Ranked in Tech Track (September 2003)
- Two New Papers Published (August 2003)
- EDICT Passenger Trials Completed (July 2003)
- Completion of Initial Stage of Project (Feb 2003)
Video of ULTra application at Heathrow from BAA
The first operation of the Heathrow ULTra system, constructed and operated by BAA, is scheduled for Spring 2009. Click here to see video.
Graham Bradburn - Chief Executive Officer
Joined ATS in November 2007, Graham was previously Group Commercial Director of EMCOR a major ($5B turnover) Multi National Company in Construction, Engineering and Outsourcing Services. He has wide international experience of wholly owned and JV operations in Africa, Far East, Middle East and all parts of Europe, including acquisition, disposal, private placement and flotation. His background includes Prime contracting, commercial and general management in major project management, manufacturing and service related industries and includes more than 20 years involvement with the transport sector. He has been particularly involved with the development of concession (PFI, PPP and Project Finance) based arrangements in the transport, construction, healthcare and defence sectors
Previous positions include:
- Commercial Director of GEC Marconi’s defence software and systems group
- Commercial Director and founding shareholder of Hunslet Transportation Projects Ltd, a passenger rolling stock prime contractor.
- Contracts manager for Metro Cammell rail vehicles including the Hong Kong Mass Transit, KCRC and British rail DMU’s and EMU’s
Graham said “It’s really exciting to join ATS at this time when it’s first live passenger carrying system is about to go into service. ATS has a wealth of technical ability and has been soundly managed through the extensive research period. It is well positioned to become a real market leader, in an innovative and exciting environment.
ULTra has the dream ticket of being environmentally sound and solving real transport problems, practically and at cost levels which make it extremely financially attractive as well. ULTra is generating huge levels of interest around the world and possible new applications are arising all the time. The next years will have some tough challenges but it has the feel of a company that has got it right, done its research well and is heading for success”
Martin Lowson ATS Founder and the previous CEO , said “I am delighted we have Graham to lead the company as it grows into its new position as the world leader in the new PRT industry.”
First production vehicle delivered to Cardiff trials site
The first full production vehicle, manufactured by ARRK in Basildon Essex, has been delivered to the Cardiff trials site. The new vehicle features a more powerful motor, full climate control, and the complete passenger interface. This vehicle now starts commissioning trials. For a picture please see link below. In the background to the picture can be seen the enhanced trials site at Cardiff which now replicates both the Car Park and Terminal stations at Heathrow, and thus enables tests which represent the anticipated practical vehicle duty cycle. Initial endurance trials of engineering vehicles on this layout have given 100% satisfactory results.
Steve Raney joins ATS Inc as Principal Consultant
Steve Raney, has joined Berkeley, California based Advanced Transport Systems Inc. as Principal Consultant. He will take the lead in developing opportunities for the ULTra system in the USA.
Steve has worked for Cities21, Microsoft, Citigroup, and Silicon Valley startups, and has been active in advanced transit research for the past eight years where he has gained a National reputation.
Steve can be contacted at Steve at ULTraPRT dot com.
Construction Underway at Terminal 5
Construction Underway at Terminal 5
Construction of the T5 end of the track started in January 2007 and there are now 22 foundations completed for the overhead section near T5.
Heathrow has also featured ULTra is its recent literature:
http://www.baa.com/assets//B2CPortal/Static%20Files/Heathrow_a_New_Airport.pdf
http://www.baa.com/assets//B2CPortal/Static%20Files/LHWInformIssue4.pdf
To see photos of the construction go to our pictures page.
Multi Vehicle Operations Demonstrated
Two major demonstrations have been made at the Cardiff trials site of key capabilities of the ULTra system. These were:
- Demonstration of maintenance of headway. This test demonstrated the capability of vehicles to maintain a fixed headway during a complete circuit of the test track. Separation was maintained in these tests to within 1%.
- Demonstration of Station Operations: These tests demonstrated use of a multi berth station by multiple vehicles. Separate demonstrations were completed on multiple vehicle entry to the station and multiple vehicle exit.
These tests follow on a previous demonstration of the Automatic Vehicle Protection system.
All of the key aspects of the technology of the ULTra system have now been demonstrated.
ATS Seeks New CEO
Applications for this post are now closed.
Personal rapid transit is going to revolutionise urban travel, worldwide – and Advanced Transport Systems is leading the way with its revolutionary system, ULTra.
BAA is a significant shareholder and anticipates taking delivery of the first system at Heathrow airport next year. Worldwide interest is high so there is enormous scope to build a £bn business.
