Poster Aerotrain

The Aerotrain is a vehicle running on a cushion of air, and guided by a special inverted-T track, forming by necessity a clean site.

It can be propelled by a propeller (aviation engine), a turbine, a turbojet or a linear electric motor, and is supported by a cushion of air, enabling it to move without contact with the track, and therefore without friction with it. Its operating principle also borrows from monorail technology.

It was a French invention by engineer Jean Bertin, but was never commercially exploited, the project being shelved to promote the SNCF's TGV high-speed train.

Several prototypes were built, which broke speed records. The I80-250, pictured here, is an air-cushioned intercity Aerotrain powered by a shrouded propeller. In 1969, an 18-km experimental track was built between Ruan, north of Artenay, and Saran, in the Loiret département. On this track, the I80 could travel at speeds of 250 km/h (and even up to 400 km/h).