It all sounds like something thought up by Stanley Kubrick for the movie 2001. The silent central control room houses giant twin computers that send dozens of sleek, 80-m.p.h. silvery aluminum passenger trains slicking sibilantly into stations at intervals as close as 90 seconds. Each train has only one blue-jumpsuit-clad attendant, and he allows computers to run the controls except in the event of an emergency. Even tickets are sold (in amounts up to $20) by machine. The buyer inserts coins or bills; after an electronic eye scans them, the machine gives forth a credit-card-sized ticket. Thereafter, the passenger merely enters...
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