Aspects and embodiments of inductively heated tank cars are described. In one embodiment, an inductive heating system includes an inductive heating module with a radially-curved pancake coil. The heating module can be positioned by an actuator assembly to inductively heat the contents of a tank car. In one example, the actuator assembly includes an assembly base including at least one base pole, an extension channel, and an extension actuator. The actuator assembly also includes an extension arm to retract into and extend out from the extension channel based on the extension actuator, an inductive heating module pivotally secured about an end of the extension arm, and a heating module lift actuator to lift the inductive heating module about the pivot at the end of the extension arm. By lifting and/or pivoting the inductive heating module, it can be positioned proximate to the tank car for inductive heat transfer.

A terminal is designed with a railcar staging area and a railcar transfer apparatus, the railcar transfer apparatus configured to move a railcar to and/or from railcar staging area. The terminal may be further designed with a terminal building where the railcar transfer apparatus is configured to move the railcar between the terminal building and the staging area. The staging area may be provided as two staging areas where the railcar transfer apparatus is configured to move the railcar between two staging areas. The railcar transfer apparatus may include automated railcar transfer device, bridge and shuttle.

A Rail Drone can include: a payload interface, a drivetrain, and a rail platform 515. The Rail Drone can additionally or alternatively include any other suitable set of components. The Rail Drone can integrate a standardized payload interface and an autonomous electric road vehicle platform into a rolling stock architecture. The Rail Drone can be a stand-alone, payload-agnostic, motive element which can be independently or cooperatively capable of carrying heavy loads across long distances at various cruising speeds.

A bidirectional overhead urban transport (TUEP) for a large transportation capacity, which is suspended over a series of poles, without interfering with the traffic of vehicles and pedestrians surface, which is characterized by having a continuum of autonomous cabins circulating about a tubular track suspended by static wires hanging from the poles. The system has overhead stations for passengers, by which access is given to the suspended cabins, moved by autonomous and independent electric motors which rotate a drive pulley rolling on the upper back of a horizontal tubular track raised or inclined according to the topography of the ground. The peculiarity of this transport system is that each of the cabins that are only for two passengers, travels directly to a destination station, where is diverted from the main flow to a station, so it is not necessary to stop the main flow of cabins, which results in the although circulating at low to moderate speed, the time required to travel is reduced.

A double-track vehicle, comprising upper and lower carriages, which are respectively a passenger carriage (1) for providing passenger seats and a cargo carriage (2) for placing cargo, the passenger carriage (1) and the cargo carriage (2) being respectively provided with a passenger door (3) for passengers to get on and off and a cargo door (4) for loading and unloading cargo. The vehicle carries out simultaneous transport of passengers and cargo, allowing for the function of the rail vehicle to no longer be singular and largely reducing transport and maintenance costs. At the same time, passenger transport and cargo transport are divided into two layers, which completely separates cargo transport and passenger transport, thereby providing passengers with a comfortable seating environment and improving seating safety.

A shuttle bar (20) for a freight-handling device for transferring cargo from road to rail and vice versa using horizontal transverse loading, for moving a railcar pallet of a freight car to a loading platform and vice versa, wherein the shuttle bar (20) includes lifting mechanism for raising and lowering of the railcar pallet from or onto a railcar undercarriage of the freight train as well as from or onto the loading platform, wherein the shuttle bar (20) includes a bar base frame (30), a lifting bar (31), and a lifting-bar drive device (32) for raising and lowering the lifting bar (31) relative to the bar base frame (30), as well as a freight-handling device for combined freight transport with such shuttle bars, and a freight-handling method.

An overhead transport vehicle performs a first transfer operation of holding an article placed on a loading pedestal of a transport origin, and a second transfer operation of placing the article onto a loading pedestal of a transport destination. A control device causes a shooting device to obtain a first shot image of the upper face of the article placed on the loading pedestal of the transport origin, and adjusts the relative positional relationship between the holding portion and the article placed on the loading pedestal of the transport origin based on the first shot image and first reference image data, and causes the shooting device to obtain a second shot image of the upper face of the loading pedestal of the transport destination, and adjusts the relative positional relationship between the holding portion and the loading pedestal of the transport destination based on the second shot image and second reference image data.

A drone railway system comprises a rail comprising a contact surface and an interconnect member having a drone connecting end and a rail engaging end, wherein the rail engaging end comprises a contacting member. The rail engaging end is selectively engageable with the rail so the contacting member can contact the contact surface and selectively disengageable with the rail so the drone and interconnect member can fly away from the rail, whereby the drone and interconnect member are able to travel along the length of the rail when the rail engaging end is engaged with the rail. A method of flying a drone comprises engaging a rail with the drone by contacting a contact surface of the rail with a contacting member associated with the drone; traveling along a length of the rail with the contacting member contacting the contact surface of the rail; selectively disengaging the drone from the rail; and flying away from the rail.

A passenger carrier of a transportation system includes a main body to carry a first group of passengers, a detachable departure compartment, detachably coupled to the main body, to carry a second group of passengers, and a processing device to issue a control signal to trigger a decoupling between the departure compartment and the main body, allowing the main body to travel along a first path without stop at a station and allowing the departure compartment to travel along a second path to enter and stop at the station.

A transport vehicle system includes: a first transport vehicle configured to travel on a lower track in one direction; a second transport vehicle configured to travel on an upper track in one direction; a first transfer section onto which a conveyed object is delivered from the second transport vehicle and from which the conveyed object is received by the first transport vehicle; and a second transfer section onto which the conveyed object is delivered from the first transport vehicle and from which the conveyed object is received by the second transport vehicle.