The Huntsville Hospital Tram System is an

automated people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

system located as part of the

Huntsville Hospital System The Huntsville Hospital Health System, also known as Huntsville Hospital, is a public, not-for-profit hospital organization consisting of several sites and buildings originating in the downtown area of Huntsville, Alabama. The Huntsville Hospital ...

complex in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

, United States. Operating on a concrete

guideway An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dr ...

, the trams serve to connect the Huntsville Hospital with the Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children. At the time of completion, this was the second hospital people mover system in the United States after the

Duke University Medical Center Patient Rapid Transit Duke University Medical Center Patient Rapid Transit or Personnel Rapid Transit (PRT) was an automated people mover system located at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, in the United States. The system was in operation from 19 ...

. , this is the only automated people mover system completed in the state of Alabama.

Description

Developed by Poma-Otis Transportation Systems, a joint venture of

Poma Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, people ...

and the

Otis Elevator Company Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farming ...

, and constructed by

Brasfield & Gorrie Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of the United States' largest privately held construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services for a wide variety of markets. ...

, the cable-driven steel-on-steel system was completed at a final cost of $10.9 million. The two concrete guideways are elevated above the surface. Costing $280,000 annually to operate, the Huntsville Hospital Tram System handles approximately 2,200 passengers per day. The vehicles were designed by the Gangloff company of Switzerland. Each car can handle three seated and 38 standing passengers. Additionally, each car was designed to accommodate the largest bed in use by the hospital for the transport of patients. The system runs in an east-west direction between the main Huntsville Hospital building and the Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children with intermediate stops at the Plaza Resource Center and the Franklin Medical Tower. The system offers two separate modes for reaching the various stations, a ''Local Mode'' and an ''Express Mode''. The ''Local Mode'' makes all four stops, primarily traveling along the northern track. The ''Express Mode'' only travels between the two termini, primarily along the southern track.

History

The idea of developing a tram system for Huntsville Hospital was initially proposed in mid-1997. By December 1998, plans for the system moved forward after gaining approval of several property

variance In probability theory and statistics, variance is the expectation of the squared deviation of a random variable from its population mean or sample mean. Variance is a measure of dispersion, meaning it is a measure of how far a set of numbers ...

s from the Huntsville Board of Zoning Adjustment to allow for its construction. By early 2000 construction of the system would commence, with an initial opening slated for summer 2001. However, due to delays and the need for enhanced security along the system in the wake of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, the system would not open until June 19, 2002. By 2004, use of the tram resulted in the elimination of approximately 4,500 annual ambulance trips and the use of two full-time shuttle vans between the two main facilities. Due to this reduction in the number of vehicle trips made, Huntsville Hospital was awarded a 2004 Industrial Air Pollution Control Achievement Award from the city of Huntsville Air Pollution Control Board.

References

{{USpplmver
Transportation in Huntsville, Alabama Hospital people mover systems Hovair people movers People mover systems in the United States