The Crystal Mover is a rubber-tired automated people mover (APM) system for airport and urban rail transit applications manufactured at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Mihara Machinery Works [1] in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The Crystal Mover, initially based on the Japanese APM standard, is used in automated guideway transit (AGT) systems in China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Since 2010s MHI has been building and delivering a new family of AGT systems branded Urbanismo as the successor to the Crystal Mover. The Urbanismo family consists of a higher-speed model called "Urbanismo Super AGT" with a top speed of 120 km/h and three customizable models called "Urbanismo-22", "Urbanismo-18", and "Urbanismo-16" with a gross weight of over 22, 18, and 16 tonnes, respectively. [2]
Between 2014 and 2016, Yurikamome, Inc., which operates the Yurikamome line in Tokyo, purchased a fleet of 18 six-car 7300 series trainsets based on the Urbanismo-18 class [2] [3] to replace all of the 18 six-car 7000 series trainsets. [4] [5] Between June 2018 and June 2020, MHI also delivered 8 six-car 7500 series (upgraded version of 7300 series) trainsets to replace the fleet of 7200 series trainsets. [6]
Saitama New Urban Transit Co., Ltd., which operates the New Shuttle in Saitama Prefecture, purchased a fleet of 5 six-car 2020 series trainsets based on the Urbanismo-16 class [2] to replace the fleet of 3 six-car 1010 series trainsets and 2 six-car 1050 series trainsets from 2015 to 2020. [7] [8] [9]
In Hiroshima, Hiroshima Rapid Transit purchased 24 six-car 7000 series trainsets based on the Urbanismo class to replace the existing fleet of 23 six-car 6000 series trainsets and 1 six-car 1000 series trainset running on the Astram Line. The 7000 series entered service on 26 March 2020. [10]
The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation purchased a fleet of 12 five-car 330 series trainsets, which are similar in design to the Yurikamome 7300 series trainsets, to replace the fleet of 300 series trainsets running on the Nippori-Toneri Liner from fiscal 2022 to 2024. [11] [12]
In Singapore, Crystal Movers operate on the Sengkang LRT line and the Punggol LRT line, both managed by SBS Transit Ltd. These cars have been operating since 2003 on the Sengkang LRT and on the Punggol LRT since its opening in 2005. There is a fleet of 41 cars of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Crystal Mover C810 in total for the two LRT lines. [13] [14] An additional order was placed for 16 more cars under Contract 810A (C810A) with identical specifications to increase capacity on both LRT lines, with all trains delivered by 2016. [13]
On 5 February 2021, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that it has purchased 17 two-car C810D trains for the Sengkang and Punggol LRT systems, which will replace the 25 existing one-car C810 trains. [15] In May 2023, the LTA ordered an additional 8 C810D trains, which will replace the 8 existing two-car C810 trains. [16] This brings the total number of C810D trains ordered to 25, and the total fleet to 33 trains, comprised two-car C810A and C810D trainsets. The first C810D train arrived in Singapore on 23 November 2024 and entered passenger service on 15 July 2025, [17] while the remaining 23 trainsets will arrive progressively and enter passenger service from Q3 2025 until the end of 2028. [18] All trains will undergo testing and commissioning works before entering passenger service.
On 31 December 2010, Macau placed a MOP 4.688 billion order for Urbanismo-22 vehicles nicknamed "Ocean Cruiser" [2] [3] for the Macau Light Transit System, which started commercial operation on 10 December 2019. It was free of charge until 31 January 2020. [19]
Crystal Movers are currently in operation in the following airports, with most applications being in the United States: [20]
The specifications of an example configuration of the original Crystal Mover were given as: [25]
Competing systems: