This article is about VAL, the metro system. For other uses, see Val.

VAL is a type of automatic (driverless) light rubber-tired metro, technology based on an invention by Professor Robert Gabillard . It was designed in the early 1980s by Matra, for the then new metro system in Lille.

The acronym was originally for Villeneuve d'Ascq à Lille (Villeneuve d'Ascq to Lille), the route of the first line to be projected (and inaugurated). It now officially stands for Véhicule Automatique Léger (automatic light vehicle).

In contrast to some other driverless metro systems like the Docklands Light Railway or Vancouver's SkyTrain, the VAL design uses platforms that are separated from the rollways by a glass partition, to prevent waiting passengers from straying or falling onto the rollways. "Platform doors" embedded in these partitions open in synchrony with the train doors when a train stops at the platform.

List of VAL systems

The Lille metro was inaugurated on April 25, 1983. VAL systems were subsequently built in several other French cities, including:

• Paris' Orlyval line in 1991
• Toulouse in 1993
• Rennes

The automatic trains on Paris Metro Line 14 line 14 are based on VAL technology, but are built to a larger scale to be compatible with the other metro lines. Lyon's 4th metro line is a larger version of the VAL on metallic wheels; it was originally developed independently but ended up incorporating some components of VAL technology.

VAL technology is also used in:

• Chicago's O'Hare International Airport Transit System
• Taipei's Muzha Line in 1996
• Turin, which will open in 2005

A VAL system is currently under construction as transit system for the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

See also

• Transportation in France
• Skytrain

External links

• http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/lil/lille.htm (Lille)
• http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/tou/toulouse.htm (Toulouse)
• http://www.urbanrail.net/as/taip/taipei.htm (Taipei)