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An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

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11–20 of 196 posts

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#11
I was curious how the package is loaded and unloaded, given that it's underground, but they seem to have some kind of crane, and at the destinations they have basically a package locker.

At least, that's what the video seems to show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STZJyfAl5bU

Putting a package locker at every location seems kind of expensive. Maybe it works if you're delivering to bigger buildings like offices or apartment buildings, but it doesn't seem very practical for single family homes.

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#12
post #7
post #6

I wonder what's their plan when a vehicle gets stuck?

I assume they are planning to have some kind of rescue vehicle. But the problem with this will be the traffic jam the stuck vehicle will cause. Not only will all the vehicles behind it need to stop as well, they also need to be rerouted in order to let the rescue vehicle pass. The main difference of pumping water or gas through pipes is that the consumer does not care which part of the pumped product he gets. It's al…

Simply back the other vehicles out, it's not rocket science

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#14

I was curious how the package is loaded and unloaded, given that it's underground, but they seem to have some kind of crane, and at the destinations they have basically a package locker. At least, that's what the video seems to show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STZJyfAl5bU Putting a package locker at every location seems kind of expensive. Maybe it works if you're delivering to bigger buildings like offices or ap…

I can imagine people sending sabotage packages, like a spray foam can set to release on a trigger, or sending down a car airbag, or straight up dumping oil or flammables into the shoot or other trash.

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#15
Didn't think I would see Peachtree Corners on HN.

While Atlanta has 71 streets named "Peachtree" [1] and Peachtree City (where people drive golf carts instead of cars [2]) comes close, Peachtree Corners names everything Peachtree. Highways, bridges, businesses. Moreover, it's a planned community, and they did it intentionally.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peachtree_Street

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peachtree_City,_Georgia

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#16
post #7
post #6

I wonder what's their plan when a vehicle gets stuck?

I assume they are planning to have some kind of rescue vehicle. But the problem with this will be the traffic jam the stuck vehicle will cause. Not only will all the vehicles behind it need to stop as well, they also need to be rerouted in order to let the rescue vehicle pass. The main difference of pumping water or gas through pipes is that the consumer does not care which part of the pumped product he gets. It's al…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-line_working

They're likely only running a single tunnel during very early testing in order to keep costs down.

Their idea is basically a cargo-carrying, miniature version of a rubber-tyre metro:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber-tyred_metro

..which is a century old concept. Thus well-understood, as evidenced by the wikipedia article listing their benefits and downsides versus rail.

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#18
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume they are planning to have some kind of rescue vehicle. But the problem with this will be the traffic jam the stuck vehicle will cause. Not only will all the vehicles behind it need to stop as well, they also need to be rerouted in order to let the rescue vehicle pass. The main difference of pumping water or gas through pipes is that the consumer does not care which part of the pumped product he gets. It's al…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-line_working They're likely only running a single tunnel during very early testing in order to keep costs down. Their idea is basically a cargo-carrying, miniature version of a rubber-tyre metro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber-tyred_metro ..which is a century old concept. Thus well-understood, as evidenced by the wikipedia article listing their benefits and downsides versus…

Yeah but if a Paris Metro train gets stuck, the tunnels are enormous and your maintenance staff can walk from the nearest station to repair and un-stuck the train.

It's not clear to me that these tunnels will be sufficiently large.

Re: An underground delivery train comes to the Atlanta suburbs

#20
It's a mini Rubber-Tyre Metro for cargo. Low RoW maintenance (I think), high vehicle maintenance/wear, high energy usage.

The challenge to me: "just put it underground" isn't nearly as easy as people seem to think. There's a lot of people-placed stuff underground, and the companies doing it have likely been around longer than you, are pretty regulated, and nobody is going to want to change any of that for your Sandwich Delivering Subway. Especially because it is limited in purpose (cargo delivery, and fairly small cargo at that.)

Then there's all the shit that's in the ground not from humans. Roots. Boulders. Water. It's really fucking expensive to dig or tunnel, and there's no way delivering sandwiches and amazon packages is going to pay enough for it.

Assuming all that works out, there's still the matter of energy efficiency (which is terrible for RTM), speed, and capacity. I'm sure they can scale the "train" up to at least a few containers particularly if the container 'cars' are self-powered but non-rail vehicles use a lot of power. That means heat, not just the expense of the the power and hassle of either storing or transmitting it.

This does solve the main problem with pneumatic systems - even more tightly constrained cargo size limitations and massive power consumption.

Frankly, the Dutch are giggling at all this, I'm sure, because "just build a protected bike lane or shared-use path" is a much cheaper, easier, multi-benefit idea. Then not only can people get their sandwiches and packages delivered via a guy on a bike in a very energy-efficient way (a cargo bike uses about a tenth of the electricity even the best EV cars do), but they can safely bike to/from their office complex or home to other places. You've got something emergency vehicles can use in a pinch, too.

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