Welcome
Following the last international meetings in Orlando (2005), Vienna (2007) and Atlanta (2009), the 13th International Conference will be held in Paris from May 22nd to May 26th, 2011.
As usual, the Paris Conference will be the biannual international meeting for all people involved in the actual and future development of fully automated People Movers and Urban Transit Systems. Researchers, manufacturers, consultants, operators, urban planners and project developers will all gather to share their experiences.
In Paris, Orly Airport has its light metro system, OrlyVal, and Charles de Gaulle Airport already has two internal APM lines. In addition, 2011 happens to be an exceptional year for Paris’s major urban transit system: joining its first unattended metro line 14 opened in 1998, its oldest line—the Line 1—is in process to begin operating fully automated unattended trains. This significant upgrading of an old system is being completed without any interruption to the line’s service.
In light of this latest development, the 2011 Conference will add to the traditional APM planning and development sessions, two tracks of sessions devoted to full automation of existing urban metro systems, and to the new perspective the development of unattended metro systems brings to urban policy and planning in large metropolitan areas.
At Heathrow Airport in London a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system is about to open to the public and in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi another PRT system is under development. The world is watching and many other PRT systems are being planned. The conference will also include, as part of the APM sessions, discussion of the exciting possibilities of PRT, in respect to expanding the systems in public operation at the time of the conference, the progress of PRT suppliers' development, and the planning of PRT networks
To emphasize the broadening of the Conference scope, it has been decided to add ATS for "Automated Transit Systems" to the historical conference logo. This is why the Conference logo is now "APM-ATS 2011".
Paris, with its vibrant city life and well-known hospitality, and the APM-ATS 2011 Steering Committee are looking forward to welcoming you to the May 2011 13th APM-ATS Conference, for an exceptional opportunity to develop jointly a pragmatic long-range vision of fully automated transportation systems for the 21st Century.
Local Host
