The use of underground transport in goods distribution

The purpose of this paper is to identify the possibilities of using underground transport in the distribution of goods as an effective alternative to congested road traffic. It presents two basic types of underground freight transport systems – those using capsules to move goods in pipelines and automated vehicles transporting goods through a network of underground tunnels. It discusses their history, advantages and disadvantages, and the main directions of application in distribution systems. Special attention is paid to examples of practical solutions that are being successfully developed and sometimes implemented around the world.1. INTRODUCTION
Underground transport systems enable the movement of people and cargo using underground tunnels and pipelines. A widely known example is pipeline transport, which massively transmits liquid and gaseous products (such as crude oil, liquid fuels, natural gas, water), and the metro, which functions in 116 cities around the world according to data from the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) for 2006, carrying 155 million passengers every day [10]. On the other hand, the underground transport of solid cargo (goods), the so-called Underground Freight Transport (UFT), plays a marginal role, despite having a long history of over 150 years [3], yet in practice, it is used very rarely and only for a few groups of products. An exception is coal transported by pipelines over distances exceeding even 50 km (in Poland, this type of transport has a local range) [4].
The results of scientific research and examples of practical applications of UFT indicate a large development potential for this type of transport, resulting primarily from its independence from road traffic. In conditions of permanently growing demand for freight transport and the accompanying escalation of goods flows, delivery transport, dominated by road transport, is becoming an increasing problem, primarily due to the high level of transport congestion and the associated negative externalities in the form of air pollution, noise, energy consumption, and road accidents. Underground transport systems have a chance to address these inconveniences. (…)

The use of underground transport in goods distribution – PDF file for download