Veendam, Netherlands Hyperloop, a new form of public transport in which pods use magnetic fields to move quickly through depressurised tubes, has been successfully tested in the northern Netherlands, a company developing the technology said on Monday.
A test vehicle levitates and travels through a tube at a testing facility for a high-speed transportation system once promoted by Elon Musk.
“Today, with the successful first test, we were able to levitate the vehicle and start the navigation and propulsion systems,” Marinus van der Meijs, director of technology and engineering at Hyperloop company Hardt, told The Associated Press late last week before the official announcement on Monday.
The 420-meter (460-yard) tube at the European Hyperloop Center is made up of 34 separate sections, most of which are 2.5 meters (more than 8 feet) in diameter. A vacuum pump draws out the air to lower the pressure inside. This reduces drag and enables the capsule to travel at high speeds.
Hyperloop developers aim to have capsules travel through tubes at speeds of up to 700 km/h (435 mph). Backers say the technology is far more efficient than short-haul flights, high-speed rail and freight trucks but would require major infrastructure investments.
So far, the pace has been slow due to limited space available at testing centers.
Once the capsule is in place in the tube, Van der Meijs added, “We launch it with subway-like acceleration, up to a maximum speed of about 30 km/h (18 mph), and it travels about 100 meters (more than 300 feet) in the tube.”
Even so, this is a milestone that needs to be treated with caution.
“The hardest thing we are doing now is testing all these functions together. Levitation, propulsion, navigation, all these functions we are now able to perform like an orchestra, to have them work together,” said Roel van de Pas, commercial director of Hardt Hyperloop.
Musk first proposed the idea more than a decade ago, arguing it could transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco, a distance of nearly 400 miles (645 kilometers), in 30 minutes. Since then, teams around the world have been working to bring the idea to life.
“To build Hyperloop as a mobility system, we are facing a very complex puzzle that requires technology, policy, public-private partnerships, and this is what is needed most,” said Van de Pas. “At Hardt, we are ready to start passenger operations by 2030.”
Some analysts are skeptical. When the Hyperloop test facility opened in March, Robert Noland, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University’s Blaustein School of Planning and Public Policy, told The Associated Press that building the necessary infrastructure would be too expensive, calling it “yet another example of policymakers chasing shiny objects.”
In 2016, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, signed an agreement with Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One to study the possibility of building a hyperloop line between the city-state and the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
The deal was announced atop the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, with the panoramic view of the future city-state’s skyline serving as both a backdrop and a symbol of Dubai’s eagerness to lead the charge into the future.
But like many of Singapore’s splashy announcements, the Hyperloop plan faded into obscurity in recent years, with no track built. Hyperloop One shut down in December.
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