Hyperloop : Future of Ultra Speed Transport System

Since the very beginning of civilization, people have been discovering and inventing new ways of transportation that brings our colossal world closer. The evolution of transportation, just like the evolution of humankind, has gone through trials and tribulations as it has evolved through time.

During the stone age of antiquity, we walked and ran upon the solid earth and swam and floated in dugout canoes upon the liquid rivers or seas. By 3500 BC, we began using wheeled carts and river boats. By 3100 BC, we tamed horses to assist our way. By 2000 BC, we built chariots. By 600 BC, we built wagons. By 312 BC, we built miles of paved roads. During the 13th century, by the late 1200s, we invented sky-flying rockets. During the 15th century, by the later 1400s, we built advanced sailing ships to cross entire oceans. During the 16th century, we began using horse-powered rails of wood and stone. By 1662, we invented the horse-drawn bus. By 1672, we built the first steam-powered car. By 1769, we experimented with the steam-driven artillery tractor. By 1760, we used iron rails. By 1784, we built a steam carriage.

During the 19th century, by 1801, we ran steam road locomotives. By 1803, we ran commercial steam carriages and steamboats. By 1804, we built steam-powered railway locomotives and amphibious vehicles. By 1807, we used hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines in boats and road vehicles. By 1816, we invented bicycles. By 1820, we used steam locomotives on rails. By 1821, we used steam-powered monorails. By 1825, we began using steam-powered passenger carriages. By 1838, we built the first transatlantic steamship. By 1852, we invented the elevator. By 1853, we built aircraft gliders. By 1862, we made gasoline engine automobiles. By 1867, we began using motorcycles. By 1880, we built electric elevators. By 1896, we built electric escalators. By 1897, we had the steam turbine and electric bicycle.

During the 20th century, by 1900, we built airships. By 1903, we flew motor-driven airplanes and sailed in diesel engine canal boats. By 1908, we drove gas engine automobiles. By 1911, we launched diesel engine driven ships. By 1912, we launched liquid-fueled rockets. By 1939, we built jet engine-powered aircrafts. By 1955, we had nuclear-powered submarines. By 1957, we launched a man made satellite into orbit — Sputnik 1, built container ships and flew commercial Boeing 707s. By 1961, we launched the first manned space mission orbiting the Earth. By 1969, we flew Boeing 747 wide body airliners and made the first manned moon landing — Apollo 11. By 1971, we launched the first space station. By 1976, we flew the supersonic concord passenger jet. By 1981, we flew the Space Shuttle. By 1994, the channel tunnel opened.

While various methods of transportation continued to evolve and get better, faster and more robust to meet the demands of today’s fast world, railways have always lagged behind in innovation and stalled in introducing revolutionary design changes. It’s time that now railways also get a much needed upgrade. Elon Musk has started building a revolutionary new transport system dubbed Hyperloop. It will allow you to travel from Bangalore to Chennai in mere 30 minutes. Musk has likened it to a vaccum tube system in hospitals used to move medications from place to place. With the introduction of Hyperloop, humanity is destined to change the very way we use this traditional method of moving on rails.

Curious? Here’s everything you need to know about this futuristic train coming straight out of a science fiction.

First of all, What exactly is a Hyperloop?

Hyperloop is essentially a train system that Musk calls “a cross between a Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table”. It’s based on the very high-speed transit (VHST) system proposed in 1972, which combines a magnetic levitation train and a low pressure transit tube. It evolves some of the original ideas of VHST, but it still uses tunnels and pods or capsules to move from place to place.

So, how fast it can go?

Hyperloop is being proposed as an alternative to short distance air travel, where the system will be much faster than existing rail networks and much cleaner that flight. Hyperloop isn’t about going as fast as possible, because you’ll have to deal with high G forces when it came to turns, which isn’t ideal for passenger travel. Speeds of over 700mph are suggested for journeys.

But there are practical implications that have to be considered on a short stop-start journey, such as the acceleration and deceleration sensation that passengers would go through.

How does Hyperloop reach these Mind Boggling Speeds?

Air Bearings or Maglev : One of the biggest problems with anything moving is friction, both against surfaces and the environment the pod is moving through. Hyperloop proposes to move away from traditional wheels by using air bearings for pods instead. This will have the pod floating on air. It’s similar to maglev, in which the electromagnetic levitation of the train means there is no friction like a traditional train that runs on tracks.

This is how current maglev trains can achieve super speeds, like the 500km/h maglev train in Japan. One Hyperloop proposal, from Virgin Hyperloop One, uses passive magnetic levitation, meaning the magnets are on the trains and work with aluminium track. Current active maglev needs powered tracks with copper coiling, which can be expensive.

Low pressure : The Hyperloop will be built in tunnels that have had some of the air sucked out to lower the pressure. So, like high-altitude flying, there’s less resistance against the pod moving through the tunnel, meaning it can be much more energy efficient, which is desirable in any transit system.

The original VHST proposed using a vacuum, but there’s an inherent difficulty in creating and maintaining a vacuum in a tunnel that will have things like stations, and any break in the vacuum could potentially render the entire system useless. For Hyperloop, the idea is to lower the air pressure, a job that could be done by regularly placed air pumps. Low pressure, however, means you still have some air in the tunnels.

The air bearing and passive maglev ideas are designed not only to levitate the pod, but also see the pod moving through the air, rather than pushing the air infront of it and dragging it along behind. The air cushion will see the air pumped from the front of the pod to the rear via these suspension cushions. The tunnels envisioned are metal tubes, elevated as an overground system.

What will it feel and sound like?

Virgin Hyperloop One said it will feel like you’re riding in an elevator or a passenger plane. There will be tolerable G forces, as you will be accelerating and decelerating gradually, but there will be no turbulence. In terms of sound, people on the outside will only hear a “big whoosh”. The tubes are constructed out of thick, strong steel and can handle 100 Pa of pressure or more.

Do we really need it?

Conventional means of transportation (road, water, air, and rail) tend to be some mix of expensive, slow, and environmentally harmful. Road travel is particularly problematic, given carbon emissions and the fluctuating price of oil. As the environmental dangers of energy consumption continue to worsen, mass transit will be crucial in the years to come.

Rail travel is relatively energy efficient and offers the most environmentally friendly option, but is too slow and expensive to be massively adopted. At distances less than 900 miles, supersonic travel is unfeasible, as most of the journey would be spent ascending and descending (the slowest parts of a flight.) Given these issues, the Hyperloop aims to make a cost-effective, high speed transportation system for use at moderate distances. As an example of the right type of distance, Musk uses the route from San Francisco to L.A. (a route the high-speed rail system will also cover). The Hyperloop tubes would have solar panels installed on the roof, allowing for a clean and self-powering system.

So, is it perfect?

There are of course drawbacks. Most notably, moving through a tube at such high speeds precludes large turns or changes in elevation. As a result, the system is optimal for straightforward trips across relatively level terrain.

Realistically, the most important problem in getting any project off the ground is money, doubly so when talking about a public work. Even if one can produce an impressive blueprint, there are still issues of public approval, legislation, regulations, and contractors to worry about. Fortunately, The Hyperloop would be a cost-saving measure, especially when measured against the corpulent rail project currently underway. Musk’s white paper for the Hyperloop estimates the total cost could be kept under six billion dollars. Meanwhile, phase one of the California high-speed rail project is expected to cost at least $68 billion.

Although there isn’t the exact date of when this technology will be available to masses, but several tests have already been successfully conducted with triumphant results and we might be travelling inside these high speed vacuum pods in coming years.