Hyperloop: hope is reborn in Europe with a new test site

© Hardt via YouTube

Lately the news around the hyperloop has been decreasing: rare are the exploits put forward by the various players in the sector. And no really serious project is yet under development while almost everything remains to be demonstrated around the technology. Ultimately, as some people seem to think, the hyperloop is only a kind of high-speed train, based on restrictive characteristics.

In particular to maintain a rarefied atmosphere in metal tubes potentially several hundred kilometers long. Inside, nothing has been decided regarding the different magnetic levitation technologies. And while Virgin One seemed close to a deal that would have allowed it to build the first real network of its kind in Saudi Arabia, the terrible assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the public position of Richard Branson reduced the project to nothing.

The Dutch firm Hardt will be able to test a switch

However, actors are still actively working on the subject, particularly in Europe and the Netherlands. This is the case for Hardt, which will be able to test its technology in the coming weeks thanks to the inauguration of the largest test site in Europe. The track itself, made up of 34 segments, and a total length of 420 meters, may not seem very impressive at the moment.

It must be said that the project, partly financed by the European Union, was initially supposed to be 2 km long. However, in the coming weeks it is undoubtedly the most interesting part of the project which will open its doors: a Y junction, which will allow testing of different types of switches adapted to these trains . Hardt maintains a very ambitious roadmap. After these first tests, larger tests should be carried out.

Hardt intends to carry out tests with passengers on board from 2030, with a network in sight of 10,000 km of tubes that the firm plans to build in the following decades. By 2030, the test site will be extended to reach a length of 5 km. Enough to connect an airport and a nearby city. It remains to be seen whether Hyperloop technology really has a chance in Europe, a regional area already very well equipped with high-speed train lines that can already reach more than 300 km/h in commercial service.

Tests on a test track show that it is possible to reach even higher speeds on rail, around 600 km/h – a speed ultimately quite close to the 700 km/h targeted by the first Hyperloop. But Europe is only one possible outlet, other countries such as the United States, where conventional rail remains very slow, could be very demanding of this type of technologies.

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• While most startups elsewhere are struggling to develop the hyperloop, the Dutch firm Hardt announces the opening of the most ambitious testing center of its kind in Europe.< /li>
• This track, of currently modest length, should allow the firm's first switch to be tested in situ.
• Larger tests are planned by 2030.

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