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Document summary:
- Title: The Future of Freight: Research Explores underground pipeline system
- Author: Steve Roop (s-roop@tamu.edu, Phone 979.845.5817)
- Source: http://tti.tamu.edu/researcher/newsletter.asp?vol=36&issue=2&article=2, Texas Transportation Researcher, Volume 36, Number 2.
- Copyright: Copyright © 1999-2000 Texas Transportation Institute
- Date: 2000
The Future of Freight: Research Explores underground pipeline system
Oil and water. Passenger traffic and freight trucks. Transportation involves two important but very different concerns: moving people and moving freight. Keeping people safe and freight on time sometimes comes at a high price, and the difficulties continue to grow. The problem? Cars and large trucks don't mix. One possible solution? Find another way to move freight.
"Vertical segregation" is Steve Roop's answer. Roop is the director of the Rail Research Center at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), and his group, along with researchers throughout Texas A&M University's College of Engineering, will spend the next several years studying the feasibility of a subterranean freight pipeline system. Also known as tube freight, this system, which TTI will analyze through a series of simulations and other evaluations, would consist of two-meter reinforced concrete pipes capable of holding pallet-carrying vehicles. The self-propelled vehicles ideally could carry almost any palletized freight currently on Texas highways, reducing the need for long-haul trucks.
"We are aiming specifically to alleviate the impact - pollution, road damage, accidents, congestion - of increased NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] truck traffic on Texas highways, as well as lessen the need for highway expansion," says Roop. In fact, TTI researchers chose their study site, a 400-mile corridor roughly from Dallas to Laredo, specifically because the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is considering expanding I-35 in that area. Roop says, "We thought, given the volume of traffic and the expense of increasing the highway infrastructure, that it would be a very good point-counterpoint location for evaluating the economics of the system we're envisioning."
So how does the tube freight system potentially measure up to the capabilities of the trucking industry? Roop says, "We're looking at speeds of 45 to 55 mph and use of containers large enough to hold three or four standard 48 inch by 40 inch pallets weighing no more than about 4,000 pounds. We expect a very low failure rate, almost none, with a design life of 50 to 100 years." Because the vehicles are unmanned, there is no driver to fall asleep or be away from family for extended periods of time. And of course, an underground system would be unaffected by surface traffic, accidents and weather.
For Roop, four benefits stand out very clearly: saving lives on Texas highways and reducing congestion, pollution and road wear. According to figures published by TubeFreight, LLC, trucks accounted for 24 percent of U.S. oil use in 1993. Further, more than 200,000 police-reported accidents in 1996 involved medium- and heavy-duty trucks. From these accidents, 5,400 people died, most of whom were occupants of vehicles other than the trucks. Roop notes, "We've built multipurpose transportation facilities that have people and freight moving in the same corridors. This is problematic for motorists because trucks are large and potentially dangerous. This is problematic for truckers because motorists get in their way."
Even with the obvious benefits, however, any major innovation in the transportation industry can also be a political hotspot. "Our initial thinking is that this system is an extension and a benefit to the transportation industry," comments Roop. "Our idea is to build a facility around Dallas that NAFTA traffic can employ as a last leg of their shipments to Mexico. If it's truly economically feasible, it'll be a lower cost, higher performance alternative than physically driving the freight." Richard Mueller, a partner at TubeFreight, LLC, adds, "What I see long term is an evolution, not a revolution, in the transportation process. Remember, it took 25 years to get the interstate highway system in place, so a large, integrated freight system would certainly take decades."
While the concept of an automated subterranean freight transport system is admittedly futuristic sounding, Roop warns against skepticism: "We've got to think a little bit outside traditional transportation boundaries," says Roop. "Practical implementation has been slow in coming, but there are technologies, there are pressures, both physical and economic, that are making this system more and more plausible. I don't think it's a matter of if these systems will emerge as it is so much a matter of 'when' and 'how.'"
In terms of prototype technology, the "when" has already been answered. Prototypes exist in Japan, the Netherlands, and here in the U.S. In fact, the concept of moving items through tubes has been around since the 19th century, although the system TTI is studying is on a much larger scale. Roop considers the history behind tube freight an advantage. "One of the driving tenants of our effort is to not invent technology," he says. "We want to use technology that's been proven functional in its intended environment and that provides cost figures for us."
Successfully developing a large, integrated tube freight system will certainly be a major undertaking. But saving lives, reducing pollution, cutting transportation expenses and providing a more efficient freight transport mode to the public are goals worth pursuing.