What Is A Freight Skate?
The Freight Skate was one of the winners in the First Of A Kind 2022 competition run by Innovate UK.
The Description In The First Of A Kind 2022 Winners Document
In this document, this is said.
Project No: 10039606
Project title: “Freight Skate” a self-powered freight bogie and platform
Lead organisation: TDI (EUROPE) LIMITED
Project grant: £400,000
Public description: Governments have recognised that the continued dependence on the motor/freight vehicles is unsustainable and that modal shift to low and zero-carbon public transport solutions, both for passengers and freight, is essential if legislative commitments to Net Zero are to be met.
The Freight Skate provides a sustainable, low cost, reliable and high-quality rail freight experience which will drive down emissions and increase profits to freight companies and assist in bringing about the much-needed modal shift from road to train. To achieve this objective, it required us to use different ways of thinking across every aspect of the programme – design, supply, build and system implementation. This approach has yielded the desired results.
The skate chassis was originally designed with steering axles for passenger trains. It is a unique and tested design which we believe lends itself to operating as an independent 4-wheel unit that can be virtually coupled to form a platform for 10′, 20′,30′ or 40′ containers. The study would also allow us to optimise loading for 9’6″ HC units; Three units could also be used to carry 2 x 40′ containers. An individual unit would carry a 10′ container.
TDI plans to commercialise the Freight Skate vehicle over the next 3 years, with the product entering freight terminal service in 2025.
My Thoughts And Conclusions
If you search the Internet for “Freight Skate” you find nothing, but I think the concept is a development of the TruckTrain, which I wrote about in The TruckTrain, as both concepts are from Coventry.
I really liked the TruckTrain concept, when I saw it earlier this year.
The Anonymous Widower 