Rail safety is everyone's concern. Whether we ride subways or high-speed trains, the possibility of someone or something on the tracks, or a possible derailment could bring trains to immediate halt if we ran a SCOUT ahead of the train.

The SCOUT is a small, light, air cushioned vehicle riding the rail before the train.

The SCOUT is equipped with sensors that would react if a person fell, jumped or was pushed from the subway platform and stop the train. The sensors would also stop the train if there was a defect in the tracks that could cause a derailment and pick up signals of oncoming traffic to help avoid a collision. The device would be powered by the third rail power source in the subways or microwave energy transmitted to drive the air compressor that would create the air cushion for the SCOUT and the fan propelling the SCOUT at a pre-set distance ahead of the train.

Very little energy would be needed to drive this - mostly aerodynamic wedge that would float above the rails on 4 cushions of air which would also be enhanced by scooping in air from the front and expelling it in the rear.