BobH

From Crain's Detroit Business

"Detroit Metropolitan Airport has shut down one of its tram car lines in the McNamara Terminal for upgrades over the next two months.Only one tram car will be available to travelers looking for easy transportation across the terminal's Concourse A, which could result in longer wait times. The trolley will reopen to the public on Nov. 16 for the holiday travel season before both lines are scheduled to close Jan. 8 to finish updating the system.The cost for the project is $13 million, according to according to Wayne County Airport Authority spokeswoman Erica Donerson.

Crews will make software and hardware updates, a news release said. The project is expected to wrap up April 11."


Besides longer connection times for those using the tram, this will also mean the tram may be crowded at times.

Bob

rubesl

Glad for the maintenance/upgrades, but sad for the delays it will cause.

SDQBound

The south-north track is closed so the tram is single tracking. Wait time wasn't that bad.

Keith2004

I'm in luck, I'm connecting through DTW twice in coming months but being on Dec 9 and January 7th I'm just in under the wire
Glad to see an update, DTW is my Favorite Delta hub to connect through

HDQDD

Um, there's only one "track" from the central platform to each of the terminal ends... Does this mean that one end is not being served?

Not actually a track, it's a path because it rides on wheels.

Worldtraveler727

jfadool

Not to be ludicrously pedantic, but freight trains ride on wheels, is that not actually a track? What about a roller coaster, those also ride on wheels, not a track too? Paris and Montreal metro, also pneumatic tires, still not a track?

A track doesn't have to me metal, in the case of DTW and ATL the track in made from concrete.

HDQDD

Since you decided to be "ludicrously pedantic", I'll play along. The DTW and ATL systems ride on tires (more like a bus). Roller coasters and freight trains ride on rails. In that sense they are not comparable.

However, I will capitulate and agree to call it a track (I suppose it does meet Merriam-Websters 5 a: "the course along which something moves or progresses"). Now that we're done with this sideshow, does anyone know the answer to my question?

jfadool

Roller coasters and freight trains ride on plastic/rubber wheels or steel. The wheels ride on tracks made of steel.

The ATL trains ride on pneumatic tires. The wheels ride on tracks made of concrete. This is the same system that Paris, Montreal, and others use for the subway.

The DTW train is a giant upside down air-hockey table. The train rides on air, on a concrete track, with friction wheels to keep it between the guide-ways. Very cool system.

Roller coasters are much more similar to these airport trains that basically anything else. The bogie design is very similar. They use a load wheel and a friction wheel. Just the wheels are pneumatic tires. The ATL train is self driven, the DTW isn't, it has what is usually called as a ski-lift mech.

The original post says that the system is running, just with one train. The trains currently run from end to end with a stop in the middle. Just now instead of 2 trains there is one, so you may have to wait a bit longer. I can give you first hand experience on Tuesday...

SDQBound

Sorry, I'm not a mechanical engineer, English is not my native language (although I went to school in the US), and probably didn't remember how it worked at DTW in the past.

However, I was under the impression that both sides of the platform were used at the station depending on the direction of the "moving vehicle" (did I get that one right?). The doors used to board the train going north to south were not working and a sign was posted.

My only intention was to bring to the board my experience, not to start a semantics debate.

SJC ORD LDR

This is the second time since DL merged with NW that I recall reading about the tram being closed. Is this a problem with the system or something else?

I don't remember ever reading about the train in ATL closing down for an extended period due to maintenance. I've been there when it's down and it's a zoo in the tunnel.

bgriff

All train systems require some maintenance; two shutdown periods in 10 years doesn't sound like such a terrible rate. Any perceived increase in shutdowns since the Delta-NW merger may just be that if maintenance is required every 7 or 8 years or so, the newly built DTW terminal wouldn't have encountered its first maintenance event until after Delta took over NW.

The DTW shutdowns may be more disruptive / extensive than the ATL shutdowns since DTW presumably just has the two trains without any spares, so major maintenance work requires some downtime. Whereas ATL has 59 cars, which would be about 15 total trains, meaning there may be some number of cars out of service for maintenance at any given time without disrupting the rest of the system.

mnbp

Nice summary article from WikiPedia:
DTW ExpressTram

There are two trains on this system, and the trains pass each other at the central station. One train always takes the straight route through the central station, while the other train always takes the bypass route through the central station (which is the track closest to the DL SkyClub). When they take one train out of service, the entire route is still served, but the service interval is half as frequent.

readywhenyouare

CPMaverick

The upside of the DTW tram design is that the 'tracks' are almost maintenance free. The tram hovers above them.

It's a shame they don't have a spare tram as if they did, there'd almost never be an extended maintenance delay. I guess they figured since it ran two at once, that one could be repaired without shutting everything down. And of course, unlike some airports, walking is an option too.