GEFT Scheduling to Maximize Value of Current Infrastructure and Upside Potential

Passenger end-to-end transit times can be reduced by more than 50% using existing rail infrastructure when scheduling is simultaneously advanced with implementation of multimodal ground-effect flight transit (GEFT) railcars. Initial implementations would increase ridership and better utilize existing trains with an emphasis on outskirt suburban locations with as few as three new vehicles. The more-evolved modes of operation use dynamically-forming trains of single railcars traveling down the line as a wave with single railcars leaving and joining the wave; it is made possible by ground-effect technology that increases speed, energy efficiency, and stealth of single railcars. GEFT attain efficient aerodynamic suspension over railway tracks, reducing both drag and rolling losses toward replacing steel wheels with tires. The aerodynamic suspension reduces stress on tracks toward higher speeds on marginal tracks with tires rather than steel wheels. The tires: a) enable multimodal vehicles to efficiently turn around on roads and slabs, b) expand seamless routing to include both railways and highways, and c) reduce noise.