The surface road and rail transport network is increasingly congested, so why not make full use of the underground? The Swiss company Cargo Sous Terrain has proposed an underground freight pipeline concept that uses automated minivans to move goods between cities and logistics centers. This might have sounded like a fantasy a few years ago, but last December the Swiss parliament passed the necessary legal framework for the Cargo Sous Terrain to start construction of an underground freight pipeline from 1 August this year. Compared with underground passenger pipelines, freight is much simpler and easier, underground pipelines can be smaller and slower, and safety and comfort do not need to be too high. Its cost is estimated at $30 billion to $35 billion for a 500-kilometer complete network, and $3 billion is expected to be sufficient for the first phase of the construction of a 70-kilometer underground pipeline connecting 10 hubs in Zurich and the Härkingen-Niederbipp logistics center. CST estimates that its underground freight pipeline could reduce the number of heavy-duty trucks on surface roads by 40 percent.
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