A Reality Check on Maglev Technology for the Hyperloop Transportation System: Status Update After a Decade of Development

Abstract

Ten years ago, the concept of the hyperloop vacuum train promised to revolutionize transportation by offering a fast, inexpensive, and eco-friendly alternative to traditional modes of travel. The key components of the hyperloop are a vacuum tube, magnetic levitation, and linear electric propulsion technology, which is envisaged to achieve surface velocities approaching the speed of sound. This paper presents the functionalities of an ideal hyperloop transportation system (HTS) with a low-cost track and a lightweight hyperloop capsule. We show how this ideal system is indeed difficult to achieve in reality. Despite the potential benefits, hyperloop technology still lacks experimental evidence at subsonic speeds to reach a higher level of technological readiness. Taking one step back, hyperloop has lessons to learn from the maglev research and experiments in the 1970s. In fact, there are many unresolved challenges associated with maglev technologies, even at moderate speeds, which need to be recognized before reaching the whole way into the subsonic speed domain. This paper will provide a status update after ten years of hyperloop research and development.