Multi-directional cableless elevators could deliver people to the subway directly from their offices

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The world’s first horizontala and vertical elevator can literally open up new directions of travel in underground transport hubs. MULTI breaks the 160-year tradition of rope-driven elevators and has been designed to increase passenger shaft capacity by 50%. It does this by enabling multiple cabins to travel safely up one shaft and down another in a single continuous loop, much like a circular shuttle. The only visible difference to passengers is that the doors can open every 15 to 30 seconds.

MULTI was initially developed for tall buildings, to double elevator shaft capacity, reduce elevator footprint, and offer vertical and horizontal movement to enable architects to construct taller, more creative and more user friendly structures, but its concept makes it a prime solution to the challenges of metro stations as well. If applied it would undoubtedly change the face of London’s transport network, and reinforce the UK’s position at the head of global innovations. Yet it also offers a practical solution that could ease congestion in dozens of underground networks across the world too; a thought that makes you realize its potential to be one of the most revolutionary new developments of our time.

In London the population is growing at a rate of 1.5% year-on-year, reaching almost 8.6 million in 2015. Implementing new technology at key city transport hubs is essential to get people from A to B as effectively as possible.

The population growth puts pressures on the London Underground, the world’s oldest underground transport network. Passenger numbers have risen 33% in the past decade and some 1.34 billion passengers use the underground every year. The busiest tube station, London Waterloo, handles 95 million passengers every year and the deepest platform in the network is 58 meters below street level, at Hampstead.

The elevators would be installed on Underground platforms(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator)

Thyssenkrupp envisions a system of elevators to service London’s Underground(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator)

MULTI elevators would deliver commuters directly from their offices to their platforms(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator)

MULTI uses special junctions to allow cars to move horizontially(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator)

SOURCES – Thyssenkrupp Elevator