"In Switzerland, an ambitious proposal could see the construction of an expansive underground network through which self-driving pods would transport freight across the country.
The project, called Cargo Sous Terrain (“Underground Cargo” in English), is intended to reduce the reliance on trucks for moving cargo. Global demand for freight transportation is growing, just as much of the world is seeing a shortage of truck drivers. At the same time, high fuel prices have made road transportation more expensive, while transporting freight by road accounts for around 6% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Cargo Sous Terrain (CST) claims the project will reduce heavy traffic from Swiss roads by up to 40%, and because it will use only renewable energy, it will emit 80% less carbon dioxide per ton of cargo than transporting freight by road today.
“From the very beginning of CST, it was clear that the aim was really a zero-emission system, because sustainability is an absolute necessity,” said Patrik Aellig, head of communications for CST.
If built, the network, would stretch roughly 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Geneva in the west of Switzerland to St. Gallen in the northeast, and be completed around 2045."
I recall reading about it a couple of years ago, but haven't heard anything more on it since. At least the idea is still alive - I think that it is great!
I wonder about Switzerland being a logical place for this - we already have good rail freight and some of the strictest (/ most expensive) rules about road cargo.
A more investment-efficient and flexible way of doing the same sort of thing on existing (or expanded) rail tracks seems more useful. Modern passenger trains are no longer an engine with a set of carriages but a set of self-propelled carriages that happen to be linked together, if light freight wagons were the same they could self-assemble into a train for long journey and ease of scheduling, and split up for flexible local delivery - similar to parts of this proposal.
Would the expectation that a lorry from Poland stops somewhere "in the north" of Switzerland (St Gallen), transfer the cargo to a pod, and a different lorry/drive in Geneva picks it up for transfer to Italy/France?
Or would it be chunnel style, with the lorry + drive all being loaded into the pod?
Also - what advantages would this have to a train? Would the current train network (maybe with increased capacity/renovations) do everything this aims to do? (and be more efficient at it)
EDIT: Reading helps
Each pod will have space fortwo pallets, and can be refrigerated to transport chilled goods.
Seems like it's a very low capacity network, pallet based... and going at only 30km/h. Which makes me wonder why not have tracks down there, with trains.
So why not have autonomous trains at night? Or add more tracks (above ground mainly and some below where this isn't feasible) so that the CFF isn't so overloaded? You know... actually planning to expand the infrastructure so that it's future ready.... Or are we expecting population to drop, and the CFF to have less passengers?
What I want to know is when it says they carry 2 pallets how big is a pallet? Are we talking the same size as the wooden pallets you see farmers use or are we talking about pallets that’ll carry what a 40 ton truck can transport?
And I would have thought it would be cheaper and easier to build it overground either using the existing rail network or building a new dedicated freight only one.
In addition to CFF being overloaded the road networks are near capacity. And added to that are the rush (2-3) hours twice a day and the rules banning use by large trucks at night and on weekends*.
*This is where they need to start, use of the motorways at night needs to be allowed in particular for in-bond transit traffic
From time to time, people try to reinvent the train, hoping to make it better. But rail transport is pretty freakin' awesome already, with a very low friction track and very low energy consumption. And there is efficiency in numbers, pulling a train with 100 cars will always be more efficient than pulling 10 trains with 10 cars, or - as this idea suggests - 100 trains by themselves.
Add to this the cost of the tunnels, and you will realize that this idea will not get anywhere. In the worst case it will be built on a short section like Musk's Vegas loop, and that will prove the shortcomings (but there will always be fanboys who will never get it).
Coming up next: robo-taxis in the air! Instead of tunnels, let's lift those pallets and containers with drones! Wouldn't that be amazing?
Isn't amazon trialing that? Albeit with smaller parcels than pallets.
I still love how we say that we need to be more efficient/green - but as soon as we talk about spending on infrastructure and expanding the train tracks (including wider tunnels, straighter tracks, more trains, etc) - those same people block it.
Sure, when your load is measured in gramms instead of tonnes, small drones might be of use. Just as vacuum tubes make sense when you need to transport small capsule tubes over a relatively short distance...
From what I’ve seen - it’s a fair bit more than grams… The drones used in farms for example to spray crops carry 50l of “stuff”, so I would assume they are around 50kg payload.
Last April there was a information session in the place I live (Suhr). Some exploration drillings theoretically started last June. But, I have not seen anything happening around. The plan for now is a system working between Harkingen and somewhere in the Limmattal (ZH).
The interest in Suhr is the big Migros distribution center and another one from COOP in neighboring Schafisheim. The MIgros facilities in Harkingen are huge. The little I understand about CST is that the motivation is to reduce the use of trucks for such distribution centers. Stuff arrives by train, get sorted and send underground closer to our neighborhood shops. It can get interesting if a shopping mall is serviced by CST.
Money comes from private investment, so no worries. On the other hand, I'd worry if our 2nd pillars are involved
The system may seem pointless, but a lot of people complains about getting stuck on traffic on the A1 and noisy cargo trains around Switzerland during the nights.
Near my place, the truck traffic on the A1 is annoying. There is no point in leaving home by car before 8h30 because trucks block the road. After 8h30, drivers are on their way to the shops and driving becomes enjoyable.