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Maglev Rail Ferry

Highspeed overland car ferries
 
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These things would be trains that you park your car on, that would act like ferries, allowing you to bring your car to your destination (and thus be able to use it there) while saving driving time and danger. The idea is like eg for the I-5 Corridor, on the west coast, you could have train stations at each major city, and still be able to drive around in the cities once you get there.
amadeus, Feb 15 2001

Land Ferry http://www.halfbake...m/idea/Land_20Ferry
Very similar idea, without the maglev part (which is pretty incidental anyway). [egnor, Feb 15 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Real Non-Maglev Land Ferry http://faculty.wash...jbs/itrans/vmts.htm
One from a prominent research at Washington U who specializes in rapid personal transportation systems. I think this is what you were describing, StarChaser. So, concept baked; real-world half-baked [Wes, Feb 15 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]

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       Baked for years, without the maglev part which is, as Egnor says, incidental anyway. Amtrak has had car-trains forever...The website is being bitchy at the moment, so I can't post a link, though.
StarChaser, Feb 16 2001
  

       Why even move your car? Put in car ports at points within walking distance of the train station. No keys, always ready to roll.

Each car has GPS and is identifiable by its unique code, same as cell phones. As long as you bring in the car and hop back on the train within your deadline, all car fees are included in the cost of the train ride.
reensure, Feb 16 2001
  

       reensure your idea has been baked by a japanese (i think?) university that has electric cars which once used by someone that checks one out with a keycard drive themselves back across town to one of several pre-set parking/recharging areas
chud, Feb 18 2001
  

       Wes: No, that's not what I was talking about, although it's kind of a neat idea anyway. Amtrak, the largest / only remaining American passenger train company, has 'autotrains'. Go to the station, they put your car on the train, you get on the train yourself, you go to your destination, they get your car off and you have your car.
StarChaser, Feb 18 2001
  

       Why park the cars on a train? The cars have wheels, don't they? Just drive the car with the two front wheels on a little cart on the rails. The cart knows where it is going and how much distance there is to other carts. It is powered by the wheels of the car or with electricity in a trolley bus fashion. I will make a new Halfbakery entry for this.
rrr, Jan 13 2003
  
      
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