Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp stands in front of the university’s Freight Shuttle System prototype.So, what does a truck-less freight system look like?
Eighteen years ago in 1998 the federal government challenged Texas A&M University Transportation Institute to come up with a plan to move freight without using trucks on highways.
This past Friday, university officials, along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, unveiled the Freight Shuttle System prototype, an electric-powered, elevated railway network that transports loaded containers or trailers, minus their tractors, from one distribution point to another. (See the video below.)
A high-tech, automated flatcar of sorts, the transporter can move 70,000 pounds of freight at 60mph using two-thirds less energy than a conventional diesel truck, the university reports.
The idea caught the attention of investors at Freight Shuttle International (FSI), a private corporation founded in 2005 by a university researcher at Texas Transportation Institute. FSI has been financing the truck-free project and shares 17 patents on it with the university, according to wfaa.com.
The Port of Houston Authority has already been pursuing the technology by building a five-mile system linking two Texas container terminals. That system may be extended to 20 miles.
The shuttle, which bears the name Freight Shuttle International, may one day be crossing the border into Mexico. Developers have already been in contact with Mexican officials.
