Project ELAN

Project ELAN is described in a document from Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft, dated December, 1971. ELAN is an acronym derived from Elektronisch Gesteuertes Automatisches Nahverkehrssystem. The document is written in technical German (beyond my translation capabilities) and so this page contains only those most interesting pictures from this document. So far as is known, this transit technology never got beyond the conceptual and physical modeling stage. It is included at this website because it might be of some historical interest as an example of a "skyhook" type technology and might also be of interest to people currently working on the design of urban peoplemovers.

        Two types of vehicles were designed. These vehicles are passive (i.e. they contain no propulsion equipment) and are designed for simplicity of construction.

         Figure 1 and Figure 2 show how people would be accommodated by these vehicles. Some ride facing forward, others have their backs to the direction of movement. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the component modular parts of the vehicles and indicate that they could be easily manufactured and assembled.

        Figure 5 shows how the seats can be removed and Figure 6 shows how the vehicles can be quickly converted into a cargo-carrying configuration. Figure7 shows a cross-section of a two-way ELAN guideway.

Project ELAN

Two types of vehicles were designed. These vehicles are passive (i.e. they contain no propulsion equipment) and are designed for simplicity of construction.

Figure 1 and Figure 2 show how people would be accommodated by these vehicles. Some ride facing forward, others have their backs to the direction of movement. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the component modular parts of the vehicles and indicate that they could be easily manufactured and assembled.

Figure 5 shows how the seats can be removed and Figure 6 shows how the vehicles can be quickly converted into a cargo-carrying configuration. Figure7 shows a cross-section of a two-way ELAN guideway.

Last modified: November 12, 2014