Next Generation Transportation – The Hyperloop

As technology advances, we find different ways of doing the same thing more efficiently. Smartphone technology has built upon telephone advancements, for example, making it easier to not only communicate, but to collaborate, work, and play with people from all over the world. The same effects are being applied in the field of transportation. From animal transport to the invention of the diesel engine, distances have been cut to hours instead of days. But even that could change if the Hyperloop becomes operational.

What is the Hyperloop?

Hyperloop is a proposed form of transport that operates within an environment with reduced air resistance in order to achieve maximum speed. Hyperloop models involve a system of sealed, low pressure tubes through which a pod may carry passengers or cargo.

In effect, Hyperloop works like a pneumatic tube that is used to distribute mail in and around buildings. A powerful fan is used to propel parcels through tubes at high velocities to their destinations. This represents the extreme case of operationalisation of the Hyperloop according to SpaceX, one of the companies working on making hyperloop a reality.

The Hyperloop concept was propounded by Elon Musk in a 2013 research paper.

How the Hyperloop Works

As vehicles approach their top speed limits, friction from road and air resistance normally set in to impede the vehicle’s movement. This means ground vehicles like trains and automobiles especially, can hardly go beyond a certain speed limit without succumbing to the natural drag from friction as well as wind resistance.

The Vactrain

The Vactrain concept proposes a fairly logical idea in this regard. To remove the drag and eliminate friction, the vehicle would have to move inside a vacuum. This means trains would float inside a tube that has been evacuated of air completely. The lack of contact with the ground means there will be no friction from contact with the tracks, while lack of air means the train can, theoretically, approach speed of thousands of miles per hour.

This, however, is difficult to translate from the drawing board to the tarmac for a couple of reasons. First, it is extremely difficult to maintain the vacuum over large distances.

Also, the maglev, the concept of achieving levitiation via the use of magnet raises the cost of operation out of the bound of practicality. In a vactrain, the maglev uses two types of magnets: one to push it up from the tracks, and another to propel the train along its suspended channel. The costs have made it impossible to realise despite the possibility of reaching incredible levels of speed.

Hyperloop Alpha

The cost implications of the Vactrain led to the concept of the Hyperloop. Rather than using a maglev to create a levitating train, Elon Musk proposed the Hyperloop Alpha where the tube uses less air rather than none at all. In theory, the Hyperloop operates at 100 Pa of pressure, shedding off a few hundred miles in potential speed limits in the process.

Within a Hyperloop tube, the pods are designed to float on 28 air skis rather than tracks in traditional rails. This is similar to ice hockey games where the puck floats on air tables. The cushion of air that keeps the pod floating will come from the pod itself, rather than the tube.

Before it starts its journey, the pod will be propelled to subsonic speed via an external motor. From then on, the pod will receive a boost every 70 miles to keep it floating in the tube.

As the pod moves through the tubes, there will be eventual build up of air pressure. Musk’s Hyperloop Alpha will therefore include a mechanism that transports this pressure to the rear of the pod, allowing the pod to remain floating throughout its journey.

Pros and Cons of Hyperloop

Like all of life’s modern inventions, Hyperloop has important implications in terms of practicality and need. Is it necessary to cut down journey time by a tenth of the cost at all? And what effect will that have on other forms of transportation and the people being employed in those sectors?

Faster is good; cleaner even better, always

Hyperloop is supposed to cut down travel time like never before. When fully functional, it could cut down a 1 hour journey in Dubai to merely 20 minutes. The economic effects will be overwhelmingly positive, as inter-city travel becomes cheaper and less stressful. Businesses will be better placed to strike deals faster.

Also, the nature of the Hyperloop technology makes it more energy efficient. It also produces less pollution than most of the current technologies that run train and car transportation. The efficiency comes from the less air pressure inside the tube, thereby reducing the need to burn more energy to overcome the air drag.

A $20 ride?

Elon Musk has said that a ticket on a proposed Hyperloopp Alpha pod from San Francisco to LA could set you back merely $20. Airlines could charge over a $100 for that range, while a train ticket could cost you more than $50 depending on the service. That’s a huge gain for the over 300 mile distance under consideration. The entire system would need at most $7.5 billion to construct. In contrast, the High-Speed Rail that is being constructed currently has an ever-growing budget of $77 billion for one of the most widely traveled routes in America. A ticket would also go for approximately $80 each way.

Economists have raised doubts about the possibility of Musk’s Hyperloop Alpha budget, however. One reason for this is the actual cost of land for that region, which, for 100 miles, could go for $7 billion. As a work-around, Musk has proposed the limited use of land by using pylons that would hold the tubes way above the ground. But many experts are not moved by that explanation, especially given the legal ramifications of acquiring those lands alone.

Who would ride it?

