Mobile Shelving › Datum Mobile Shelving

Datum Mobile Shelving Systems

MobileTrak5 track-mounted high-density storage from Datum Storage Solutions — mechanical-assist and powered carriages, plus TrakSlider and ArtStor — laid out and supplied by Material Handling USA.

Datum MobileTrak powered mobile shelving carriages closed along a corridor of end panels
How it worksMobileTrak5TrakSlider & ArtStorApplicationsPlanning your roomProject sequenceResourcesFAQ

MobileTrak5

Datum’s current mobile carriage system

Powered

Mechanical-assist or end-panel powered controls

TrakSlider

Track-mounted secure and weapons storage

GSA

Contract ordering handled on its own page

One aisle instead of ten

A conventional shelving room is mostly aisle. Each range needs its own walkway, every walkway is empty most of the working day, and the collection keeps growing regardless. Track-mounted mobile shelving fixes the geometry rather than the housekeeping: the ranges sit on carriages that run on rail fixed to the floor, they park closed, and a single aisle is opened wherever someone is working.

Datum Storage Solutions builds that system as MobileTrak5 — the carriage, the rail, the drive and the end panels — and it carries Datum shelving, cabinets or lockers on top. Because the carriage is a platform, the same room can hold letter and legal filing in one run, boxes in another, and lockers or gear storage in a third.

Material Handling USA sells Datum, lays the room out from your drawings, and works through the floor, access and finish questions that decide whether the installation goes smoothly. Nothing on this page is a substitute for that layout: every honest answer about capacity, drive type and budget starts with your plan and your collection.

Datum MobileTrak5 mobile shelving ranges opened to show filed records on the shelves

What the system is made of

Most of the money, and effectively all of the site preparation, lives in the first two assemblies below. Knowing that up front makes the design conversation much shorter.

Datum MobileTrak floor rail set into a tiled floor between mobile shelving rangesRail and carriagesSteel rail is laid level and in plane on the slab or inside a built-up deck; carriages ride it on wheels and carry the storage. Floor preparation, ramping and finished floor level all follow from this.
Hand operating the Datum MobileTrak powered control panel on a mobile shelving end panelDrive and controlsMechanical-assist handles gear a loaded range so one person can move it; the powered MobileTrak configuration replaces the handle with an end-panel control. Range length, load and who operates the room decide which is appropriate.
Datum shelving and lateral filing cabinets lined up in a records storage roomShelving, cabinets and lockersFour-post and wide-span shelving, cabinets, and Datum’s GearStor lockers can all ride the carriages, so one system covers filing, boxes, gear and equipment.
Datum MobileTrak powered high-density shelving system with wood-finish end panelsEnd panels and finishesEnd panels close the ranges, carry handles or controls and signage, and set the appearance of the room — laminate, wood-look or painted steel finishes.

MobileTrak5: mechanical assist and powered

Front view of a Datum MobileTrak powered mobile shelving system with end-panel control

Mechanical assist is the workhorse. A geared handle on the end panel lets one person start, move and stop a fully loaded range with controlled effort, and it keeps working during a power outage — which is why records rooms, evidence rooms and archives usually specify it.

Powered MobileTrak replaces the handle with a control on the end panel. Datum documents this configuration in the MobileTrak5 literature we host below. It is normally considered where ranges are long or heavily loaded, where the same aisle is opened repeatedly through the day, or where the effort of turning a handle is a practical barrier for the people who work in the room.

Neither is automatically better. Range length, total load, how often the aisle moves and who operates it decide the answer, and we would rather work that out with your drawing than have you buy a drive type off a web page. Specific ratings, effort figures and electrical requirements come from Datum’s documentation for the exact configuration quoted.

TrakSlider, ArtStor and the rest of the Datum line

Datum builds several track-mounted products around the same principle. They are separate systems, not badge variants, and each one exists because of what it stores.

Datum TrakSlider track-mounted high-density storage loaded with colour-coded filesTrakSliderDatum’s track-mounted system used for secure and weapons storage. Related weapons racks, cabinets and lockers are covered on our Datum weapons storage page.
Datum ArtStor mobile art storage system with mesh hanging frames on a rail carriageArtStorMobile art storage using hanging mesh frames on carriages instead of shelves, for framed works in museum, gallery and institutional collections.
Datum MobileTrak5 carriages holding GearStor lockers with gear and equipment storageGearStor lockers on carriagesLockers mounted on MobileTrak5 carriages, so gear, kit and equipment storage gains the same density as a file room.

Datum also builds the Ez2 rotary file — see our Datum rotary file page — along with 4-Post and Wide-Span static shelving, TekStak and TekCart charging storage, and steel desks. Those are static products; keep them distinct from the mobile carriage systems when you are comparing quotations.

Where Datum mobile shelving is used

Public safety and evidence storage. Property rooms fill up and are audited. Mobile carriages add shelf capacity inside an existing secured room, and TrakSlider covers the weapons side of the same building.

Records, archives and legal. Letter and legal filing, case files, deeds and long-retention boxes, where mechanical assist and clear range labelling matter more than speed.

Healthcare and laboratory. Charts, sample retention and regulated documents in leased space that cannot grow.

Museums, galleries and collections. ArtStor for framed works, plus shelving and cabinets for the rest of an accessioned collection.

Military, government and readiness centres. Gear, kit and equipment on GearStor lockers and shelving carried on the same carriages.

Education and administration. Compressing storage so floor area can be returned to teaching, study or staff space — usually the real goal of the project.

White Datum mobile shelving carriages with three-spoke assist handles on floor rail

Related pages: mobile shelving for medical records, archive shelving for law firms, evidence storage, and the non-branded high-density shelving overview.

Planning decisions that are made once

Mobile shelving is closer to construction than to furniture. These six decisions are cheap now and expensive after the rail is down.

