Hyperloop is an invention that many think will play a big part in the unfolding story of the tech industry’s attempt to revolutionise transport. Although its capability has largely been theoretical for the last few years, Virgin has made what it believes is a big step forward after trailing its first ever hyperloop journey with passengers, according to a BBC report. The only drawback, though, is this: it’s not actually that fast. It’s not even as fast as a high speed train.
With the speed reaching 107mph in the desert of Nevada, it’s fair to say that hyperloop is still a long way off the industry’s ambition of creating something that could move people around at speeds of more than 600 mph.
What is hyperloop?
Hyperloop is an invention of billionaire and lord of the tech bros Elon Musk. In an interview, Musk described it as a “cross between a Concorde, and a railgun, and an air hockey table.”
Invention is an important word here because, as Virgin’s test run demonstrates, it hasn’t yet been shown to work in the way it is supposed to – being fast and safe at scale.
The idea is that capsules (essentially a futuristic train carriage) can be fired from one location to another in a vacuum tube. The low air pressure means the capsules can move from one place to another at remarkable speeds which far exceed what is possible with traditional modes of transportation.
Musk doesn’t deserve credit as the originator of the idea. The notion of a ‘vactrain’ actually has a long history dating back to the eighteenth century, starting with engineer and inventor George Medhurst. And, moreover, the idea also has a contemporary rival in the form of maglev (magnetic levitation) technology. Although initial experiments with the hyperloop used maglev, in Japan it is being experimented with in a more familiar railway setting. Interestingly, maglev tests have so far proved more successful than hyperloop ones – in 2015 in Japan, a maglev train hit 374mph, compared to the bullet train’s speed of 200mph.
Virgin’s hyperloop venture
The hyperloop race comprises a number of companies. The test run in the Nevada desert was by Virgin Hyperloop, which is the result of a ‘strategic partnership’ between Hyperloop One and the Virgin Group, which began in October 2017. The company was called Virgin Hyperloop One until it rebranded in June 2020. Other companies include Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (believed to be the very first Hyperloop company, starting in 2013), Arrivo, Zeleros (a Spanish outfit), and Hyper Poland.
With this milestone Virgin Hyperloop appears to be out in front when it comes to the race. However, it looks highly unlikely that the company will fulfil their ambition to have a functional hyperloop system up and running by 2021, as stated in this report from 2017.
Indeed, it’s important to note that any initiative of this nature will come up against serious infrastructure challenges. That’s one of the reasons maglev will likely become a reality first: it’s possible (although admittedly a massive challenge) to run maglev alongside existing rail infrastructure.
Infrastructure challenges
The desert in Nevada is one thing: lines across California or Europe is another thing completely. It would require not only serious capital investment, but the level of planning and oversight to construct the necessary infrastructure would be complex literally and politically.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped big tech in the past. Over the last decade Silicon Valley has become increasingly confident at getting what they want from public institutions.
Sarah Luchian, Director of Customer Experience at Virgin Hyperloop, said to the BBC on this issue that “we can keep building today’s or yesterday’s transport systems and keep encountering the same problems they bring or we can really look to build something that solves those problems.”
Of course, the problems of existing infrastructure aren’t technical – they’re financial. Why spending billions of dollars on an unproven mode of transport would be a solution is unclear.