Twenty short minutes. This is the time it will take, according to hyperloop supporters, to connect Paris to London if capsules circulating in vacuum tubes reached nearly 1,000 km/h. Enough to make the Eurostar look like a regional train! This somewhat crazy promise is being tested far from the big capitals, in Veendam, a small industrial town in the north of the Netherlands. This is where the EU opened the European Hyperloop Center in 2024, with a test tube of around 400 meters.
Clear distances at 1,000 km/h
The concept, popularized in 2013 by Elon Musk, is based on capsules propelled in quasi-vacuum tubes. By drastically reducing air resistance – which represents up to 85% of energy consumption in conventional transport – the promoters believe it is possible to achieve speeds worthy of an airplane… on the ground.
In Veendam, the capsules do not ride on rails. They levitate using magnets, according to a principle similar to maglev trains. “ It’s closer to flight than traditional rail », explains the director of the center, Kees Mark, at Telegraph. Fewer mechanical parts, therefore less wear, at least in theory.
Last December, engineers reached an important milestone: a lane change “without moving parts”, carried out at 88 km/h. Concretely, it is enough to adjust the power supply of the guide magnets to bifurcate the capsule. A necessary step if the hyperloop wants to become something other than a simple connection from point A to point B.
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The project has already experienced turbulence. In the United States, Virgin Hyperloop, which carried out the first test with passengers in Nevada, closed in 2023, a victim of skyrocketing costs. Many saw it as the premature end of a dream. In Europe, the approach is intended to be more progressive. The Dutch company Hardt, resulting from an engineering competition launched by Elon Musk, is leading part of the work.
Maintaining a stable vacuum in long tubes, sensitive to leaks and temperature variations, is another headache. China claims to have made progress in this area and already has a test track of around 2 kilometers in Shanxi province. In December, researchers propelled a levitating vehicle from 0 to 700 km/h in two seconds.
There remains the most down-to-earth question: money. Building a complete line capable of demonstrating the commercial viability of the system requires considerable investment. “ Funding is at least as important as technology », recognizes Tim Houter. Without large-scale infrastructure, it is difficult to demonstrate the security and profitability of the model.
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