Engineering : The Vehicle

Next: Plan and Profile

D.C. Transit monorail proposal, 1959 Monorail diagram, c. 1965 Paris Metro, 1963 Bond referendum poster, 1968 Weese vehicle proposal, 1970
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Beginning in the late 1950s, engineers considered all manner of vehicles. Government engineers rejected monorails--which would necessitate larger, more expensive tunnels--and rubber-tired trains, which are fine for all-urban systems but which do not do as well on long, suburban straightaways. They settled on a more traditional, duorail, steel-wheel vehicles with a low-maintenance exterior.