Page 36 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

Schumann, Tilo. Meyer zu Hörste, Michael. Heckmann, Andreas. Lemmer, Karsten.

1. Introduction and current discussion of high-speed mass transport systems

When Elon Musk published his Hyperloop-Alpha paper in 2013 [1], he explicitly referred to
the California High-Speed Rail project, but ironically enclosed the term “high-speed” by
quotation marks. This way he wanted to express his disappointment on the intended speed
level, which is 350 km/h at most or 264 km/h on average between San Francisco and Los
Angeles.

He even finally concluded: “How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL, doing
incredible things like indexing all the world’s knowledge and putting rovers on Mars, would
build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in
the world?” With this background, the spectacular solution Mr. Musk is envisioning, is targeted
to run at a maximum of 1220 km/h and is supposed to operate in sealed partial-vacuum tubes
in order to substantially reduce the aerodynamic drag.

Surprisingly the discussion of the Hyperloop concept does not comment at all on the actual
technology leader in terms of speed which is the MAGLEV system that initially was targeted
on 500 km/h operational speed not being the end point of its technical potential [2], [3].

A lesson to be learned from the MAGLEV experiences is about the application of a customized
track system elevated and supported by pylons that the Hyperloop-Alpha paper assumes to be
a major item to save money compared to conventional rail track systems.

However, the incompatibility to existing rail infrastructure either requires to purchase premises
for stations where they are in particular expensive if available at all, i.e. in downtown areas,
or to accept access times similar to planes which in turn compromises optional travel time
gains by higher running velocities.
In order to point out the significance of this drawback, opponents here may refer to the fact
that several prominent plans to install long-distance MAGLEV lines have been abandoned in
favor of wheel-rail technology in the past [4], although the MAGLEV technology has proven its
technical maturity since the 1980’s. Examples are the connections from Beijing to Shanghai
or from Hamburg to Berlin.

The potential counterexample is Chuo Shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya that, by the current
state of knowledge, will be the first long-distance MAGLEV line and open in 2027 [3], [5].
However even there, the approval of the Japanese government to construct this new line
was given under the condition, “it could be rebuilt to a conventional high-speed line later, if
necessary” [6].

There is no doubt, the existing rail infrastructure, its pure construction value on a global
economic scale, its availability in urban centers, defines the competitive edge of the
traditional wheel-rail technology.

However in view of the challenges posed by the mobility megatrend very high speed is
nevertheless an issue for the steel-on-steel technology.

In fact, the pure technical feasibility of classical trains is not limited to today’s maximums
speeds of to say 350 km/h. The TGV world record of 2007, when 574.8 km/h maximum
speed were reached, is surely the outstanding example to substantiate this statement. But
actually it is only the leading one in a series of records of experimental or commercial train
lay-outs since 1980, in which competing suppliers and operators showcase their capabilities,
see Figure 1.

34 360.revista de alta velocidad