China has just completed the first tests with its Hyperloop, a new form of ground transport that could potentially see passengers traveling at over 700 mph (1100 km/h) in floating pod which races along inside giant low-pressure tubes, either above or below ground. The tests were completed with a full-size passenger vehicle.
The achievement was reported by the South China Morning Post, which said that China has just completed three tests on a special superconducting magnetic levitation line set up in Datong, in Shanxi province. The tests were carried out on a circuit measuring about two kilometers long, far from the 60 kilometers that those responsible for the project have set as a goal for the next few years.
During the test, the capsule reached speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour and covered a distance of 210 meters. There is still work ahead to achieve the ambitious goal set by those in charge: to reach 1,000 km/h once the complete 60 km test circuit is available. The ultimate aspiration is that the Hyperloop will be able to transport passengers or goods at that speed or even faster, which would make it the fastest ground transportation technology in the world.
The test facilities were built and operated by CASIC, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, a state-owned company based in Beijing. During the tests, it was found that the most sensitive components, such as the superconducting magnet, performed as expected. The result facilitates further experimentation at higher speeds thanks to vacuum tubes and magnetic levitation (maglev).
Beyond the success of the tests, the interesting thing about the Chinese breakthrough is that it shows how, despite having arrived late in the development of Hyperloop technology, it has already achieved results in a relatively short period of time. CASIC began setting up its Datong test facility just under a year ago, in April 2022, and has already managed to complete its first tests. What’s more, it conducted a first test with a scaled-down capsule prototype in October.
China operates the largest high-speed rail network on the planet, exceeding 40,000 kilometers, and it has already built a prototype magnetic levitation train and a test line in Qingdao. In mid-2022 it also faced its final adjustments, prior to the testing phase on an 800-meter-long track, Xingguo, a railroad that combines maglev and suspension train technology.
China is not alone in its commitment to the Hyperloop. The revolutionary idea has also attracted the attention of billionaire Richard Branson. Virgin Hyperloop carried out in 2020 the first test of passenger transport in capsules on a 500-meter stretch that was covered in 15 seconds, reaching a mark of about 172 kilometers per hour.
The concept has also been promoted by Elon Musk, who has been working on for more than a decade with The Boring Company. The idea of Hyperloop came as a reaction to the approval of California’s high-speed rail. It was a high-cost, low-speed ordinary train compared to the rest of the world’s trains.
Musk openly shared in his official communication of Hyperloop’s launch in 2013 that the underlying motive for a statewide mass transit system is a good motive and the alternative to flying or driving needed but only if it is better than flying or driving. Compared to the alternatives, it’s about what it should ideally be:
- Safer
- Faster
- Lower cost
- More convenient
- Immune to weather
- Sustainably self-powering
- Resistant to Earthquakes
- Not disruptive to those along the route
Musk’s idea was to make a journey of more than 600 kilometers (approximately 6 hours by car) in just 35 minutes. Not only did he envision this initiative to be the fastest but also the least expensive. The estimated cost was $6 billion for a route between San Francisco and Los Angeles, which certainly improves on the cost of the first phase of California’s high-speed rail ($68 billion).
Supporters argue that Hyperloop could be cheaper and faster than train or car travel, and cheaper and less polluting than air travel. Hyperloop, they say, could be used to take the pressure off roads, making travel between cities easier.
