Automated Speedlink

[MackTen]

Which of these two possible futures seems more science fiction than realistic objective right now....

* A return to Speedfreight/Speedlink type freight traffic, taking advantage of driverles trains, automated shunting and routing, with the last 20 or so miles done by human powered road monkeys.

* Widesrprad adoption of driverless road freight.

Absent all the usual obstacles, namely unions, a visionless DfT, and the awful planning system, I see the first option to be highly achievable, potentially capturing a huge market share by firstly undercutting the non-automated freight sector, and then further benefitting as the roads just get more and more clogged up for well established reasons.

Automated trucks apparently have a hard time sensing road markings and generally dealing with unexpected errors in the bagging human crush barrier area, and it could take another decade to get that right, neither of which pose much problem to railways. By contrast, control of a train, collision avoidance, shunting and pathing, are all easily achievable with today's technology, and specifically, only vehicle mounted technology.

Obviously the system has to be fast, really fast, since even with all the gains of automation, you've got to make up the time lost in the load/unload. So we're looking at possibly the highest speeds ever seen on a freight railway, perhaps even with priority over certain passenger services.

It would have to be a state run monopoly or a 50 billion year franchise, if only to maximize the gains from return loads, which presents certain legal issues. But now we're not under the yoke of the European Union, we can presumably be as dementedly socialist in the way we facilitate our capitalist thirst as we like, as long as the network isn't carrying French cheese or Syrian refugees.

 

[Irascible]

If you could containerise it I could see options for automation to increase the number of terminals - given container trains are the modern equivalent of mixed goods trains but don't need shunting so to speak - but part of the problem is having to stop at a terminal & get back on the line again. The other ( maybe more likely ) one is to use driverless tractors on motorways which are a rather easier pattern matching problem & have a human do each end. If you can automate the modal shift to be fast enough to be worth it then there's nothing to say you can't combine the two though ( especially if your driverless tractors don't have a great range ).

 

[HSTEd]

With containerisation of basically anything, does "shunting" actually need to exist?

Couldn't you just lift the container off the wagon and drop it on another wagon using an automated lifting system?

As to performance, you should forget "priorities" entirely - you want freight multiple units with comparable power to weight ratios to passenger units.

I do prefer building a newbuild rail system covered in LeShuttle esque trains myself, its even more expensive but seems likely to capture even more market share. A loading gauge big enough for LeShuttle can also get very close to allowing proper double stacks as well for point to point loads.

 

[MackTen]

Couldn't you just lift the container off the wagon and drop it on another wagon using an automated lifting system?

Doesn't matter what you call it, it's still the act of bringing trains together so you can reorder their contents. A necessary component of any Speedlink type operation. If it can be done without a human, it hardly matters how it is done. Although it might be a little more expensive to install the required gantry etc. We have yards and shunters right now, even auto couplers, just need the self driving mods. The less bricks and mortar, the more likely it gets done before the trucks become self driving, and the window of opportunity closes.

I suspect the limitation really is finding/building enough sidings to allow a genuine 20 mile last yard service.

 

[Irascible]

"Shunting" in container terms is lifting the container & putting it down on a different wagon or a road trailer. Inherently automatable ( already is being I think ), there are just less terminals than there could be. The other problem is sitting around waiting for a liner train vs sending it on the driverless motorway conveyer, but if you start running shorter liners but more of them thrn you can just imagine how many paths that will take.

Unless we get more HS trunk routes I'd think we're going to have to speed up freight in general at some point.

Edit: also, how automated & how self contained do we make these operations? container gantries are pretty inflexible, you'd get much faster transfers with automated transfer vehicles that can lift a container - and you'd get far more terminal opportunities if the liner wagon could self load. You also still need to lock the container onto the vehicle and then do checks on the entire train ( or trailer ), which I don't think any of our vehicles are currently equipped to do by themselves.

As for autonomous tractors on trunk routes - who owns them, who's liable for any associated infrastructure, who's going to invest in something like that, etc? suddenly charging points in service stations become industrial operations with industrial scale power requirements & so on. That will have to happen anyway, that's going to be a struggle...