Accelerated Moving Walkway
With the accelerated moving walkway, never again will passengers have to run through the terminal.Walking distances at Schiphol are long and are only going to increase further in the future. In order to prevent transfer passengers from having to be marathon trained, a solution to the long distances and the existing slow moving walkways is being developed. Whilst the distances between various points of the airport are continuing to increase, the walking time for the passenger must remain the same.
Approach
The accelerated moving walkway offers a solution to this problem. At the point at which the passenger steps onto the walkway, it will be running at the normal, low speed. The speed of the walkway will then increase, but will slow down again to the normal speed in order to allow the passenger to step safely off the walkway. The possibilities for the accelerated moving walkway have been researched.
Results
The research has been completed in June. At Schiphol airport a few locations have been addressed where installation of an accelerated moving walkway could be appropriate.
The only working installation worldwide (in Toronto) has shown operational problems (noise nuisance). It is unclear so far if these problems have been solved by the manufacturer or not.
The technological developments regarding these operational problems are waited upon before it is decided to start a follow-up study or pilot.
