People in Japan never stop shopping, but they have no one to carry their stuff. Your solution is an epic 500km treadmill

Among many other problems, the Japanese country anticipates a major crisis generated by the aging of the population: labor shortage

Conveyor belts have proven to be a great solution for complex locations. A prime example of this is found in the Media Luna mine in Mexico. There, a belt is capable of transporting 25,000 tonnes per hour. As said, the project in hand in Japan bears no resemblance whatsoever. The idea: a conveyor belt that would span the Tokyo-Osaka route.

500 kilometers. That’s absolutely the distance and the vastness of space compared to any megastructure that could be similar to it. The proposal comes from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and is a response to the logistics crisis the country is experiencing due to a severe shortage of delivery drivers and a surge in cargo demand.

The solution is a project with a network of high-tech automated conveyor belts, Autoflow-Road, to transport goods over a distance of about 500 kilometers between Tokyo and Osaka. By building this huge network for goods transport, the government hopes to ensure efficient and continuous movement of goods.

Reducing traffic congestion. This crazy idea goes much further and is said to have three major benefits. The first is to relieve traffic congestion on some of the country’s busiest roads. The ministry estimates that this new transport system will be able to handle the equivalent of 25,000 trucks of goods per day. It will also reduce pollution. According to minister Tetsuo Saigo: “It will not only solve the logistics crisis, but also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Labor crisis. Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of the project is solving the problem of a shortage of people to drive trucks. According to the latest government data, the country lost 837,000 people in the year to October 1, 2023, the biggest annual decline since records began in 1950.

In fact, a few months ago Prime Minister Fumio Kishida raised concerns when he reported that the country was “on the verge of not being able to maintain social functions.” The working-age population is also shrinking, falling from a peak of 87 million in 1993 to 75.3 million in 2018, and this trend is expected to continue. By 2030, the total population is projected to fall to 119 million from 126 million in 2018, exacerbating labor shortages in sectors such as logistics.

My package did not arrive. This is the third “leg” that the project attempts to solve. The number of small package deliveries has doubled in the last 30 years due to the rise of online shopping. The existing logistics infrastructure is struggling to cope with this and it is only getting worse. According to ministry estimates, 30% of packages sent in 2030 will not be delivered due to labour shortages caused by population decline. The tape should fix this.

Project. According to the clues given by the ministry, it will be completed by 2034. We are talking about a system that will use fully automated electric pallets that will be able to transport up to a ton of cargo each of which will circulate on the routes. The pallets will be designed to transport all kinds of goods, from Amazon packages and agricultural products to fresh fish and/or essential goods.

In addition, this network of automated logistics roads will transport goods 24 hours a day using airways and tunnels. At ground level, tracks can be placed in various locations, most likely in the median and along the shoulders. Therefore, the infrastructure is already in place and the use of tunnels will reduce the impact of congestion on the surface.

Mine Tracks. If we stick to the material and construction of the project’s loading lanes, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has stated that they are looking to model them on the ground based on existing high-capacity conveyor belt systems that they are currently using in the mining industry, specifically the 23 km belt in Kochi Prefecture or the 100 km belt in Western Sahara.

way. As we said, the idea on paper is that these are the 500 kilometers that will cover Tokyo and Osaka. As for the construction costs, the estimated cost is $26 billion (between $48 million and $550 million for every 10 kilometers of tunnel, depending on the location).

The project, in the planning stage, could be a solution to the aging of the population and the problems that are coming as a result or are projected for the coming years. Let’s hope it doesn’t end up like the Hyperloop.

Image | Thapho Womhon Lera, Doppelmayr Transport Technology, PicPik, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan

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