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Project Envisions Modular Aircraft That Double as Train Cars

Posted by Unknown on from the fuselage-fell-from-plane dept.

cylonlover writes "Air travel today is a nightmare of long drives to crowded airports, long queues that move at a snail's pace, and long, boring waits in identical lobbies drinking overpriced coffee. It would be so much easier and less frustrating if catching a plane were like catching a train. If Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has its way, its Clip-Air project will one day produce modular aircraft that will allow you to board a plane at a London railway station and disembark in the middle of Rome without ever setting foot in an air terminal."

2 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Multi-mode is old news by Nexus7 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Truck to train has been going on for decades. A more feasible approach is to have buses that can be driven on to, or hooked up to trains. It wouldn't cover the kinds of distances planes can, but it would happen a lot sooner.

    Which comes first, the lithium-xxx battery that will last 7 days, or the plane-train?

    1. Re:Multi-mode is old news by rioki · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I totally agree with you on that, at least for areas that have no body of water in the way, high speed trains is the way to go. Maglev is currently and may be never an economical option, the tracks are to expensive. In current designs the train is almost passive and the track contains all the coils and electricity. Which results in loots of expensive copper that is only used for a very short time. With conventional trains the track is relatively cheap, so expect more conventional high speed trains, maybe even in vacuum / low pressure tubes. The Swiss are actively researching such an option, since they need to build a tunnel for large parts of their network why not just build it a little deeper and longer and depressurize it. The train running through it will be running on conventional tracks, even in parts not covered by a vacuum tube.

      In addition the solution in the article / video over-engineers the problem. The places where you need a train/airplane cross over, just let the train "go right into the terminal" like any connecting flight. I probably will not have a direct connection anyway, so what is the big deal if I change plane to plane or train to plane. It also adds an additional problem, if I need to fly Berlin - Frankfurt - Huston - Austin, with the train solution I get the additional ride to the center of town instead of switching in the airport. Now if they would implement baggage check in for trains...