An Open Corridor with a Piercing View: How Rubber Tires Transformed the "Interior Scenery" of AGT

Have you ever felt that the heavy

doors between train cars on a

conventional railway are a bit of a

nuisance?

In contrast, most AGT (Automated

Guideway Transit) vehicles do not

have those doors.

Standing in the lead car and looking

back, your gaze travels straight

through to the rear window several

cars away, capturing the receding city

landscape. This overwhelming

"transparency," where your line of

sight pierces through the entire train,

is a luxury unique to elevated AGT

lines.

Normally, a major reason for gangway

doors on a train is to block noise

entering through the bellows of the

coupling section, thereby improving

the interior environment. On

conventional railways where steel

wheels rub against steel rails, a

piercing "squealing noise" (flange

noise) occurs when navigating curves,

making doors essential to block that

sound.

However, AGT vehicles running on

rubber tires do not produce that

unpleasant metallic noise, even on

sharp curves. Since there is no

"squealing noise" to block in the first

place, this technical characteristic of

the "feet" of the vehicle has made it

possible to remove physical partitions

and transform the entire train into one

large, "quiet room."

Why are doors unnecessary for AGT

but mandatory for subways? It comes

down to the "logic of safety" that a

city must uphold. In the case of

subways, even if noise isn't an issue,

gangway doors are mandatory to

block smoke and prevent the spread

of fire in the event of an emergency

within a tunnel. This is why the

Astram Line, which has underground

sections, is the only AGT system

equipped with gangway doors.

The presence or absence of these

doors serves as an indicator of the

priority safety standards based on the

environment in which the line operates

—whether it is the enclosed space of a

tunnel or the open space above

ground.

Rather than containing noise with a

door, the design philosophy is to not

produce noise to begin with. The

open corridor without partitions is a

testament to how AGT has achieved

"quiet movement" through rubber tire

technology, harmonizing with the

city's landscape and the physical

sensations of its people.

Today, we continue to glide lightly

through the city’s shortest paths,

feeling the soft light pass through this

open corridor.

Stay tuned for the next AGT Blog!