A decade ago, Elon Musco as proposed A new form of transport that would shoot passengers through vacuum tunnels in levitating pods at nearly the speed of sound – they called it a “hyperloop.”
Since then, cities from Abu Dhabi to Zurich have been seen as destinations, research projects have garnered millions of dollars and numerous commercial ventures have emerged – even Richard Branson has been involved.
“There hasn’t been a new way in transportation networks for more than 100 years,” said Rick Geddes, a transportation infrastructure specialist at Cornell University in the United States, who compared the excitement to the early days of aviation.
But no one has come close to making Hyperloop work.
Difficulties range from cost to finding a suitable location, simply convincing people that traveling through a narrow tunnel at a speed faster than a jet plane is a good idea.
Musk’s initial proposal would have been an “ice ride,” transportation blogger Elon Levy wrote at the time.
However, despite all the problems, the idea of the Hyperloop still excites university campuses, corporate board rooms and city halls around the world.
Hide de Bose, a 22-year-old engineering student, first heard about it four years ago.
His university in Delft in the Netherlands excelled in competitions run by Musk’s SpaceX firm, which invited students to develop pods to fire through vacuum tunnels.
musk returns
“It really got me excited to see what the possibilities were,” he said. AFP,
He is now chief engineer of Delft Hyperloop, a non-profit university spin-off.
De Bose said the SpaceX competitions, which were called off in 2019, were too focused on speed and became like “drag races in a tunnel.”
Now, his team is participating in a student-led competition, European Hyperloop Week, which he hopes will refocus on sustainable energy and developing leverage systems.
And Musk recently dealt a blow to the hyperloop fraternity by tweeting that his tunneling firm The Boring Company would “attempt to build a functioning Hyperloop” in the coming years.
The idea was first mentioned in a 2012 media interview before Musk published a white paper about it a year later.
But his direct involvement has been sporadic, and he has always encouraged others to develop the idea.
Los Angeles-based firm Hyperloop TT, one of the first and most enthusiastic firms to run with Musk’s idea, welcomed his return.
The firm’s chief marketing officer Rob Miller told AFP This was “further validation” for the concept.
‘more cautious’
But he insisted that the Hyperloop is now much bigger than just a man.
Keeping his point of view, in recent months, new proposals have come up from local authorities from Italy to India.
However, proposals are one thing, and revolutionizing public transport is another.
In its early years, Hyperloop TT signed exploratory deals in India, China and beyond.
In 2019, the firm promised that a 10-kilometre track would open in the United Arab Emirates next year.
None of these projects have come to fruition.
“We’re a little more cautious now about those kinds of announcements,” Miller said.
Virgin Hyperloop, a firm run by Richard Branson but owned by DP World, which runs Dubai’s ports, has also had to back its promises.
Prestige vs Price
It was the first company to fire humans with the Hyperloop test track in 2020.
Branson took the 45-minute journey between London and Scotland.
But Virgin Hyperloop recently abandoned the idea of moving passengers altogether, laying off half its workforce and is now focusing on potential freight traffic in the United Arab Emirates.
Musk has also promised various Hyperloop projects that failed to materialise.
Virgin Hyperloop and The Boring Company did not respond AFP Comment request.
Critic Alon Levy says Hyperloop is caught between short-distance and long-haul projects with unrealistic prestige that cost too much.
The Abu Dhabi-Dubai route promised by Hyperloop TT is just 130 kilometres, “not even a distance for high-speed rail”, he said.
But starting potential routes like New York to Miami or Chicago would require about $50 billion, Levy believes.
‘bring it to life’
“You don’t get that from private investors,” he said. AFP,
The Levi sees a ray of light – the new designs with longer twists seem to have solved the “snow” problem.
And the enthusiasts still radiate positivity.
“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing and we’ll bring it to life,” Miller said.
But he acknowledged that his firm was “overly optimistic about the timeline”.
He now foresees the first city-by-city track within five years, but would not disclose the location.
Geddes is also optimistic about the future, although he also indicated that past promises were weighing heavily.
“We used to say five to 10 years,” he said. “That was five years ago. It’s probably been five to 10 years now.”