2024-09-10 09:04:32
Travel from one European city to another in a magnetic levitation capsule that travels at more than 700 km/h? This is the promise made by a Dutch company Hardt Hyperloop after the first test considered promising in the Netherlands.
In the 420m long white tunnel of the European Hyperloop Center, the train covered in light gray and black lines floats, listening to the control center, before it goes. Right now, its speed is slow at around 30 km/h but operators hope it will reach 100 km/h by the end of the year.
Roel van de Pas, its business director said “We will be ready to transport passengers like this by 2030. According to this company, the concept of high-speed rail has the potential to transform travel in Europe , by connecting Amsterdam to Berlin in 90 minutes, or the Dutch capital to Milan in two hours.
Failures in the past
This process is not new. In 2013, it was SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk who presented it as the “fifth mode of transportation” to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles.
It is true that many attempts to activate the Hyperloop, launched as an “open source” and collaborative project, mainly by the British entrepreneur Richard Branson, have failed. Critics object to the “hype” around the technology that is trying to prove itself, while the projects have cost billions of dollars.
However, China has a testing facility that allows speeds of up to 700 km/h. In Toulouse, the Metropolis spent more than 5.5 million euros of public money for nothing.
But Hardt Hyperloop CEO Roel van de Pas, 39, remains convinced that “it will really change the relationships we have within Europe. It will really mix the continent. “
The ultimate goal is to replace short-haul flights within Europe and long car journeys across the continent, with ticket prices comparable to those of a budget airline, he said. These Hyperloops will be able to carry around fifty passengers in living conditions comparable to the comfort experienced in modern trains.
A more environmentally friendly way of transport than flying
The next step will be to test the vehicle in full vacuum conditions where almost all air must be drawn out of the exhaust to reduce air resistance and increase speed.
The Dutch company is the only one with a “track change”, a tube that extends from the main track, to test what happens when a capsule changes trajectory at high speed. Hardt Hyperloop hopes to start testing this bifurcation essential for network development.
The successful launch of a dense Hyperloop network could have a significant environmental benefit: this mode of transportation uses about a tenth of the energy needed for air travel and a third of the energy needed for train travel. Also, enclosed in tubes, it will also be completely silent.
Tubes can be placed on existing roadways. The European Hyperloop company has been testing integration into the environment, by painting part of the tube to give it the appearance of a forest.
However, these projects require a lot of construction costs. In total, the cost of building the Hyperloop is estimated at 20 million euros per kilometer, “i.e. 60 to 100% of the cost of the high-speed line” according to a note published in 2018 by the Parliament evaluation- council of science and technology. options (OPESCT).
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