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Range direction and length

Rail runs one way. Direction sets where the aisle opens and how far staff walk; longer ranges store more but move more mass per operation.

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Accessible aisles

Accessibility requirements are set by your code official and design team for the specific project. Tell us what applies and the layout is drawn to it.

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Floor flatness and level

Survey the slab before ordering. Shims, a built-up deck or a recessed rail detail make up the difference; ramps bring the finished floor back to level.

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Structural review

Concentrated loads on a slab or elevated floor are a question for the project engineer. We supply system information; we do not certify structures.

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Security and locking

Range locking, cabinet and locker locks, and how the room’s access control works are decided alongside the layout, not afterwards.

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Lighting, sprinklers and HVAC

Closed ranges change lighting and sprinkler coverage. Coordinate ceiling trades against the final range layout rather than the empty room.

How a Datum project runs

1

Survey and layout

You send a dimensioned plan and describe the collection; we lay the room out, compare options by usable shelf capacity and flag the floor and code issues we can see.

2

Specification

Drive type, storage medium, shelf depths, finishes, end panels and locking are agreed in writing, with Datum’s product literature as the reference.

3

Site preparation

Slab survey, rail layout and the deck or recess detail, coordinated with the contractor before anything is delivered.

4

Installation and handover

Rail, carriages, storage and end panels are installed, adjusted and demonstrated, with Datum documentation handed over for your records.

Schedule and lead time depend on system size and site readiness and are confirmed on your quotation rather than promised on a web page. If a construction milestone drives the date, tell us at the layout stage.

Datum mobile shelving resources

These are the Datum documents hosted by Material Handling USA that we work from.

Buying on the GSA schedule?

Datum mobile shelving is also available to federal buyers under Datum’s GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract. That path has its own page: Datum mobile shelving GSA contract GS-28F-005BA. This page stays focused on the product itself.

More Datum: Datum brand overview · Datum weapons storage · all mobile shelving systems.

Honest notes before you buy

Density has a ceiling that is human, not mechanical. If three people need three aisles at once, a single-aisle layout will frustrate them however much it stores. Count concurrent users before you count shelf inches.

Measure the collection. Linear inches of filing, boxes on hand and realistic annual growth beat any rule of thumb. A system sized from a guess is wrong on the day it opens.

The floor decides the schedule. Rail level, ramps and the finished floor material cause more delays on these projects than the equipment ever does.

Plan the rail for the room’s future. Adding shelving later is easy; adding rail to a finished floor is not.

Ask for the specifics in writing. Loads, ratings, electrical requirements, code questions and delivery dates should be confirmed against Datum documentation and your site conditions on a quotation — not assumed from any web page, including this one.

Datum mobile shelving FAQ

What is Datum mobile shelving?
Datum Storage Solutions builds track-mounted high-density storage: shelving or cabinets carried on wheeled carriages that run on floor rail, so ranges close against one another and only the aisle in use is open. MobileTrak5 is Datum’s mobile carriage system; TrakSlider and ArtStor are related track-mounted products for weapons and for art storage.
What is the difference between MobileTrak5, TrakSlider and ArtStor?
MobileTrak5 is the general-purpose mobile carriage system that carries shelving, cabinets or lockers. TrakSlider is Datum’s track-mounted system associated with weapons and secure storage. ArtStor is a mobile art storage system using hanging mesh frames instead of shelves. They share the same basic idea — carriages on rail — but the storage medium and the intended contents differ.
Manual, mechanical assist or powered?
Datum documents mechanical-assist operation, where a geared handle moves a loaded range, and a powered MobileTrak configuration operated from a control on the end panel. Mechanical assist keeps working without power and is the usual choice for records and evidence rooms. Powered is normally considered for long or heavily loaded ranges and where operating effort must be minimised.
How much storage will I gain?
That is a layout answer, not a catalogue answer. It depends on the room’s dimensions, ceiling height, columns, range direction, how many aisles you must keep open and what you are storing. Send a plan and we will draw the room and count usable shelf capacity per option instead of quoting a percentage.
What does the floor need?
Rail must sit level and in plane. Existing slabs are surveyed first, then made up with shims, a built-up deck or a recessed rail detail, with ramps returning the finished floor to the surrounding level. Any structural review of point loads on the slab or an elevated floor belongs to the project engineer; we supply the system information they need.
Can it store more than paper files?
Yes. Carriages can carry four-post shelving, wide-span shelving, cabinets and lockers, so the same system is used for boxes, kits, gear, evidence and equipment as well as filing. Datum’s GearStor lockers and TekStak charging storage are examples of non-paper storage that ends up in these rooms.
Is a mobile system secure?
The system contributes to security but does not replace it. Ranges can be closed and locked, and cabinets or lockers on the carriages add their own locking. Room access control, cameras and chain-of-custody procedure remain yours. Tell us the security requirement and we will specify the locking options Datum offers for that configuration.
Can the system be expanded later?
Additional carriages and shelving can often be added if the rail run and the room allow for it, so plan the rail for the room you will have, not just the collection you have today. Retrofitting rail into a finished floor later is the expensive part; extra shelving is not.
Is this the same as buying under the GSA contract?
No. This page is about the product. Federal buyers ordering under Datum’s GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract should use our separate Datum GSA contract page, which stays specific to that contract vehicle. Same equipment, different ordering path.
What do you need from me to quote?
A dimensioned floor plan with ceiling height and obstructions, a description of what is being stored and roughly how much, whether the space is existing or under construction, and any accessibility, seismic or security requirements. That is enough for a first layout; finishes, locking and dividers are settled afterwards.

Get a Datum mobile shelving layout

Send a floor plan and tell us what you need to store. We will lay the room out, size the system and quote it — no obligation.

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