Another cause for concern has been the speed at which the pods would travel. A capsule reaching upwards of 500 mpa could trigger nauseating effects for passengers, making it very uncomfortable for travelers. This has been countered by companies like Virgin Hyperloop One. In their proposed model, the travel experience would be comparable to plane take offs and elevator rides. “Although Hyperloop will be fast, the systems we are building will accelerate with the same tolerable G forces as that of taking off in a Boeing 747,” the company said. In effect, the acceleration will be done progressively rather than all at once, giving passengers the chance to get used to the speed.

Also, the blueprint provided so far, especially Musk’s Hyperloop Alpha, would be capable of transporting 3,360 passengers each hour. That is significantly low compared to a 3-minutes subway headway that could carry 36,000 people per hour. The California High-Speed Rail, in that same time, would have a 12,000 people capacity. Even at that cost, it would seem like the Hyperloop would do the opposite of getting people to their destinations faster.

Is it Feasible?

There is a genuine chance that the Hyperloop is very far from becoming commercialized. So far, tests have produced only 284mph in speed, far short of the 700mph expected to create the super fast travel option. That record was set with a pod the size of a child; a larger vehicle would no doubt cause considerable drag, delaying the travel by several minutes to hours.

Meanwhile, Virgin Hyperloop One produced a top speed of 240mph in a test facility. This occurred on a 500 metre stretch on the Nevada desert in 2017.

Work in Progress

The Hyperloop still remains a concept on paper. However, there are a number of companies and institutions trialing the concept in order to make it a reality. Different routes are being tested in a bid to provide feasibility studies in time for a proper rollout around the world.

San Francisco to Los Angeles

Elon Musk has proposed the creation of a Hyperloop train concept to link Los Angeles to San Francisco. In contrast to the California High-Speed Rail, the Hyperloop could save passengers big; driving that 350 mile stretch would require up to 2 hours of travel time, it has been suggested. The Hyperloop would cut that down to a mere 35 minutes, costing only $20 in the process. The proposed design would cost between $6 billion and $7.5 billion, depending on whether it involves cargo transport or not. Tubes will leave every 30 seconds, carrying 28 passengers during each journey. Before that becomes reality, though, a $100 million budget has been approved for a 5-mile test.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT)

In 2018, HTT unveiled a model passenger capsule. Stretching some 105-feet, the capsule was made from a carbon fibre material, the safest material on earth, according to the CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. The double-line carbon fibre capsule is lined with sensors to monitor integrity and sense impact. While it intends to operationalize its capsules in 2019, it has been working on a number of potential routes around the world.

For example, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is planning to connect Chicago to Cleveland using Hyperloop pods, and also have another loop connecting Washington and New York City.

In India, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is also working with the government of Andhra Pradesh to construct a loop linking Amaravati and Vijaywada. This would reduce the one hour travel time to a mere 6 minutes once the construction is completed. HTT is also working on another loop that will cut the 5 hr bus ride between Chennai and Bengaluru to only 30 minutes.

Virgin Hyperloop One

Virgin Hyperloop One is looking to cut down the 180 minute travel time between Mumbai and Pune to 20 minutes with the construction of a loop between the two cities. An equally ambitious project is also brewing in Scandinavia. Hyperloop One again is seeking to bridge the gap between Helsinki and Stockholm. If it becomes successful, the loop will cut down travel time to 30 minutes by burrowing through the Baltic Sea. Driving (which includes using a ferry at some point because of the sea) takes upwards of 10 hours at least, while flying could cut down the distance considerably to just about an hour on a good day.

In the Emirates, Virgin Hyperloop One has an ambitious project to cut down the one-hour train journey between Dubai and Abu Dhabi to just 12 minutes.

Open Source

Elon Musk has opened his ideas up to the public in a bid to hasten the commercialization of the Hyperloop concept. Towards this end, his company, SpaceX, organises the Hyperloop Pod Competition to allow academics and engineers to test their own versions of the system on-site in Hawthorne, California.

In 2018, students from Technical University of Munich set a new speed record with their Warr Hyperloop. Their pod notched 284mph during the competition, beating hundreds of other students and engineers from around the world. This was the third time in a row they were setting a speed record in the 0.7 mile distance.

Conclusion

In 2013 when Elon Musk came up with his research paper, the Hyperloop Alpha appeared very daunting and overambitious. It promised too much as an alternative to the Carlifonia High-Speed Rail. With SpaceX, Virgin’s Hyperloop One, and Hyperloop TT, though, it seems the Hyperloop might actually come to fruition one day. If successful, this would have important implications on the railway sector, especially on future deployment of bullet trains. With a cleaner and cheaper Hyperloop, we might be able to catch up to the global warming phenomenon just in time. Maybe.