Chrion: A Big Rig and a Locomotive Combine With Algae Fuel

Here's an interesting concept. Of course, it's only a concept and I doubt it will ever exist. At least, not in this form. The idea of combining a locomotive and a big rig is compelling, though.

There is already a company proposing the idea of transporting big trucks (tractor, trailer and all) on railways to save both fuel and driver time. This would take care of major distribution points and allow the trucks to continue through to individual delivery points and those areas not serviced by railway.

This concept, however, takes it to a new extreme. Rather than move the tractor-trailer everywhere, the idea is to use standardized storage containers (like those already used in shipping) to move freight universally by ship, truck, and rail.

The other part of the idea is to put the truck itself ON the rails. That's the new innovation, which I can honestly say is a cool idea that will probably not be realistically feasible.

With that said, the Chiron Transprotation concept vehicle is a combination big rig and locomotive that runs on algae-powered fuel cells. It could be realistic if it were to have its own rail system to utilize (also not likely) at scale, but it's just a concept to vet out an idea.

The truck, for lack of a better term, has a hollow shell into which a cargo container can be inserted. Then it's carried off. The truck can roll on highways as normal, but is also capable of setting itself onto a set of rails and transforming into a small locomotive for hauling that container.

Theoretically, being on the rails means nearly unlimited speed and very limited slowing/stopping required. It could also mean automation, so the driver could abandon the vehicle to another driver at the rail yard after dropping it off or sit back and relax while the computers do the driving.

While I'm impressed with the concept, I can see a huge number of reality hurdles this would have to leap before becoming usable.

First is the weight issue, since there's no way this could be built to be as light or lighter than current rigs on the road. There are specific federal guidelines as to how this is controlled (called "Bridge Law") because of the way that roads are designed both for weight bearing and traffic movement.

Second is the railway integration itself. Nearly all of our national rail system is NOT electrified (as this appears to hope), which would require some heavy retrofitting. Rails are also designed to facilitate long trains moving at specific speeds at given intervals. Adding a lot of smaller traffic will mean a lot of logistics concerns and potential hazards.

Overall, I'd say that the concept is a cool one and interesting, at least. I don't see it as very realistically possible. But who knows?