news hardware Heralded in France and around the world as the transport of the future, where is Elon Musk’s Hyperloop?
Conceived in 1889 by Jules Verne and theorized by Elon Musk in the summer of 2012, the project for a very, very fast train (around 1500 km/h), better known as the Hyperloop, ultimately did not see the day with us, despite several projects in development.
The Hyperloop, an ultra-fast transport project that mobilizes the whole earth
In 2013, a few months after the release of his first production electric Tesla, the Model S, Elon Musk announced with great fanfare the launch of a reflection on a future mode of transportation.which opened the field for the development of a magnetic levitation train in a vacuum cylinder‘, the Hyperloop (or Hyperl∞p) project was born.
And if he never created a company directly involved in the project, the quirky Elon Musk multiplied announcements and positions through his company SpaceX, known for sending rockets into space, or even The Boring Company, his company specializing in construction of tunnels, to whom we have this somewhat crazy project of traffic-calmed tunnels in Las Vegas and Los Angeles to thank.
For the record, this company was started when Elon Musk was in a bind and it was driving him crazy…
The traffic drives me crazy. Will build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2016
If at the moment this project has only a local goal in the USA, that of the Hyperloop should really revolutionize transport on a national and international level, so much so that dozens of companies have sprung up after the announcements of ‘Elon Musk, like Hyperloop One ( supported by Virgin and its billionaire Richard Branson), Hyperloop TT (born from crowdfunding), WARR Hyperloop (a university project) or also Hardt and above all TransPod, a Canadian company with big ambitions for France.
Elon Musk admits the project was actually just a decoy
It must be said that the concept of the Hyperloop has something to seduce, Thanks to the electromagnetic drive, the capsules then move under vacuum in tubes at a breathtaking speed of 1500 km/h and relegate our good old TGV to the rank of a steam locomotive.
And if everyone thinks about the question, it means that the project is really viable. Elon Musk even runs regular trials and competitions through his company, SpaceX, to see how it all pans out, but without getting personally involved in the development.
France, considered one of the pioneers (after Japan) of high-speed trains, was quickly selected as one of the first countries to also conduct testsa future Hyperloop line that can connect Paris to Marseille in just 40 minutes compared to 3h25 with the TGV.
Among the other lines mentioned, one was to be connected Toulouse to Montpellier in 20 minutes, Lyon to Saint Etienne in 10 minutes orfrom St. Charles train station in Marseille to the airport in just 72 seconds.
Unfortunately, all ongoing projects seem to be at a standstill, According to Hyperloop One, it now focuses exclusively on freight transport, Hyperloop TT has given up building its new, one-kilometer test track and has to be content with the current 320 meters. As with TransPod, all projects in southern France are also ultimately at a standstill when tests are still running on a small track near Limoges.
It must be said that the Recent comments from Elon Musk, who confessed that he never intended to build the Hyperloop, just wanted to slow down the construction of a public TGV line in Californiacoupled with the Covid and lack of significant progress, have given potential investors the chills…
After all, Jules Vernes, aiming for the horizon 2889 in his story The Day of an American Journalist in 2889, was perhaps not so far from the truth after all…
