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The AirRail Link is a people mover linking Birmingham Airport with Birmingham International railway station and the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), in the United Kingdom. The current system, originally known as SkyRail, replaced the earlier Birmingham Maglev system in 2003. The Birmingham Maglev was opened in 1984 and was the first commercial Maglev transport system in the world. The system was fully automated and used an elevated concrete guideway, much of which has been reused for the current AirRail Link system. The current system is a fully automated cable-hauled system that takes passengers from the high-level railway station concourse, over a dual carriageway and into the terminal buildings. It has a length of , is free to use, and handles three million passengers per year.〔 During the day, the trains run every few minutes each way. At off-peak times, trains operate on demand, and to facilitate this, a button labelled "DEMAND" must be pressed by the prospective passenger. ==Maglev== Initial feasibility studies for a link from the airport to the railway station and exhibition centre were started in 1979 by the owners of the airport at that time, West Midlands County Council. The selected solution was based on experimental work commissioned by the British government at the British Rail Research Division laboratory at Derby. Contracts were awarded in 1981 to a consortium involving GEC, Balfour Beatty, Brush Electrical Machines and Metropolitan Cammell under the name "People Mover Group", along with John Laing plc. The carriages were manufactured by MetroCammell at their Washwood Heath plant in Birmingham. The system was opened on 16 August 1984.〔Hansard, (House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 26 May 1999 (pt 8): Passenger Transit System ), 1999-05-26.〕 As built, the length of the track was , and trains "flew" at an altitude of . The line operated successfully for nearly eleven years, but obsolescence problems with the electronic systems, and a lack of spare parts, made it unreliable in its later years. The system closed in July 1995 when an investigation concluding the cost of reinstating and maintaining the Maglev to be too high. Initially the cars for the Maglev were stored by the airport owners, Birmingham International Airport Ltd., on the airport site.〔〔Birmingham Mail, (New plan aims to bring the Maglev back ), 2006-09-01.〕 After closure, the original guideway lay dormant and a temporary shuttle bus service was operated until development of a suitable replacement was found. The guideway was reused in 2003 when the replacement cable-hauled SkyRail people mover was opened. One of the Maglev carriages, as well as a model of the system, Carriage Three can be found in the National Railway Museum in York. Another carriage was put up for sale in an auction on eBay in late 2010 after lying unused at the airport since the system's closure. Carriage No. 2 was sold for £25,100 with the proceeds going to two charities and now resides with a private buyer in Warwickshire.〔http://www.obsessionistas.co.uk/news/?currentPage=12〕 Carriage One resides at Railworld. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「AirRail Link」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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