I just read this article at Globe and Mail National about an inverted monorail as a solution to public transport in Quebec.
This seems like a nice idea to me, certainly might make it cheaper to build as it avoids alot of the land purchasing issues, and surely must be quicker to put together. I hope they get as far as the protoype at least. It's about time there was some practicle innovation in public transport.
Here's the first part of the articel, you can read the rest here.
"Imagine a train car suspended high above traffic that could reach speeds of 250 kilometres per hour and get you from Quebec City to Montreal in less than an hour.
Each car in the inverted monorail system could transport 60 to 75 passengers and would be powered by 16 in-wheel electric engine motors. No need for expensive fuel - just clean, affordable electricity, its promoters say.
And there's no need to buy acres of land to build a network. The pylons from which the rails would be suspended could be installed almost anywhere, including the medians of four-lane highways or even urban boulevards. They could straddle overpasses, span rivers and be built above bridges.
The inverted monorail is believed to be faster, cheaper and less polluting than existing mass-transit systems in the country. And at an estimated $7-million a kilometre, it would be three to five times less costly to build than a high-speed train, and reach destinations three times faster than an automobile."