Abstract: A high speed shuttle conveyor includes two motor-driven belts for moving two carriages forwardly to rapidly propel an article conveyor from a starting position to an ending position. The belt movements are reversed to return the carriages to the starting position. Each carriage has a retractable pusher element for imparting forward movement to the article conveyor, and a retractable retention element for preventing the article conveyor from moving forwardly at a faster speed than the pusher element. When each carriage reaches the limit of its forward stroke the retention elements exert snubber actions on the carrier; the carrier is safely decelerated to a motionless condition and released.