A leading contender to provide Dubai with a groundbreaking new mass transport system suspended on rails released details of how its city sky pods could be used.
USky Transport, using Unitsky String Technology designed in Belarus, revealed its first prototype passenger line in Sharjah this week.
The Minsk company is one of several bidding to develop a commercial passenger line in the UAE over the next two years,
Scientists revealed expansion plans for a uSky research and development centre in Sharjah.
uSky Transport in Dubai
The Skyway Innovation Centre will be developed on the current testing site at the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park.
It will include several lines using super-strong string technology to carry passenger and cargo pods at speeds ranging from 150kph to 500kph.
"There is huge potential here," said Oleg Zaretskiy, chief executive of uSky Transport.
“We want to move transport to the next level where there will not be obstacles on the ground or more traffic.
“It is offering people the concept of the future.”
In Minsk, five test lines are already operational using either a flexible, semi-rigid or rigid track structure.
Steel casing encloses the railhead, body frame, steel string and filler and is considerably cheaper than existing transport infrastructure.
Structural anchors are spaced out every 50 metres, with pods elevated 15m from the ground.
The system requires minimal land acquisition for construction to carry aerodynamic pods with high energy efficiency between transit sub-stations.
In 2019, the uSky Transport system, formerly named Skyway Greentech, signed an agreement with the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai to develop futuristic solutions to traffic congestion.
A similar deal was recently signed with Zhong Tang Sky Railway Group to explore "futuristic transport systems", after the Chengdu company unveiled its prototype of a panda-themed monorail in 2016.
The Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy aims to convert 25 per cent of all journeys in the city to autonomous by 2030.
