(Image Credit: Tama66/pixabay)
The Japanese Transport and Tourism Ministry is planning to develop a huge 310-mile automated underground conveyor belt, called the Autoflow-Road, transporting packages from Tokyo to Osaka. Japan hopes this will address traffic congestion, increase logistics efficiency, and solve the labor shortage crisis. The Ministry aims to complete this project by 2034.
According to the Ministry, this underground transportation system has the potential to address traffic congestion on some of the busiest highways, slashing CO2 emissions.
It also helps solve a major issue facing Japan: insufficient truck drivers. The Japanese government says the nation lost 837,000 people this year starting October 1, 2023. Japan's working-age population is also declining — from 87 million in 1993 to 75.3 million in 2018. Predictions suggest that the population will shrink even further from 126 million in 2018 to 119 million, worsening labor shortages in many industries, like logistics.
Online shopping has led to an increase in small parcel delivery, which doubled over thirty years. Logistics infrastructure has a hard time handling the larger volume, and it's expected to worsen. The Ministry projects that labor shortages could prevent the delivery of 30% of packages in 2030.
The underground 310-mile transportation system will feature electrically automated pallets --- each transporting one tonne of cargo. It's expected to operate in tunnels underneath existing highways. Each pallet will transport all sorts of cargo, such as daily necessities, Amazon packages, fresh fish, agricultural goods, and more.
Development costs could reach $26 billion, and every six miles of tunnel is projected to cost between $48 million and $550 million. However, it's a difficult task to build this project because it faces structural and environmental challenges ahead. So far, the government needs to start funding discussions with the private sector and form an organization to construct the underground transportation system.
Other countries, like Switzerland, are also developing a transportation system that works like Japan's.
The Switzerland Cargo Sous Terrain (CST) system is a project expected to be completed by 2045. Cargo can be transported in 310-mile tunnels underground, connecting major Swiss cities like Geneva, Basel, and Zurich. CST will feature fully autonomous electric vehicles that travel in three-lane tunnels at 19 mph. The entire network is expected to cost between $33 billion and $38 billion, while the first portion from Harkingen-Niederbipp to Zurich could cost $3.6 billion. The country aims to slash carbon dioxide emissions and traffic congestion.
Have a story tip? Message me at: http://twitter.com/Cabe_Atwell
