VENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — A 420-meter (quarter-mile) white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the windswept north of the Netherlands could usher in a new era in transporting people and goods.
The tube is the heart of a new European Hyperloop hub that will open on Tuesday and will serve as a proving ground in the coming years for developers of cutting-edge technology.
Hyperloop once Cheered on by Elon Musk, involves capsules floating on magnetic fields that travel at speeds of up to 700 kilometers per hour (435 miles per hour) through low-pressure tubes. Proponents tout it as far more efficient than short flights, high-speed rail and freight trucks.
But since Musk unveiled the concept that he said could carry passengers roughly 400 miles (645 kilometers) between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes, it has progressed at a much slower pace from the drawing board to the real world.
“I expect that by 2030 you will have the first hyperloop route, maybe five kilometers (three miles) where people will actually be transporting passengers,” said Sascha Lamy, the center’s director. “In fact, there are already preparations underway for such roads in Italy or India for example.”
Not everyone is optimistic about the future of Hyperloop.
“This is just another example of policymakers aiming for a shiny target when essential infrastructure investment is needed,” Robert Noland, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University’s Bluestein School of Planning and Public Policy, said in emailed comments to The Associated Press. .
“It costs a lot to build,” he added.
Lammy said skeptics should come and take a look for themselves.
“We have built the European Hyperloop hub and from what we have built, we know we can compete with high-speed rail,” he said. “And then we haven’t even included all the cost improvements we can do in the next decade to further reduce that.”
The test center tube consists of 34 separate sections, most of which are 2.5 meters (more than eight feet) in diameter. A vacuum pump in a steel container next to the pipe sucks in air to reduce internal pressure. This reduces drag and allows the capsules to travel at high speeds.
A test pod designed by leading Dutch hyperloop company Hardt Hyperloop will next month participate in the first tests at the center, which is funded by private investment as well as contributions from the provincial government, the Dutch national government and the European Commission.
The unique feature of the Veendam tube is that it has a switch, which splits into two separate tubes, which is part of the infrastructure that will be necessary for real-life applications.
“Lane switching is very important for Hyperloop, because it allows vehicles to travel from any source to any destination,” said Marinus van der Meijs, Director of Technology and Engineering at Hardt. “So it creates a network effect where you have sort of a superhighway of tubes and vehicles that can turn on and off or can change course to go to a different part of Europe or to a different destination.”
While testing continues at Veendam, Hyperloop developers hope that destinations for their technology are just around the corner.
“The main challenge really is finding government commitments to build the roads and, on the other hand, finding new funding to set up the necessary testing facility and demonstrate the technology you need to do to make that happen,” Lammy said.
