Chinese Straddling Train/Bus Design Rides On Top of Cars

We’ve all experienced this once or twice: sitting at the red and white gate watching what appears to be several million box cars roll along the railroad track as the minutes tick closer and closer toward lateness. Now imagine if instead of running perpendicular to your thoroughfare, the train ran right on top of you.

That’s how the Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Company envisions the future of transportation in Chinese cities like Beijing. The firm designed the train above to help pull buses off the roads and cut congestion while limiting the amount of infrastructural investment needed.

While the train looks intimidating at first, it’s actually quite smart. Unlike a subway, which puts trains underneath roads, Shenzhen’s design requires minimal infrastructure, using the above-ground routes already constructed. Presumably, it requires only tracks on either side of the road to operate, and would run on solar and grid electricity. The cost for building it is estimated at 10 percent that of building an equivalent subway.

China has already commissioned a test section of 115 miles of track in Beijing’s Mentougou district to begin later this year. It will be interesting to see how it works out. [China Hush via Jalopnik]