Japanese government proposes 300-mile-long conveyor belt for moving packages
Pork to the max! A supposedly “expert panel” in Japanese government’s Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry has proposed building a 300-mile-long conveyor belt — possibly underground in a tunnel — between the cities of Tokyo and Osaka for moving packages, to be completed by 2034.
The biggest challenge is cost. According to a survey of construction companies, the cost of building an underground tunnel ranges from ¥7 billion to ¥80 billion per 10 kilometers, so a system linking Tokyo and Osaka would cost up to ¥3.7 trillion. When the ministry in the year 2000 first planned logistics links above ground, it estimated construction costs of ¥25.4 billion per 10 kilometers.
In dollars, the total cost of ¥3.7 trillion equals about $23 billion.
The so-called goal would be to eliminate 25,000 trucks, supposedly saving the world from those evil fossil fuels. That the belt would have to be powered of course is not mentioned, which I bet would probably require burning about the same amount of fuel.
The panel also claimed the conveyor belt would save money and reduce labor needs because it would also eliminate 25,000 truck drivers. With Japan facing a crash in population, the panel claims a shortage of labor is expected in the coming decades, and this plan will supposedly solve that. That’s also a fantasy. Who would upload the pallets onto the belt? Who would offload them? And how would those pallets be delivered at each point? And what about maintaining this giant conveyor belt? In the end, this plan will do nothing to reduce labor needs.
Nor is such a plan really necessary. When the population drops, the amount of cargo will drop as well. There will be no labor shortage in the shipping industry.
All this plan does is create a gigantic public works project that will almost certainly go over budget, fail to meet its schedule, and increase the cost of goods for both the companies and the public. But boy, it sure is going to employ a lot of government workers to supervise construction and operations!
Note I found about this project through a report at New Atlas, which as a left-leaning techno website accepted the plan instantly as brilliant and awe-inspiring.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Pork to the max! A supposedly “expert panel” in Japanese government’s Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry has proposed building a 300-mile-long conveyor belt — possibly underground in a tunnel — between the cities of Tokyo and Osaka for moving packages, to be completed by 2034.
The biggest challenge is cost. According to a survey of construction companies, the cost of building an underground tunnel ranges from ¥7 billion to ¥80 billion per 10 kilometers, so a system linking Tokyo and Osaka would cost up to ¥3.7 trillion. When the ministry in the year 2000 first planned logistics links above ground, it estimated construction costs of ¥25.4 billion per 10 kilometers.
In dollars, the total cost of ¥3.7 trillion equals about $23 billion.
The so-called goal would be to eliminate 25,000 trucks, supposedly saving the world from those evil fossil fuels. That the belt would have to be powered of course is not mentioned, which I bet would probably require burning about the same amount of fuel.
The panel also claimed the conveyor belt would save money and reduce labor needs because it would also eliminate 25,000 truck drivers. With Japan facing a crash in population, the panel claims a shortage of labor is expected in the coming decades, and this plan will supposedly solve that. That’s also a fantasy. Who would upload the pallets onto the belt? Who would offload them? And how would those pallets be delivered at each point? And what about maintaining this giant conveyor belt? In the end, this plan will do nothing to reduce labor needs.
Nor is such a plan really necessary. When the population drops, the amount of cargo will drop as well. There will be no labor shortage in the shipping industry.
All this plan does is create a gigantic public works project that will almost certainly go over budget, fail to meet its schedule, and increase the cost of goods for both the companies and the public. But boy, it sure is going to employ a lot of government workers to supervise construction and operations!
Note I found about this project through a report at New Atlas, which as a left-leaning techno website accepted the plan instantly as brilliant and awe-inspiring.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Not a new concept. Read “The Roads Must Roll” by Robert Heinlein.
If “New Atlas” isn’t pushing stories like this one, it’s heaping praise on the electric bicycles of one sort or another.
At least they are spending less time pushing the so-called “vaccines” for COVID, going so far as to deleting comments on those articles that disagreed with them . . .
Snap, Mike.
What happens when a package falls over and jambs the belt or just blocks the way?
We had a huge long new belt system installed and for 6 months we had to stop the system every half hour to unblock things.
What airport was it that installed a huge belt system and subsequently found it was eating luggage up piles at a time.
One jamb in their huge system and things could be backed up for miles and days while guys crawl in and clean it out.
One pallet of laundry soap gets jacket up and a hundred others smash in to it and grind it to nothing.
The belts all get slippery and need cleaning before running again.
Or a nice fire.
And that WILL happen. It just takes time.
What if a sprinkler system breaks and soaks down a few miles of goods?
One truck crashes and 24 skids get destroyed. One belt breaks and a few thousand get destroyed.
But it will save the planet.
I thought we were all supposed to have these Jetson walkways by now anyway. ;)
pzatchok, the airport you referenced is Denver International.
They could put the packages on existing trains, One train can easily replace 500 to 1,000 trucks, so 50 trains and 150 people can do the same job.
Edward: What a concept! A train! Have such things been invented?
Edward, “You took the words right out of my mouth” (hopefully not when we were kisiing.
See
1) London’s Post Office Underground System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway
2) The Chicago Tunnel Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tunnel_Company
My model railroad club has an electric traction subsidiary of its Class 1 line – both interurban and street railway (and Baxchman offers a model of a San Franciisco cable car…..Hmmmm). Since we plan a rapid transit line – El, surface and subway, – I’ve been trying to talk my fellow members into agreeing we need a subterranean freight line
I’d vote for that.
I also was thinking “if they are going to build a tunnel, put in a reliable system like trains”… Even though that’s 18th century technology… with overhead powerlines and protected from the dripping water, it would be perfect.
But if they want to save the environment they can put in pony express or wagon trains. Can mules walk on a conveyor belt?
Kennecott uses a conveyor belt to move ore from the crusher to the nearby concentrator. It has low reliability. It also must be shut down once a week for maintenance greasing the rollers. Can you imagine 300 miles of rollers? An automatic greasing system is also unreliable, when a roller overheats it burns/shreds the belt.
The only advantage is that the belt is flexible and can also be used, if flipped, to bring products in the other direction. Like Isaac Asmof’s “caves of steel” we’re cities are built underground because of the nuclear threat, and the moving sidewalks is the transportation.
The only thing more reliable than trains, is a slurry line.
A pipe line with fluid in it that sealed canisters can be injected and float along with the flow. If downhill it uses very little energy, low to no maintenance.
If the canisters are linked together in a chain, a pumping system won’t be required… They can be mechanically pulled through. I suppose that’s essentially a modern version of a barge. More ancient technology.
Pump all the air out of a sealed pipe, and you can have a magnetic levitation system that travels at the speed of sound. With passenger compartments, it can be used for people as well. Now I feel better.
Good grief, the way things are going, the final decision will probably be to save money, save the environment, ban consumerism with no trade with the neighboring city.
Just for fun, coast to coast military tunnels.
https://www.mysterywire.com/mysteries/tunnels-secrets-include-military-uses-underground-networks/