CIOInsider India Magazine

Log Angeles to San Francisco is a one-hour flight. Being able to make it in 30 minutes at a cost of $ 20 (Rs.1,486.92) is a bargain. That’s about covering 380 miles (610 km) in less than 45 minutes. But as futuristically fast as it sounds, the deal is quite true with Elon Musk's Hyperloop, a fifth mode of transport remarks the entrepreneurial business magnate. Be it cars, trains, and even airplanes, the Hyperloop outperforms them all. It is a realistic manifestation of typical future world imaginations, sci-fi movies, cartoon, and anime depictions.

The idea certainly rings a bell to many, as it has first emerged during the 17th century with the invention of the world’s first artificial vacuum, but this led to the concept of underground rapid transport systems.

Then came Japan’s Shinkansen train system, city-to-city high-speed trains, dubbed as the fastest modes of transport to this day.

Speaking of rapid transport systems like trains and the Hyperloop may sound alike with their speed and their tube like appearance, but the Hyperloop speaks an entirely different language. Since this superficially fast transport system packs a speed of 750 mph (1,210 kph), which precisely fulfills today’s need for speed.

Design
Musk famously compared the hyperloop to a combination of a Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table. Hyperloop technology is centered on reducing friction and air resistance, which are the two fundamental impediments to quicker transit. The concept expands on the vacuum train concept to create a far more advanced and practical model.

Magnetic levitation was proposed as a way for vacuum trains to travel in vacuum-sealed tubes or tunnels, lowering or even eliminating air resistance and friction. This means that running these trains at high speeds requires extremely less energy. Building and maintaining entire vacuum tubes, on the other hand, is neither practical nor cost-effective.

Instead, Musk suggested a low-pressure system that would be much easier to maintain. To maintain pressure, his design involves placing an electric compressor fan on the pod's snout. This can also aid in the development of a low-friction suspension system utilizing air bearings. The fan is powered by an external linear electric motor. Acceleration is only required to bring the pod to high speeds in the first place and for frequent re-boosts.

In a nutshell, capsules travel at fast speeds through a low-pressure tube. Air cushions are used to raise the capsules, and when combined with the low-pressure system, the result is an arrangement with minimal friction and air resistance, allowing for fast speeds to be maintained without much external acceleration. An external motor is employed when acceleration is required.

Need
Musk stated in his paper that a prospective new transportation system should meet a number of characteristics, including being safer, faster, more cheap, more convenient, weather and disaster-resistant, sustainable, and non-disruptive. To what extent does a realistic model of hyperloop technology satisfy all of these criteria?

Speed
Of course, the most obvious benefit of hyperloop is speed, with Musk's design claiming a peak speed of 1220 kph (760 mph), and later modifications, test models, and forecasts indicating that those speeds are attainable. Setting even a single route along routes with the highest number of passengers will dramatically reduce commuting times for millions of commuters.

Trains vs Hyperloop
To begin, the passenger pods travel through tubes or tunnels that have had most of the air removed to reduce friction. The pods should be able to travel at speeds of up to 750 miles per hour as a result of this.

Secondly, rather than using wheels like a train or automobile, the pods are meant to float on air skis or use magnetic levitation to eliminate friction, similar to an air hockey table.

Convenience
The passenger experience is prioritized in the proposed hyperloop stations. Pods that leave frequently and travel directly to their destination avoid making unnecessary pauses. Hyperloop pods also offer a pleasant ride. To avoid passengers feeling startled, gradual accelerations and decelerations are used.

A unified workforce is becoming more of a reality as the hyperloop paves the path for increasingly interconnected cities. If people chose to, they could commute to work in a new city every day, breaking down economic and geographic boundaries.

Weather and Disaster Resistant
Weather-related delays can be fully avoided as hyperloop tubes provide a contained environment. Earthquake-resistant dampers are installed on the pylons that support the tubes.

Made for the Environment
A hyperloop system that uses an electric propulsion technology emits no carbon dioxide. It's also practically silent, so it would not pollute the environment.

The system is supported by pylons at ground level, and it can be installed underground or across aquatic bodies, as well as along existing railroad tracks. This means that existing infrastructure will be little disrupted. It would also be unnecessary to clear significant areas of agricultural land. The majority of hyperloop companies are also dedicated to making sure that all aspects of the construction process are environmentally sustainable.

Safety
This is the aspect of Hyperloop that has received the most attention. The image that comes to mind when thinking of travelling in a sealed pod travelling at near-supersonic speeds inside a low-pressure sealed tube is the source of most of the hyperloop's fear factor. The procedures for emergency evacuation and the effects of a power outage are frequently questioned.

Musk's firms are not building the Hyperloop technology on their own. Instead, he's formed different industrial collaborations to deploy systems and routes around the world, as well as annual competitions involving international student teams to design and build the greatest high-speed pod, which have been running since 2015.

SpaceX has also sought an open source answer to Musk's Hyperloop goal, encouraging teams of designers and engineers from around the world to submit prototypes of the high-speed transit pods that would one day make a Hyperloop system a reality. In 2015, SpaceX established the annual Hyperloop Pod Competition.

The Delft Hyperloop team of 40 students collaborated to develop a self-propelled pod that will compete against 20 other college teams from across the world on Sunday with prototype test runs on the one-mile-long SpaceX track.