Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 21 posts

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#11

Post by [deleted] »

D_Alex wrote: post #7
rgbrenner wrote: post #3

Saw the video was from 2007.. looked for an update. It was designed in the 1970s. This was the first system, and was installed in 1989. It's a 2mi loop. In 2013, they installed a 0.6mi line at a Brazilian airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel They're working on a new 3.75mi line in downtown Canoas BR. http://www.aeromovel.com.br/en/projeto/canoas/ In this 1993 article, they say this cos…

I lived in Jakarta in 2010... there is no such system operating (and IMO there never will be - it is inferior to conventional electric light rail despite the claims to the contrary made in the video). But there are a bunch of unused concrete pylons that look just like the ones in the video on certain roads. I was told that was for a light rail system that got cancelled due to rising cost issues. Not sure it was this…

[deleted]

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#12

Post by teh_klev »

Looks like this is still in use:

One of the "trains" stopped at a station:

https://goo.gl/maps/5Ju92GQQmPP2

Further evidence, if you start on Google streetmap here you can see one of the trains rounding a curve into one of the high level stations and then departing:

https://goo.gl/maps/oXD8gkXaHcM2

https://goo.gl/maps/VDcCFP9rvAK2

https://goo.gl/maps/Sa17Q5P7FNS2

https://goo.gl/maps/xZsViC3ctER2

One of the air release gates mentioned in the film:

https://goo.gl/maps/Shv8vApiYix

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#13

Post by teh_klev »

D_Alex wrote: post #7
rgbrenner wrote: post #3

Saw the video was from 2007.. looked for an update. It was designed in the 1970s. This was the first system, and was installed in 1989. It's a 2mi loop. In 2013, they installed a 0.6mi line at a Brazilian airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel They're working on a new 3.75mi line in downtown Canoas BR. http://www.aeromovel.com.br/en/projeto/canoas/ In this 1993 article, they say this cos…

I lived in Jakarta in 2010... there is no such system operating (and IMO there never will be - it is inferior to conventional electric light rail despite the claims to the contrary made in the video). But there are a bunch of unused concrete pylons that look just like the ones in the video on certain roads. I was told that was for a light rail system that got cancelled due to rising cost issues. Not sure it was this…

Looks like it does exist and is still working, see my comment above:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12722390

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#14

Post by ian0 »

rgbrenner wrote: post #3

Saw the video was from 2007.. looked for an update. It was designed in the 1970s. This was the first system, and was installed in 1989. It's a 2mi loop. In 2013, they installed a 0.6mi line at a Brazilian airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel They're working on a new 3.75mi line in downtown Canoas BR. http://www.aeromovel.com.br/en/projeto/canoas/ In this 1993 article, they say this cos…

The one in the video is a small test loop in a theme park in south Jakarta (TMII). Its still operational, very noisy. They open up the windows at both end to keep the passengers cool. If you get up early you can go for a jog on the track before it starts!

Various Jakarta monorail / light rail projects have failed in the meantime, however recently work has begun on an elevated light rail and it looks to be making good progress.

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#15

Post by olh »

This is the aeromovel that integrates our metropolitan train to the airport here in the brazilian south: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZKIp28thFE

Although it has been a project for more than 30 years, it is something locals are really proud. The same local company implemented both projects (the brazilian one and this in Jarkata).

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#16

Post by larvyde »

neves wrote: post #10

Does it still work? I don't thing so, so why it failed?

It's still running. It's more of a theme park ride nowadays though than an actual transit system. Noisy, very energy inefficient and costly to maintain.

Source: my dad worked on constructing the thing

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#17

Post by Animats »

curtis wrote: post #8

I stumbled across the Aeromovel on Wikipedia ("Hyperloop" > "Atmospheric railway" to "Atmospheric railway - Aeromovel" [1]). I was looking for a diagram to explain exactly how it worked, but couldn't really find one. However this video actually does a really good job of explaining it, all the way down to the guy crawling around in the air duct. The Aeromovel is about as low-tech as the Hyperloop is high tech. Of cour…

That's a neat little system. The atmospheric railways of the 19th century failed because they lacked a good sealing material for the slot. They tried to use leather, which didn't last very long. With synthetic rubber, it can work, although I wonder how often they have to replace the gaskets.

The size of the air duct is much larger than the 19th century systems, and the pressure is quite low, only 0.16 atmosphere. There is a switch for this system, and it's not too big.[1] (Monorail switches tend to be bulky.)

Another system (4.7km) is under construction, or at least contracted for, in Canoas, Brazil. This is planned to be expanded into a sizable metro system.

Aeromovel probably would have been an improvement over that cable-hauled kludge at the Oakland airport. That cost $484 million for a 3.2 mile system with two cars. Only two cars; there cannot be more, because of the way the cable system works.

[1] http://www.eureka.tu.chiba-u.ac.jp/download/jseht/Aeromovel%...

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#18

Post by jpatokal »

D_Alex wrote: post #7
rgbrenner wrote: post #3

Saw the video was from 2007.. looked for an update. It was designed in the 1970s. This was the first system, and was installed in 1989. It's a 2mi loop. In 2013, they installed a 0.6mi line at a Brazilian airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel They're working on a new 3.75mi line in downtown Canoas BR. http://www.aeromovel.com.br/en/projeto/canoas/ In this 1993 article, they say this cos…

I lived in Jakarta in 2010... there is no such system operating (and IMO there never will be - it is inferior to conventional electric light rail despite the claims to the contrary made in the video). But there are a bunch of unused concrete pylons that look just like the ones in the video on certain roads. I was told that was for a light rail system that got cancelled due to rising cost issues. Not sure it was this…

Those pylons are the sole legacy of the late, unlamented and never even close to completed Jakarta Monorail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta_Monorail

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#19

Post by jpatokal »

The system shown here is not mass transit, but a Disneyland Monorail style theme park ride that serves the Taman Mini amusement park on the outskirts of Jakarta:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Mini_Indonesia_Indah

https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHS_23_Aero_Movel_Indonesia

http://www.tamanmini.com/sarana-keliling/shs-23-aeromovel-in...

It runs in a six-station, 3.2km unidirectional loop.

Re: Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video]

#20

Post by mnw21cam »

The video mentions the South Devon Railway, "which failed". That railway was planned by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and opened in 1847. There are a few pumping stations along the route, which used steam engines to create a vacuum in a pipe laid along the middle of the tracks. The railway was converted to steam engines and then to diesel when the atmospheric system failed to live up to expectations. The main problem was that the leather seal along the slot on the top of the pipe failed - officially due to wear, freezing solid, or drying out and going stiff. The leather was lubricated with whale oil, and some say that rats took a fancy to this ready source of food.

There is still a pub called the atmospheric railway inn in Starcross, which the train would have passed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway

Post reply on HN