Innovia Metro

Innovia Metro is an automated rapid transit system whose trains run on conventional rails and take power from a third rail but are driven by a linear induction motor that pulls against a flat aluminium slab, the fourth rail, laid between the running rails; newer versions can use ordinary rotary electric propulsion. The technology began in the 1970s at the Ontario government-owned Urban Transportation Development Corporation as the Intermediate Capacity Transit System, which was chosen for lines in Vancouver, Toronto and Detroit. Bombardier Transportation acquired it when it bought the corporation, called it Advanced Rapid Transit, and sold new systems in New York City, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Yongin near Seoul. Alstom now markets it, with earlier models branded Innovia ART and the latest as Innovia Metro. The largest system is part of the Vancouver SkyTrain, with just under 50 kilometres of compatible track.