Guidelines on Standards and Procedures to enable Underground Freight Transport systems.

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This seven month collaborative Project seeks to identify guidelines for the Standards and Procedures required to design, build, operate and qualify an Underground Freight Transportation (UFT) system.Whilst UFT systems are being actively and increasingly considered on a global basis, associated specific SP's have yet to be identified, compiled or published. The key and disruptive innovation of this Project is that it identifies, for the first time SPs for the novel UFT system that will define the freight transport infrastructure of the future.UFT systems are a 21st century, smarter method of transporting goods than trucks. They address and align with the government's 'Grand Challenges' of 'Future Mobility' and of 'Clean Growth' and its' Zero Carbon 2050 target.UFT goods move in autonomous, electrically powered capsules travelling in an enclosed conduit, normally underground. They offer major cost, socio-environmental and sustainability benefits compared to other freight movement modes and would be beneficial during pandemics such as COVID-19 by providing an unmanned delivery service. Design principles are scalable and so can transport tote bins, palletised goods, shipping containers and bulk products.Project lead Mole Solutions Limited (MSL) has undertaken UFT study projects in the UK, China, Europe and the USA and is recognised as a UFT global leader. They provide the detailed inputs on UFT requirements.Project Collaborator ARUP is a tier 1 Civil Engineering company. They provide details of the feasibility of the tunnelling engineering and how challenges such as crossing key infrastructures (highway, rail and utilities) can be overcome.Consultation with appropriate government departments and institutes will form a major part of the project. A steering committee of leading academic and industry experts will advise.UFT concept is of global interest -- a 2018 international conference in Beijing included papers from China, Holland, Switzerland, USA and the UK. It was agreed a set of international standards are needed. At a presentation to DfT's Scientific Advisory Council in 2019 it was also proposed and agreed that a set of standards for UFT was urgently need.This project's deliverable is a formal report and an SP portfolio that will provide the basis of national, and potentially, international standards. It will provide a key role for the UK in the development of this globally important disruptive innovation, and enable the enormous world-wide market for UFT to materialise.