Patent ID: 8074577

Claim:
Structure of a bifurcation site and crossover site of a guideway in a guided vehicle transportation system in which a vehicle configured to travel on the guideway, the structure of the bifurcation site and crossover site of the guideway comprising: left and right roadbeds which are adapted to support left and right traveling wheels of the vehicle, a depression formed between the roadbeds, and a guard rail made of a channel-steel having a U-shaped groove laid down on a surface of the depression along a center line between the roadbeds so that a top of the guard rail is level with surfaces of the roadbeds; wherein the vehicle includes automatic steering systems for steering front wheels and rear wheels respectively by means of actuators each being provided for steering the front and rear wheels; guard wheels in an underside of the vehicle rotatably in a lateral plane and received in the groove of the guard rail with ample clearances between the periphery of the guard wheel and the side walls of the groove of the guard rail being laid down along the center line of the guideway; a fail-safe mechanism constituted by the guard wheels and the guard rail; wherein a movable guard plate and driving means thereof are provided to switch a connection of the groove of the guard rail at a branching part thereof, and a groove width Wmin of each of the branching guard rails at a part thereof crossing one of the roadbeds is narrower than a groove width W in regions other than the crossing part and larger than a guard wheel diameter G.