
Jakarta's Aeromovel – mass transit powered by pressurized air [video] - curtis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM2Zxn7ybNQ
======
jpatokal
The system shown here is _not_ mass transit, but a Disneyland Monorail style
theme park ride that serves the Taman Mini amusement park on the outskirts of
Jakarta:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Mini_Indonesia_Indah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Mini_Indonesia_Indah)

[https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHS_23_Aero_Movel_Indonesia](https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHS_23_Aero_Movel_Indonesia)

[http://www.tamanmini.com/sarana-keliling/shs-23-aeromovel-
in...](http://www.tamanmini.com/sarana-keliling/shs-23-aeromovel-indonesia)

It runs in a six-station, 3.2km unidirectional loop.

------
olh
This is the aeromovel that integrates our metropolitan train to the airport
here in the brazilian south:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZKIp28thFE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZKIp28thFE)

Although it has been a project for more than 30 years, it is something locals
are really proud. The same local company implemented both projects (the
brazilian one and this in Jarkata).

------
teh_klev
Looks like this is still in use:

One of the "trains" stopped at a station:

[https://goo.gl/maps/5Ju92GQQmPP2](https://goo.gl/maps/5Ju92GQQmPP2)

Further evidence, if you start on Google streetmap here you can see one of the
trains rounding a curve into one of the high level stations and then
departing:

[https://goo.gl/maps/oXD8gkXaHcM2](https://goo.gl/maps/oXD8gkXaHcM2)

[https://goo.gl/maps/VDcCFP9rvAK2](https://goo.gl/maps/VDcCFP9rvAK2)

[https://goo.gl/maps/Sa17Q5P7FNS2](https://goo.gl/maps/Sa17Q5P7FNS2)

[https://goo.gl/maps/xZsViC3ctER2](https://goo.gl/maps/xZsViC3ctER2)

One of the air release gates mentioned in the film:

[https://goo.gl/maps/Shv8vApiYix](https://goo.gl/maps/Shv8vApiYix)

------
rgbrenner
Saw the video was from 2007.. looked for an update. It was designed in the
1970s. This was the first system, and was installed in 1989. It's a 2mi loop.
In 2013, they installed a 0.6mi line at a Brazilian airport.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel)

They're working on a new 3.75mi line in downtown Canoas BR.
[http://www.aeromovel.com.br/en/projeto/canoas/](http://www.aeromovel.com.br/en/projeto/canoas/)

In this 1993 article, they say this cost $9m US to construct (using local
labor and materials) and $500k/yr to operate.
[http://articles.latimes.com/1993-01-17/business/fi-2255_1_tr...](http://articles.latimes.com/1993-01-17/business/fi-2255_1_transit-
system)

That's a lot cheaper than light rail.. but it's hard to do a fair comparison,
because of the labor difference and light rail projects (at least in the US)
include stuff like tunnels, re-routing highways, etc.

~~~
D_Alex
I lived in Jakarta in 2010... there is no such system operating (and IMO there
never will be - it is inferior to conventional electric light rail despite the
claims to the contrary made in the video).

But there are a bunch of unused concrete pylons that look just like the ones
in the video on certain roads. I was told that was for a light rail system
that got cancelled due to rising cost issues. Not sure it was this though, a
Japanese contractor that was shafted by the government was mentioned.

~~~
snoonan
I've lived there 20% time since 2009 have never heard of this system. People
said the same thing to me about those pylons. They've since launched a
"busway" system and are currently building a proper light rail MRT system. It
should theoretically begin operation of one of the lines next year. Lots of
good work being done now.

~~~
nrjames
Looks like it is in this theme park?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Mini_Indonesia_Indah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Mini_Indonesia_Indah)

------
mnw21cam
The video mentions the South Devon Railway, "which failed". That railway was
planned by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and opened in 1847. There are a few
pumping stations along the route, which used steam engines to create a vacuum
in a pipe laid along the middle of the tracks. The railway was converted to
steam engines and then to diesel when the atmospheric system failed to live up
to expectations. The main problem was that the leather seal along the slot on
the top of the pipe failed - officially due to wear, freezing solid, or drying
out and going stiff. The leather was lubricated with whale oil, and some say
that rats took a fancy to this ready source of food.

There is still a pub called the atmospheric railway inn in Starcross, which
the train would have passed.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway)

------
curtis
I stumbled across the Aeromovel on Wikipedia ("Hyperloop" > "Atmospheric
railway" to "Atmospheric railway - Aeromovel" [1]). I was looking for a
diagram to explain exactly how it worked, but couldn't really find one.
However this video actually does a really good job of explaining it, all the
way down to the guy crawling around in the air duct.

The Aeromovel is about as low-tech as the Hyperloop is high tech. Of course it
addresses a different part of the transit problem space, but it looks like it
actually works, and it's easy to see why it's really cheap.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway#Aeromovel)

~~~
Animats
That's a neat little system. The atmospheric railways of the 19th century
failed because they lacked a good sealing material for the slot. They tried to
use leather, which didn't last very long. With synthetic rubber, it can work,
although I wonder how often they have to replace the gaskets.

The size of the air duct is much larger than the 19th century systems, and the
pressure is quite low, only 0.16 atmosphere. There is a switch for this
system, and it's not too big.[1] (Monorail switches tend to be bulky.)

Another system (4.7km) is under construction, or at least contracted for, in
Canoas, Brazil. This is planned to be expanded into a sizable metro system.

Aeromovel probably would have been an improvement over that cable-hauled
kludge at the Oakland airport. That cost $484 million for a 3.2 mile system
with two cars. Only two cars; there cannot be more, because of the way the
cable system works.

[1]
[http://www.eureka.tu.chiba-u.ac.jp/download/jseht/Aeromovel%...](http://www.eureka.tu.chiba-u.ac.jp/download/jseht/Aeromovel%20JAPAN.pdf)

------
neves
Does it still work? I don't thing so, so why it failed?

~~~
larvyde
It's still running. It's more of a theme park ride nowadays though than an
actual transit system. Noisy, very energy inefficient and costly to maintain.

Source: my dad worked on constructing the thing

------
xeniak
> generated by electric blowers

Is the electricity generation clean? Unlikely in SEA.

~~~
curtis
> Is the electricity generation clean? Unlikely in SEA.

No doubt true, but possibly the wrong question to be asking. Is a coal fired
plant outside of Jakarta going to produce less pollution than all those buses
and cheap motorcyles generating their pollution right where all the people
are?

