Such an analysis should be based on current and future highway needs in the framework of the emerging economic and market environment anticipated in the early 21st century. It is now timely to initiate a reevaluation. The concept has been reevaluated periodically. The separation of trucks and automobiles was recommended by the Hoover Commission on Highway Safety in the late 1920s. Also, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M estimates that productivity lost to traffic congestion costs more than $40 billion per year. The improvement in efficiency would result in lower freight rates and a lower environmental impact on air quality and noise. If this system were implemented in congested areas, passenger vehicles could be separated from freight vehicles with improvements in efficiency and safety for both modes. The system can be thought of as a small unmanned train in a tube carrying containerized cargo.Īn underground tube transportation system can carry high-volume freight into highly congested areas with minimum effect on surface transportation systems. ![]() One modern proposed system called SUBTRANS uses capsules that are electrically powered with linear induction motors and run on steel rails in a tube about two meters (6½ feet) in diameter. All historic systems were pneumatically powered and often referred to as pneumatic capsule pipelines. Tube freight transportation is a class of unmanned transportation systems in which close-fitting capsules or trains of capsules carry freight through tubes between terminals. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center is examining the technical and economic feasibility of tube transportation systems to address future freight transportation requirements. ![]() ![]() Under a research program on advanced freight movement, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) with the support of the John A.
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