Conceived in 1997 as a palletised version of the Travelling Post Office (TPO), with the capacity to:
- Fully automate pallet tracking and movement, potentially removing the need for ISO containers in certain applications.
- Bring freight pallets for the same destination together in the same place on the rail vehicle.
- Accept pallets for a wide variety of destinations automatically at the same loading point.
- Allow for complete train loading and unloading at the touch of a button, using technology similar to that used in automated warehouses.
- Make commercially viable the operation of many more, smaller intermodal terminals.
RAILFAST designates the freight system, not the train itself. It requires a suitable rail vehicle to carry it.To this end, Railfast Intermodal Limited has teamed up with TruckTrain® Developments Limited, with a view to modifying their ISO container-carrying TruckTrain® vehicle to carry the RAILFAST system.TruckTrain® is designed to look much like a fixed multiple-unit passenger vehicle with a cab at each end and able to accelerate, deaccelerate and run at speeds which are much more compatible with passenger traffic.This is as compared to your more conventional multiple-wagon ISO container train pulled by a locomotive, which for Fast, Frequent Fulfilment (F3) traffic in particular is increasingly seen as ‘not fit for purpose’.
From 2014 – 2016, work was undertaken by University of Birmingham on ‘proof of concept’, resulting in the following video:
Currently, Railfast Intermodal and TruckTrain® Developments Limited are in confidential discussions with key players in the warehouse, manufacturing and logistics industries.