This story originally appeared on Trains.com.
ST. LOUIS — Intramotev, the startup that converts conventional freight cars into battery-powered, self-driving vehicles, has unveiled an autonomous double-decker car.
The company showcased the TugVolt well wagon in a video released this week. The 20-year-old former TTX wagon carries two 40-foot containers and moves independently on the tracks at Intramotev’s facility. It also pulls a freight wagon.
Intramotev currently has self-propelled hopper cars in service on a mining railroad in Pennsylvania that is not connected to the national rail network and therefore not subject to Federal Railroad Administration regulations. Without an exemption from existing regulations, the equipment cannot currently operate on the public rail network. The goal of deploying it in commercial service on mining railroads is to test the technology before moving to branch lines and Class I railroads.
Intramotev’s technology is compatible with conventional rail equipment and can be applied to any type of freight wagon. TugVolts can operate within a conventional train as well as autonomously or remotely.
The long-term vision: to incorporate TugVolt cars into a conventional, long intermodal train from, for example, Los Angeles to Chicago. After arriving in Chicago, a block of TugVolt cars could then travel independently to a common destination in a smaller market or even to an individual customer location.
“Another benefit of TugVolt for the railroad is that it can increase the profitability of lower-volume routes, leading to high-margin revenue growth by shifting away from trucking,” says spokesman Don Soffer. “It can be deployed separately for those secondary city pairs that don’t justify a full daily intermodal block train. Short trains can run more frequently and profitably, rather than waiting days for a long train to merge. Our ability to do this with backwards-compatible facilities and double-stacked containers is what sets us apart.”
On a flat track, a single TugVolt car can act like a locomotive, pulling up to five cars without propulsion.
Intramotev, founded in 2019, announced this month that it had raised $14.4 million in its latest funding round. Flybridge Capital Partners and Alpaca VC led the investor group, which also included Advantage Capital, Aera VC, Band VC, Cantos, Cathcart Rail, Collide Capital, Decisive Point and Idealab Arizona.
“This funding enables us to continue deploying our technology with customers in the U.S. and abroad to usher in a new era of growth for the rail industry,” said Tim Luchini, CEO of Intramotev, in a statement. “We’ve heard time and time again from customers that they want freight solutions that don’t compromise on efficiency, speed or flexibility. TugVolt and ReVolt provide just that.”
ReVolt cars use a hybrid system that harvests energy through regenerative braking to reduce the locomotives’ fuel consumption.
The ReVolt is currently in use on Iron Senergy’s Cumberland Mine Railroad in Pennsylvania.
“The team at Intramotev has worked tirelessly to ensure the proper implementation of their technology at our mine and we couldn’t be happier with the results,” said Jon Brown, vice president of business development at Iron Senergy, in a statement. The equipment has already logged more than 5,000 miles in service.
Later this year, Intramotev will launch another operation at a calcium mine owned by Carmeuse Americas.
