Back in 2013, billionaire Elon Musk laid out a vision of an underground “hyperloop” tunnel system capable of using magnetic fields to beam commuters from New York to DC in under 30 minutes. To say those plans haven’t quite panned out is an understatement. Musk’s Boring company converted its original test facility into a parking lot and appears to have deprioritized hyperloop tech to focus on slowly sending Tesla’s through tunnels. Hyperloop One, the most well-funded of the other hyperloop ventures, shut down at the end of last year. Those major setbacks have led some to declare the hyperloop officially dead, however, a successful test completed by a Dutch hyperloop company this week may have put the industry back on life support.
This week, Hardt Hyperloop announced it successfully used magnetic levitation to lift a pod in the air and guide it smoothly through 90 meters of its 420-meter long test track. The pod completed the test at just around 18 miles an hour, roughly the speed of some underground metro trains. That’s nowhere near the 600 miles an hour goal set by Musk and other evangelists, but it’s a start for a technology that’s struggled to make any meaningful movement in recent years. The tests were conducted at the European Hyperloop Center in Veendam, Netherlands. Hardt says it’s now preparing for a full speed test, which would see the pod approach 62 miles an hour, later this year.
“This achievement marks a key milestone toward realizing the hyperloop in Europe and around the world,” Hardt Hyperloop Commercial Director said in a statement. “It is a great step in the right direction to continue with proving the other aspects of hyperloop, like cornering, lane-switching, and hyperloop vehicles branching in and out.”
How a hyperloop works
Early engineering interest in pushing pods though pneumatics tubes dates black to at least the 1870s but commercial efforts to turn those ideas into a viable transit method really picked up steam over the past decade. In theory, a Hyperloop works by using a vacuum to suck out the air from a tubular tunnel track. That removal of the tunnel’s air greatly reduces drag, which allows a pod to travel at high speeds. Proponents of the tech argue pods traveling through a hyperloop could potentially rival speeds of a commercial airliner without having to burn gasoline. The pods themselves use magnetic levitation (maglev) to lift them up and keep them hovering in place while in transit. Electric propulsion pushes the pod forward. Unlike a traditional train, hyperloop tunnels don’t have tracks, which means the pods could switch directions at high speeds and potentially exist the tube one demands, similar to a car exiting a highway. If realized, hyperloops would supposedly offer a high speed transit option that’s efficient and reduces our reliance on gas-powered vehicles. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, if ever.
Overcoming the technological barriers inherent to hyperloops might be the easiest challenge to overcome. Far more difficult is figuring out the infrastructure and logistical requirements necessary to make large scale, underground travel viable. Hyperloop tunnels are unique, and won’t work inexisting underground tunnels. That means companies building these systems would need to come up with the immense capital and resources needed to build hundreds, or even thousands of miles of new infrastructure. Even if the funding were available, these companies would then need to acquire rights of way and work with local property owners and regulatory bodies to get approval to operate. All of that requires time and serious sustained investment. Those ballooning costs with no near term return were part of the reason Hyperloop One shuttered its operations last year.
At the same time, recent advances in more conventional high speed rail in the US are potentially making the ambitious and expensive promise of hyperloops less appealing. Last year, Brightline officially began offering rides between Miami and Orlanda in trains capable of reaching 125 miles per hour. Builders have also officially broken ground on a first of its kind high-speed railway that could complete a trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in two hours. Even Texas, which has long struggled with expanding rail, is making inroads on a new train system that could connect Houston to Dallas. In other words, the hyperloop isn’t totally dead, but more realistic alternatives are thriving.