Transport network
Basic
Transport belts are a core element in Factorio. They are used for transporting items in your factory. You put items at one place and take them down at another. In the simple setup below the transport belt is used to transport the iron ore from Mining drills to the right where an Inserter picks it up and puts it into the furnace.
File:Transport-belt-intro-3.jpg
In most of the cases inserters must be used to put / pick things from the transport belts. However Mining drills place items they produce (mine) directly on the transport belt - as you can see above.
Transport networks contains the following entities:
Transport belts (Moving ground)
The Transport belts where the first elements of this class of entities, so the whole class is called so, even if the Underground belts and Splitters work quite differently. ("moving ground" might hit the meaning better)
Inserters
It is assured that inserters always put the items on the more distant part of the transport belt. Inserters also prefer taking items from the closer part of the belt.
| Item | Max power | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
180 W (burner) | Most basic inserter, needs burning fuel. |
 |
13 W | Basic electric inserter. |
| |
18 W | Basic inserter able to grab Items from 2 tiles distance. |
| |
30 W | Inserter working at double speed. |
| |
40 W | Deprecated since v0.7.x! Use smart inserter instead! |
 |
40 W | Inserter able to connect to Circuit network and specify work conditions. |
Storages
A storage is used to store items. Many things can be used to store items: Furnaces, assemblies and any entity, that has stacks, like cars, but even the belts can be seen as storage. But in conjunction with the Transport network we mean the most efficient way, which is using Chests:
| Item | Max stacks | Description |
|---|---|---|
| |
16 | Basic storage chest. |
| |
32 | Larger basic chest. |
| |
48 | Basic chest with maximum capacity of 48 stacks. |
 |
48 | Connectable to Circuit network. |
| |
48 | Used for Logistic network, Circuit network. |
| |
48 | Used for Logistic network, Circuit network. |
| |
48 | Used for Logistic network, Circuit network. |
See also Storages.
Advanced
Using two sides
Items can fit in onto the transport belt in two separate lines. This is particularly useful when feeding two different items for further processing to avoid overcrowding. Let's have a look at the example. In here we have both coal and iron ore on the same transport belt in two separate lines. The advantage of this setup is that it cannot happen to us that we will have too much of one resource and thus no space on the belt for the other. The inserter can take items from both lines and insert them into the furnace behind it.
Turns
It is guaranteed, that that turns keep the alignment of items. Inner side of the turn moves items at half the speed, meaning turns are likely to be bottlenecks. Using faster belts at the turns is recommended.
Crossings
When belts are crossing, items stay on the side of the belt it came from.
Expert
For more information about transport show into Transport network for Experts.