The title of the post may seem futuristic, but high-speed cargo transportation is closer to being realized than you might think. At the beginning of the year, thousands of university students from all over the world gathered at Texas A&M University, in the United States, for a different competition. At stake was who would come up with the best design for a new high-speed land transportation system.
Photo 1 - Cargo capsule model developed by HyperloopTech
Source: Hyperloop Tech Disclosure
Called Hyperloop, this new means of transport promises to take people and loads at average speeds of almost 1.000 km/h, which would allow traveling, in 30 minutes, stretches of 500 km, such as the distance between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, normally traveled by car in about 5 hours. Just as a comparison, the fastest bullet train in operation currently travels in China at “only” 430 km/h, while Japan is already testing another bullet train that will reach “mere” 600 km/h.
But how to reach 1.000 km/h and still be economically viable and not drive people crazy in nearby cities with a noise similar to that of commercial planes? Creator of the new transport, South African businessman Elon Musk, founder of the electric car company Tesla and the aerospace company Space X, believes that this is possible through a system of hermetically sealed tubes that would propel capsules in a low pressure environment. All this, fueled by solar energy, captured by plates throughout the system.
Video 1 – CNN report on the Hyperloop
Source: CNN
Three companies in the United States are already working on prototypes of Hyperloop tracks: Space X of Musk, the Hyperloop Technologies and Hyperloop Transportation. The project already has another important supporter: the current Secretary of Transport of the Barack Obama administration, Anthony Foxx, who has been praising the initiative and may even provide support in the financial part.
In time 1: the MIT team won the competition for the best Hyperloop project, with the right to put it into practice on the prototype track being built by SpaceX.
In time 2: Musk believes that a Hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco (600 km away) could start operating with passengers in 2020, at a cost of approximately BRL 24 billion, or BRL 30 billion if it handles cargo as well.
In time 3: a Hyperloop Transportation Technologies reportedly closed with the Slovakian government to connect the cities of Bratislava, Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary, with no start date yet for the project.
Photo 2 - Hyperloop capsules are moved inside tubes
Source: Hyperloop Tech Disclosure
References:
<http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop>
<http://hyperlooptransp.com/#!/>
Alexandre Lobo
https://ilos.com.brGraduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and in Social Communication from Faculdades Integradas Hélio Alonso (FACHA). Expertise in several projects with emphasis on market analysis for companies such as Unilever, Intertank, Invepar, Aqces, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank.
