Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 43, 2012

Innovia Metro (stylized as INNOVIA Metro) is the current name given to an automated rapid transit system manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. The original versions look like small subway cars that typically run in two-, four- or six-car trains, but the latest versions are more streamlined two-car articulated designs that are not easily uncoupled. Innovia Metro systems currently in operation run on conventional metal rails and pull power from a third rail, but are powered by a linear induction motor that provides traction by pulling on a "fourth rail" placed between the running rails. The design was originally developed in the 1970s by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC) in Canada as a system that would provide economic rapid transit service in the suburbs. During development the system was known as the ICTS, for "Intermediate Capacity Transit System." Sales of the ICTS were made for metro lines in Vancouver, Toronto and Detroit. Further sales were not forthcoming and the Ontario government lost interest in the company, selling it to Lavalin of Quebec in 1986 then eventually it was acquired by Bombardier. Bombardier used the name "Advanced Rapid Transit" or "ART" after its acquisition of the technology. Bombardier has been much more active in developing and promoting this system, introducing a major new version and winning several additional sales in New York, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur. A future system in Yongin, near Seoul, South Korea, is to use the technology as well. The largest Innovia Metro system is part of the Vancouver SkyTrain network, which operates just under 50 km of track compatible with Innovia Metro trains.