Hyperloop: will the new maglev train arrive in Italy?

In a few years in Italy, a train could be headed towards the future. This is the Hyperloop, the magnetic levitation train capable of whizzing at more than 1200 km/h inside a depressurized tube. The announcement comes from Gabriele ‘Bibop’ Gresta, founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, the startup created to carry out the project launched in 2013 by Elon Musk. “By the end of 2019 – Gresta declared – together with the interested Regions we plan to announce two projects of feasibility for our transport system in Italy ”. Rumors would speak of two sections, about 150 km long but it is not known which cities would be connected. What is known is that if the project were to take place, it would be able to revolutionize rail transport – even if magnetic – of our country.

Test basins. The Hyperloop system was conceived in 2012 as an open-source project that anyone could draw on to develop their own system. Since then, several companies have worked on various initiatives and today there are three sections in the world built to carry out tests. Two in the United States, that of the Virgin Hyperloop One north of Las Vegas and that of the SpaceX of Musk, built around the headquarters of the aerospace company of the famous magnate, and one in Europe, in France, of the Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. All the tubes built so far are short experimental sections that do not yet have any commercial purpose: a real treat open to the public is still only on paper and in the minds of some visionaries.

Tubes? The key word is the reduction of friction. To travel at supersonic speeds the only solution is to eliminate the air from the equation. For this reason the operation of the Hyperloop involves the elimination of the rails in favor of pipes, from which the air would be extracted: in the pneumatic vacuum the only source of friction left would be that of the wheels with the rails, for this the Hyperloop also gets rid of the wheels for its operation and moves thanks to magnetic levitation. Hovering a few centimeters from the ground, the bullet train is able to travel long distances in a very short time.

The train of the future? Maybe not. The Hyperloop has enormous potential, the ability to replace planes in short and continental sections, even shortening the travel time and reducing the environmental impact – the system would be entirely electric – compared to airplanes that alone contribute to a large part of the emissions of CO2. Indeed, according to Gresta, the system would produce more energy than it consumes because it is powered by photovoltaic panels, wind, and geothermal energy systems and would be able to recover the kinetic energy dissipated during braking.

A dream vehicle, therefore, but the uncertainties are still many, maybe too many. Several critical voices have moved against the Hyperloop showing that it is a highly dangerous system. At over 1200 km/h the smallest misalignment of a section of the pipes could lead, at best to strong jolts, at worst to serious accidents. Since the system is also “vacuum”, in the event of electrical faults or unexpected stops, passengers would have no way of evacuating the vehicle. The possibilities and potential are many, as well as the critical issues that must be faced before seeing the system used by the general public.

Meanwhile, Gresta has already signed agreements with Abu Dhabi, the United States, France, China, India and Spain to start feasibility studies and build Hyperloop. Will the train also arrive in Italy?