Transport

It was a world first on 2 July 2003 : the "trottoir roulant rapide" (fast rolling pavement) was launched in Paris.

The first high-speed travelator was opened at the Montparnasse-Bienvenue station. The high-speed travelator enables pedestrians to move at a speed of 11km/hour – four times as fast as conventional travelators.

The manufacturer claims that the device is especially useful for distances of several hundreds meters (below the distance, conventional travelators would do the job, whereas for distance of 1 km and more, shuttles can prove more efficient).

This "F1" travelator is 185 meters long; it links the train station to four tube lines; its cost is around 4.5 Million euro.

For the first three months, the Paris public transport company will put extra-staff at the disposal of passengers to advice them on how to get on and out of the "trottoir roulant".

Its future will largely depend on users' feedback, but experts already claim this invention could revolutionise transport in big cities.