2024 Olympics: Spotlight on Urbanloop, the public transport revolution

© via Youtube

The name evokes Hyperloop, but make no mistake: with this project, there is no system of giant tubes kept under vacuum. No excess, and that is probably the (possible) key to its success. The Urbanloop aims to simplify suburban transport with a solution halfway between individual transport and public transport on rails.

All while consuming much less energy for these short journeys. Its operation is based on rail and an ultra-low-consumption electric motor that can propel individual capsules over distances of several kilometers, directly from a stop at a at the desired stop, without intermediate stops or stages.

Is Urbanloop the mode of transport of the future ?

But unlike the Hyperloop, the Urbanloop developed by researchers at the University of Nancy already has a first two-kilometer line in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines area. A line with relatively limited transport ambitions: some 5,000 people per day to reach an Olympic fan zone.

But in an entirely new way that could encourage more people to leave their cars behind. Especially since it is very economical: barely 1 euro cent per passenger per kilometer. Financed by the Île-de-France region, the operational part of the line was entrusted to Keolis. However, the latter has a temporary operating authorization of 17 months.

Beyond that, it's the big unknown. The project was born in Lorraine universities in 2017, before leading to a company based in Nancy since 2021 and then in Lyon. The line remains for the moment a simple demonstrator, which aims to test wooden rails and stations – with a 100% removable installation. However, other permanent projects could follow.

Because in addition to its low operating costs, Urbanloop has other advantages that may interest communities. It does not replace existing transport but functions as an alternative allowing the network to be densified at a lower cost, especially on the outskirts of cities. Nancy will be the first city to try the experiment in two years with a 7 km line in intermodality with the existing network of the metropolis.

Subscribe to Presse-citron

• The Olympics are still the opportunity to demonstrate to the world new technologies that can transform the daily lives of citizens around the world.
• The Urbanloop is one of them: it promises for the first time a transport solution halfway between public transport and the car, all autonomous and on rail.
• The system is also ultra economical – a first line is in service in Saint-Quantin-en-Yvelines, before the installation of a permanent 7 km line in the Nancy metropolitan area within two years.
• A project made in France that already seems to be ahead of the hyperloop on the issue of passenger transport in capsules in this rather astonishing form.

📍 To not miss any Presse-citron news, follow us on Google News and WhatsApp.

[ ]