Tel Aviv has appointed US consultancy Jenkins Gales & Martinez (JGM) to oversee the introduction of the city’s ‘revolutionary’ SkyTran rail system.
Israel is one of a number of countries pursuing the technology which could eventually see a network of elevated pods built in the city.
SkyTran, which has been partly developed by NASA, uses maglev technology to power individual light-weight vehicles along a monorail system.
The pods are designed to reach speeds of 150 mph and the destination is set by the traveller rather than a defined route.
Chief executive Jerry Sanders has previously told Global Rail News that he expects interest from all around the world once the first system is up and running.
He said: “The total market size is of several billions of dollars.
“In the long run, the company is expecting to roll out SkyTran in almost every major and medium-size city and along almost the entire network of national highways.”
India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the USA are all in talks with SkyTran about the possibility of installing new networks.
How clumsy and ridiculous the current transportation system is. My workplace is 70KM away, I have to catch a bus and 2 trains to get there. With all the waiting for the bus and transfers, it takes 2 hours to get there. If we had SkyTran, it would take less than half an hour! However, with the established players in the transport business, I don’t see such systems being installed in “developed” countries any time soon, no matter how much the public needs it.