As the new CEO your brief will be to drive the next, crucial phase of development: securing contracts worldwide, expanding the organisation accordingly and steering our funding strategy.
ATS to be Partner in CityMobil Project
ATS has been selected as a partner in the recently launched EU research project CityMobil. The overall project involves 28 partners from 10 countries, with an overall value of 40 million Euros.
ATS is working with BAA to develop a pilot demonstration of the ULTra PRT system at Heathrow airport. As part of the City Mobil project, ATS will evaluate the effectiveness of ULTra in an airport environment. In addition, ATS will develop new PRT simulation models for wider application by the user community and, with other partners, undertake research on communication based collision avoidance techniques.
The City Mobil project will also create two other demonstration sites – one at the new Rome exhibition centre and one at the Spanish town of Castellón. Each of these will evaluate one form of automated transport. The global objective of CityMobil is to achieve a more effective approach to urban transport.
CityMobil is co-funded by the European Union through the Sixth Framework Programme for Research & Development (FP6) under Thematic Priority 1.6
More details may be found at http://www.citymobil-project.eu/
ATS Begins Heathrow Pilot
ATS have started the work programme under contract to BAA which will lead to the Pilot operation at Heathrow. The planned route for the pilot is from the N3 passenger car park to the new Heathrow Terminal 5. The route requires 4.2 km of track including station loops, and 18 vehicles. The guideway will connect into the Multi Story Car Park at T5 to provide a station at the entrance to the Terminal. The system will open for carrying passengers in Summer 2008 following the opening of T5 in March 2008.
Martin Lowson CEO of ATS said "This is another major step for the ULTra PRT system and is a result of the excellent joint efforts of the ATS and BAA teams".
An outline diagram of the route is available here
Production Vehicle Manufacturing Programme Launched
ATS has launched the final "C" vehicle production programme. This is being undertaken by ARRK Technical Services, based in Basildon Essex. The new vehicle builds on the substantial experience from the testing to date. Production launch follows an extensive detail design phase, incorporating requirements for city and airport applications from ATS and BAA. It also incorporates necessary refinements for a vehicle for passenger service including climate control, crashworthiness and a fuller passenger interface. Initial production vehicles will be available in the second Quarter of 2007.
Successful AVP test
On March 29th the ATS team successfully demonstrated the operation of the Automatic Vehicle Protection (AVP) system for ULTra at the Cardiff Trials site. The test was done before a large audience including guests from BAA, HM Rail Inspectorate and ATS contractors.
Automatic braking of a following vehicle was demonstrated following an induced failure of the lead vehicle. This marks a key step forward for safe multi vehicle operations.
PRT endorsed by Leading City Planners in UK and US
At the inaugural L'Enfant lecture on City Planning and Design of the American Planning Association Sir Peter Hall - Leading UK City Planner and author of the classic book "Cities and Civilisation" - said, in answer to a question:
“I think we may also in the future be looking to technological advances in public transportation to create new kinds of personal rapid transit. We had a big breakthrough announced only a week ago that a British system called, literally, PRT, Personal Rapid Transit, is going to be adapted for Heathrow Airport progressively over the next ten years … And if this is as successful as I think it will be, this could be a big breakthrough in developing new kinds of totally personalized rapid transit, which could transform our cities in ways that we can't yet see.”
At the CNU '05 conference, Peter Calthorpe, leading US "Smart Growth" advocate said,
“One of my pet peeves is that we've been dealing with 19th Century transit technology. We can do better than LRT. We can have ultra light elevated transit systems (personal rapid transit) with lightweight vehicles. Because the vehicles are lighter, the system will use less energy. I used to be a PRT sceptic, but now the technology is there. It won't be easy to develop PRT technology and get all the kinks out, but it is doable. If you think about what you'd want from the ideal transit technology, it's PRT: a) stations right where you are, within walking distance, b) no waiting.”
Thanks to Steve Raney www.cities21.org for this information.
First BAA Milestones Met
On December 5th ATS successfully demonstrated the first three milestones set by BAA as part of their programme. These were:
- Berth to Berth Transit: demonstrating the capability of the vehicle to leave one berth and return to another separate designated berth - representing a typical journey from airport car park to terminal.
- Automatic Vehicle Battery Charging in Station: demonstrating the ability of the vehicle to stop at the station and make contact with the specified power point for charging.
- Robust Fault Tolerant Guidance: demonstration of the ability of the vehicle to autonomously maintain its prescribed course in the absence of a signal from one of its guidance sensors.
