Advantage of Using Ewing System
The railways based on the Ewing System are basically monorails using a balancing wheel for balancing the train. The main load (almost 95%) is borne by the single rail while the rest is borne by the balancing wheel which runs on the ground. Further, in normal train systems, the rails have to be at almost exact level of other rail, failing which the train may go off the tracks. By using Ewing system, this problem is solved as the balancing wheel does not need exact level to maintain the balance of monorail. In addition the cost of laying tracks also goes down considerably since only one rail is used. Another benefit of using Ewing System was that the balancing wheel could run on existing tarred roads as well as the macadam roads thus further reducing cost to lay down tracks.
Using one rail also means that the turning circle is far less than the standard trains. PSMT had to pass through some very congested areas. Since the space need to lay the tracks was less and balancing wheel could run on existing roads, PSMT succeeded in running through the congested urban areas of Patiala. The balancing wheel of PSMT ran on the roads and did not interfere with normal traffic.
PSMT could have been forerunner of mass transit system in urban areas in India. Its model still holds good for introducing mass transit system in congested urban areas where laying of train ortram tracks is not possible due to space constraint.
Read more about this topic: Patiala State Monorail Trainways
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