Automated Freight and Goods Movement Technologies
Links are provided to several descriptions of automated freight movement technologies. Some are operational, some under development and some are still conceptual. Some are above ground, others are underground. Large scale systems thinking on this topic is particularly noteworthy in the Netherlands and Japan.
See http://www.capsu.org/library/large-diameter.html for an overview of current, global, activity in this field.
Source: Koshi, Masaki, An Automated Underground Tube Network for Urban Goods Transport, IATSS Research, 16:2, 1992
Autran Corporation - a system with carrier vehicles that will carry autos on platforms, passenger cabins and freight containers
Capsule pipelines - link to a website that provides considerable information on this goods movement approach.
CargoCap - innovative transportation system for conveyance of piece goods through pipelines, being developed in Germany. Virtual test system has been constructed and has been in use since 2007. Website include two excellent videos.
CargoMover - new product from Siemens Transportation that makes greater use of railroad infrastructure, easing loads on highways.
CargoRail - one of the new systems being developed by MegaRail Transportation Systems, Inc., described in a product overview. Also available is MegaRail's presentation to the Gateway Council of Governments regarding an application of a CargoRail and CargoTram system to serve the freight movement and air pollution reduction needs of the Port of Long Beach, California, pdf format, 21 pages Also, see the more recent (September '07) Port Operating Plan, 10 pp.
Evacuated Tube Transportation - link to a website that provides considerable information on this concept - deals with both people and freight.
Freight Pipeline Company - involved in the application of pipeline technology to a variety of freight types.Frog Navigation Systems - link to a website that describes automated cargo applications of guided vehicles in the Netherlands.
MagneTrak - link to a press release that describes this revolutionary material handling system being developed by MagneMotion and a Swiss company.
Magplane - link to a website that describes a maglev-based pipeline system currently being demonstrated in Florida.
Magtube, Inc. - link to a website that describes an evacuated tube concept using maglev for moving freight. See patent for more details.
MegaRail - link to a website that describes an system that includes an automated freight component, called Cargo Rail, being developed in Ft. Worth, Texas.
MonoFreight - link to a YouTube animation of a suspended monorail-type automated container transport system
Japanese Automated Freight System - developed and tested dual-mode trucks for innercity and intercity freight movements (has been terminated as of 2007, but still worth examination).
Pipenet - an innovative system being developed in Italy, website now has a section in English
Pipeline Transportation - an automated freight transportation system that utilizes linear electric motors.RUMBA - a German tube underground magnetic levitation railway - conceptual only
Using PRT for automated goods movement - concepts and illustrations
Transporting Freight Containers by Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline (PCP): Port Security and Other Issues, TRB paper by Henry Liu, July, 2006
TubeXpress - an American freight system concept that utilizes capsules operating in large diameter underground tubes.
Vanderlande Industries - a global leader in automated baggage handling and screening systems for airports, based in the Netherlands
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Last modified: July 03, 2008
