Development of an innovative, flexible, cost effective low environmental impact freight pipeline solution for the aggregates sector

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Freight pipelines offer a potential revolution in freight transport. By taking a fresh look at the major freight transport modes of road and rail, Mole Solutions Limited (MSL) has developed an innovative, elegant solution to the intrinsic problems they present: high capital and operating costs, significant socio-environmental impacts and, in the case of the dominant freight mode, road, a major contributor to the problems caused by congestion.As a game changing technical and commercial solution, MSL acknowledges that it needs to establish market credibility through the demonstration of its novel solution. This project therefore focuses on the aggregate sector as an exemplar for implementation of the freight pipeline concept. MSL, together with Tarmac and the Minerals Industry Research Organisation (MIRO) completed a TSB funded Proof of Concept project, the outputs of which will form the basis to this demonstration system project. The demonstrator system will be constructed at a secure site and a test programme conducted to establish the operating costs.There has already been significant interest within the sector and it is planned that potential stakeholders will observe the demonstrator in action and conclude that this is the start of the next freight transportation revolution.This project will demonstrate a truly innovative concept that will enable its introductioninitially into the aggregates sector, then further development into other bulk freightapplications (biomass, steel, coal) as well as retail sector applications. In parallel tointroduction into new sectors, the length of the systems will increase to provide a viablealternative to current freight transport modes. A DEFRA funded Feasibility Study led by MSL in 2010 concluded that the concept offered very low operating costs and significant socioenvironmental benefits associated with removing freight from roads and transporting it in capsules, powered by electricity.