These milestone tests fully met all elements of the defined specification and were met ahead of the original schedule set down with BAA.
The total number of people working on the ULTra project has grown rapidly to around 50. This includes major contributions from several contractor partners.
Google Note
A Google search for ultra gives 88,600,000 hits. The ULTra web site comes up number 2.
BAA Choose ULTra
Advanced Transport Systems Ltd (ATS) announced today that BAA had chosen their innovative ULTra Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, to provide better access to its terminals at Heathrow. The agreement between BAA and ATS also includes an investment of £7.5million in the company in return for 25% of the equity. See the full statement by ATS.
Mike Clasper, CEO of BAA, said "Two key goals for BAA are the improvement of the local environment and better service quality for our passengers. BAA believe that PRT offers an opportunity to meet both of these goals. BAA are delighted to take the opportunity to invest in the ULTra PRT system which is clearly leading the world in this exciting and innovative technology"
ULTra New Website
This is our new web site which has more information, especially about specifications, and offers two new video downloads (ULTra Journey 2005 and EDICT ULTra simulation) as well as new pictures, papers etc. We have tried to make it easy to use. We welcome your comments. Please send us an email. If you could also explain your interest in the site this would be useful.
£1M Investment
Advanced Transport Systems has completed a round of investment which has raised a total of just under £1M. This investment is being used to provide an expansion of critical technical areas in advance of new contracts. Jeremy Le Sueur of Church House Investments, the lead investor, said "We are delighted to be long term partners in this exciting new transport technology". Alan Bristow of ICON, the corporate finance advisers to ATS, said "ATS have a world class product and this investment will considerably enhance the company’s progress. I have no doubt ATS will become the leading company in the PRT sector".
Edict Conference Questionnaire Results
The results from the questionnaires filled out by those taking an ULTra ride at the EDICT Conference are shown here (50Kb).
Notable features of the results are -
- Everyone found the system easy or very easy to use
- Everyone found the whole experience either pleasant or very pleasant
- The responses suggest that people would use the ULTra system more often than their car and considerably more often that current public transport
These results are parallel to those from other passenger trials on the ULTra system - go to passenger trials results document.
Edict Conference Cardiff October 25 and 26
The major EDICT (Evaluation and Demonstration of Innovative City Transport) project funded under the EC City of Tomorrow programme is now drawing to a onclusion. The work has involved 16 partners in seven countries examining four PRT applications in depth, using ULTra as the model PRT system.
The results of this work have been very positive. The conference to disseminate the results, and results from related programmes, was held in Cardiff Oct 25/26.
This conference was very successful. Around 80 delegates, including a large number of delegates from UK Local Authorities, attended the conference. The ULTra prototype system was made available for delegates to experience. Around 35 separate vehicle trips were taken. Passenger reactions were uniformly extremely positive. A questionnaire was completed and an analysis of the results will be posted here shortly.
Eric Ponthieu, EC Project Officer, reiterated the strong support of the EC for the early application of the ULTra system in a European City.
ULTra Design Council Case Study
ULTra is the subject of the most recent Case Study by the Design Council. Check Case Studies at www.designcouncil.org.uk
Dual Mode Questionnaire Results Now Available as Excel Spread Sheet
ATS received a grant from the Department of Trade and Industry to undertake a study of the desirable design features of dual mode systems. Total value of the work is £62,000. The work started from an ULTra base but is not necessarily limited to this. A key aspect was the determination of features of dual mode of most value to potential users. ATS undertook a series of questionnaire and focus group studies, in conjunction with Transport and Travel Research Ltd.
The study results are available on this website (in Excel workbook format). The answers will be used to help determine the best design approach for future dual mode systems.
A summary of the questionnaire results will be published on the website.
SWRDA Contract for Pilot Application Studies
The South West Regional Development Agency has awarded ATS a £50,000 contract to investigate possible pilot applications of ULTra in Swindon and Weston-super-Mare. SWRDA has put out a press release on the project (click here to download). The objective of the work is to develop a business case for the scheme, including discussions with potential stakeholders.
New video available
Two versions of the video made during the ULTra trials under the EDICT contract are now available for downloading. ULTra 1 is a 6MB file and ULTra 2 is a 14MB file providing rather better quality. The duration of both is seven minutes. Please go to the Downloads page and then click on the blue ‘videos’ button.
Research and Development Award
ATS has been awarded a DTI Grant for Research and Development by the Government Small Business Service. The objective of the work is to design, develop and prove automatic vehicle guidance offering both robustness and low cost. The overall project is valued at £328,087.
