Floc® Duo Rail™ Operational

2025/02/14

Introduction

This short discussion paper concentrates on the operational aspects of the Floc Duo Rail, urban transit system and in particular focuses on its potential benefits for private developments that includes business parks, commercial centres, innovation districts and campuses, airports and their environs but not necessarily restricted to only that type of land use.

If we consider airports as an example in terms of development and location, they vary globally, from airports that are land locked and constrained for space which can affect expansion plans, to new airports that have ample land, but which in turn, brings key challenges for connectivity across and within the airport site owing to the large scale and nature of development.

Planning connectivity

It is becoming more likely that as airports apply for planning permission to expand, challenges around the planning system related to transport will become evident. In most countries the drive towards net zero is accelerating and whilst some countries are ahead, a large majority are thinking about mass transport as being one of the solutions to penetrate cities and developments including airports whilst trying to reach their ultimate net zero targets and endeavour to shift people from their private cars on to public transport-based solutions.

It is rare for an airport of a considerable size not to have viable public transport alternatives, which might include mass public transport systems, in place or planned. One should also not forget the wider connectivity within a city or region that such a system can deliver.

Depending on the size of the airport, connectivity between the primary facilities, such as passenger terminals, and ancillary facilities, such as cargo and car parks can become a challenge.  Added to this is the complexity of connecting across landside and airside and the opportunity for defining a common transit system with the potential to bridge both elements.

The dilemma or challenge of system choice

When planning for an airport development, irrespective of whether it is the expansion of existing, or the development of a new greenfield airport, the choice of a landside mass public transport system becomes complex and dependent on what criteria, objectives and KPIs are set.

Arguably KPIs would most likely include:

• Volume of passengers served per hour would need to be high
• Frequency of services would need to be high
• Limiting waiting time to single digit minutes
• Capacity responsive with the flexibility to quickly and easily adapt to the unique peaks and troughs in demand experienced at airports
• Limiting space take up
• Adequate penetration of the various facilities, destinations and land uses in and around the airport
• Potential for seamless integration with airside operations and transit requirements
• Ability for the system to link beyond the boundary of the airport
• Quality of passenger experience is high priority
• Minimising impact on operations, particularly for a brownfield site, during construction and delivery

In addition, planning for the future might imply at the least, looking at emerging future mobility technology solutions that will come onto the market rather than just reverting to the tried and familiar incumbent and inflexible systems, particularly for an expansion or build programme extending over a long period of time. Airport master plans take decades to come to fruition and a keen eye should be kept on technology advancements that happen over the full lifecycle of an airport development programme.

For example, if an airport is planned to increase capacity from 40 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 80 mppa by 2040 then it would be prudent to assess future technologies and establish what KPIs they can meet and what additional benefits might prevail and / or be necessary to fulfil the desired capacity.

Tried and familiar systems such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) are proven mass transport systems and as such, this paper will not go into any further detail on those systems and will instead concentrate on future mass transport systems, and specifically the Floc Duo Rail system.

Floc Duo Rail system by Urban.MASS Limited

Adopting a Floc Duo Rail system at an airport offers numerous benefits. For instance, during an airport expansion, efficient land use is critical. This system requires a smaller defined corridor, can be installed in phases, and operates at multiple levels to accommodate development constraints. This phased installation and multi-level operation facilitate better land use and facility penetration.

Land use linkages and penetration

By way of an example, a Floc Duo Rail system linking car parks to the main passenger terminal can provide better connectivity and shorter walking distances by penetrating car parks at any level, whether it be a surface car park or a multistorey car park.  As airports continue to increase capacity to service the growing demand in global air travel and strive to become experiential destinations, connectivity to transport interchanges, car parks and commercial zones (airport cities/ aerotropolis) is becoming more critical.

Seamless integration of the transport system with the various land uses, such as car parks and commercial zones, is crucial. The small footprint of a Floc Duo Rail system offers a significant advantage over conventional systems such as BRT or LRT, which require more space and result in longer walking distances between car parking, other facilities and the airport transit system.

Elevated transit system

The floc Duo Rail system can be installed at an elevated position to remove many of the conflict points along route corridors and alignments which can help to streamline and reduce travel time for airport passengers, employees and visitors. 

The elevated system frees up valuable surface-level space at airports, which can be repurposed for other functions or amenities, especially valuable in constrained airport environments. Floc Duo Rail was designed to operate seamlessly at height while allowing passengers to embark and disembark the system at ground level through its vertical movement capabilities.

Multi-user segregation passengers and employees

Such a system can also physically separate employees from passengers which provides better opportunities to interact in a safe manner with airside activities particularly if moving from say landside to airside.  This also offers advantages for service levels but also experience.  Even if the segregation was not by Floc lines, the segregation and level of comfort can be varied, distinguished and designed by Floc Pod as opposed to an entire train / or line.

Privacy opportunities

Airports typically experience peaks and troughs in passenger demand throughout daily operations based on airline schedules and aircraft movements. The floc Duo Rail system can easily and quickly adapt to these peaks and troughs by supplying more or fewer vehicles into the system as and when required. This is a clear advantage over other more conventional systems that tend to have a fixed level of capacity. 

The flexible capacity of the system could also it to a forerunner in offering privacy and security to individuals or groups of individuals, such as families, by presenting them the opportunity to reserve or travel as a group in their own vehicle without other passengers.

Demand responsive

In addition, the uniqueness of such a system provides real time route adjustments as to vehicle numbers required which in turn implies vehicles can be redeployed to other areas to meet potential extra demand.

Adaptability

In essence it can act as a private taxi, a bus or a BRT or LRT type system depending on demand and vehicle supply/demand requirements. This is a very unique offer.

Installation on site

The floc Duo Rail system conforms to the principles of design for manufacturer and assembly (DfMA).  This makes the system highly modular with the main components manufactured off-site and only brought on to the site for final assembly and installation.  The only civil construction required is a pile for each supporting column.  This approach has the potential to reduce delivery into operation times and minimise disruption and impact on operations, which is critical in an airport environment.  This represents a significant advantage over conventional ground-based systems, which require significant impactful civil works, will typically take longer to deliver and are more prone to disruption. 

The following table summarises some answers to key questions.

Johnny Ojeil is a Director at Ramboll with considerable experience in the field of transport planning and infrastructure. He has worked on transport systems for airports around the world and has also provided expert witness services to airport clients in the UK. Johnny also has a wide experience of transport planning for cities and has been involved in work related to major event planning. His clients have included, the EU, EIB, EBRD and other large development finance institutions on transport infrastructure related projects that include SUMP projects and city masterplans. He brings some 38 years of experience and is also a senior visiting lecturer at the school of civil engineering, University of Birmingham and is an elected council member for the Association of European Transport and Chairs the Aviation Committee for the AET conference.

Johnny has been a Member of the urban.MASS Advisory Board since 2022.