Fairwood to build world's largest electric vehicle transport system in Ajman

The Fairwood Group's 'ULTraFairwood' announced the signing of a contract to build the world's largest Personal/Group Rapid Transit (PRT/GRT) project in Ajman City, UAE.

The capex value of the core project will be USD 881 million, and the system cost, supplied by ULTraFairwood, will be USD 723 million, which is approximately Rs. 4,700 crore.

USPs:

•It will be the largest autonomous electric vehicle transport system in the world.

•It will be a city wide integrated transportation system, a combination of PRT and GRT.

•The vehicles will be produced in India, for the world market. This will be the world's largest autonomous vehicle production facility. "Make in India" - for the world.

•ULTra Fairwood is owned by Fairwood Holdings, India, which will become one of the few Indian owned global leaders in technology.

The Personal Rapid Transit System (PRT) is a six-seater battery powered driverless vehicle which uses rubber wheels running on an elevated guide way. The PRT is, in fact, a personal taxi which is demand responsive to any user. The PRT transports the users anywhere within the track network directly and without any stops. Stations are off-line allowing the PRT pods to by- pass all stationsen-route to the destination thereby reducing travel time. It is an energy efficient and sustainable system.

The GRT system is a 30 passenger capacity driverless, electric vehicle that travels on a dedicated track - at grade and elevated. GRT is a public transport system, which will integrate seamlessly with the PRT system.

The ULTra PRT System, developed by Fairwood Group partner ULTra Global PRT, UK, is already in successful commercial operation in Heathrow Airport for the last six years. Heathrow PRT System received 2012 Business Parking Awards, Global Air Rail Award and London Transport Award. It is the world's first commercial PRT system. It has carried close to 1.5 million passengers, and completed over 5 million passenger km.

ULTra Fairwood have exclusive technology rights in India and several other countries to implement PRT systems, and are currently at various stages of PRT project development in over 70 cities in India and overseas.

ULTra Fairwood ( UF), along with its partners, recently signed an agreement with the Government of Ajman ( UAE) to implement PRT and GRT within the Ajman City. The system will act as a medium for efficient and effective mobility within Ajman Core area. The project in Ajman would be implemented in two phases and will spread out in the whole city connecting major tourist destinations, commercial districts, and residential zones.

ULTra Fairwood Group envisages the Ajman PRT/ GRT system to provide "seamless connectivity" to daily passengers/commuters in Ajman City.

The key specifications of the proposed network are as below.

Route Length: 76 km

Track length: 120 km

Number of stations: 115

Number of vehicles: 1,745 vehicles

System Capacity: 1.64 million passenger trips per day.

-ANI