The project started in 1995 in conjunction with the University of Bristol Advanced Transport Systems Ltd is responsible for system development and completed prototype testing in Feb 2003. This work was supported by the Department for Transport, and involved tests on four vehicles on trials sites in Bristol and Cardiff. The work culminated in very successful passenger trials, for which ATS received permission from the Rail Inspectorate to carry the public on the ULTra system - a major achievement for the project.
Work has also been completed on a variety of application studies. Typically it is found that ULTra can be installed for a cost which is between one half and one third of the cost of light rail, while also offering a far more attractive form of transport. A detailed study undertaken for Heathrow comparing ULTra to buses showed a saving of 60% in journey time and a saving of 40% in operating costs.
Current work includes the EDICT project supported by the EC under the City of Tomorrow programme. (Project value • 3,118,618) This is led by Cardiff and involves evaluations of ULTra in four cities, Cardiff, Almelo Holland, Huddinge Sweden and Ciampino Italy, with 15 partners in 7 countries around Europe. Work is also in progress on the Autotaxi project supported by DTI and led by TRW Automotive. (Project value £996,504). This is developing techniques for sensor data fusion for future safety sensors.
Total investment in the ULTra project is now over 50 man years and Euro 15M. First operation with paying passengers is projected for 2006.
ATS Ranked in SW Fastest Growing Business for the Second Year Running
ATS has been placed 4th in the SW in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 programme, following our success in 2002 when we were placed 1st. The Fast 50 ranks companies that have shown impressive growth rates in the telecommunications, hardware, software and biotechnology markets over the last three financial years. All companies considered for the award must be headquartered in the South West UK region, must be technology-intensive or use unique technology in problem solving, or must devote a high percentage of effort to research and development.
Laurence Hedditch, Technology Partner for Deloitte in Bristol, said, “The Fast 50 programme has always been a reliable indicator of whether British innovation is leading to more growth and wealth creation. These companies have demonstrated how to survive and thrive in today’s market. We are delighted to showcase their businesses and to contribute to the next wave of innovation in the UK’s technology sector.”
In the picture left, Alan Craig, ATS Project Manager, shows off the award with Jenny Hull of ITV and Vicki Cheadle of Deloitte.
NESTA Announces a Further Award to ATS
NESTA (The National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) has announced a further £125,000 award to Advanced Transport Systems to support further commercial development of the ULTra system.
ATS Ranked in Tech Track
Advanced Transport Systems has achieved Second place in the South West and 23rd position Nationally in the Sunday Times ARM Tech Track 100 league table, published on Sunday, 28 September.
Tech Track ranks technology companies for their annual growth in sales between 2000 and 2002. ATS achieved 127% growth pa over this period. Link to Tech Track 100.
Two New Papers Published
The paper "The ULTra Personal Rapid Transit System" presented at the 2002 SAE congress (2002-01-0174) has been selected to appear in the SAE 2002 Transactions Journal of Passenger Cars: Mechanical Systems. SAE inform us that a panel of engineering experts judged this paper to be among the most outstanding technical research published in this field in 2002.
The paper "Service Effectiveness of PRT vs Collective - Corridor Transport" will appear in the Journal of Advanced Transportation - Vol. 37. No 3. Both of these papers can be downloaded from the ‘Downloadable Files’ page. A report analysing the results of the May passenger trials will be posted soon.
EDICT Passenger Trials Completed
ATS has completed the second stage ULTra passenger trials on the Cardiff trials site with support from the EC City of Tomorrow EDICT programme. These trials were led by Transport and Travel Research Ltd with ATS providing the operating ULTra system. The results were extremely positive. Cardiff based users said they would be enthusiastic about using the system for trips between the City Centre and the bay. A disabilities focus group also praised the system for providing an effective nd accessible system well matched to their needs. A full report will be produced by TTR.
Completion of Initial Stage of Project
In February 2003 ATS completed the first stage of full prototype testing for ULTra. This work, supported by the Department for Transport, included building four vehicle prototypes and two trials sites, a short track in Avonmouth, principally used for research, and a complete track of almost 1 km in Cardiff, which includes all the key features of an operating system, at-grade and overhead sections, merge/diverge sections and a simple station.
The tests have been very successful. Nearly 3000 circuits of the track have been completed under automatic control. The work culminated in very successful passenger trials, (see items below) for which ATS received permission to carry the public on the ULTra system from the Rail Inspectorate - a major achievement for the project. Every milestone on the project has been met to time and cost.