Abstract: To increase the overall operating speed of a production, assembly or manufacturing line system, a rapid transport system (6-17) is located beneath normally slow-moving transport belts (3), coupled to a vertical raising system (8, 9), engageable beneath a transport plate between individual belts of the transport system, and rapidly moving a transport plate (2) into and off selected work stations, faster than the movement of the belts. Preferably, the raising system is coupled to a carriage (6) which, in turn, is moved rapidly along the transport path (A, B) by a piston-cylinder unit (16, 17), a motor with a gear belt, or any other similar linear motion transmission.