Traveling as fast as a bullet, indeed: aboard a bullet. Magnetic levitation and fired at 1,200 kilometers per hour inside a vacuum tube. Science fiction? So it was told to Elon Musk, when the South African entrepreneur speculated about Hyperloop technology in 2014 by taking cue from Maglev trains traveling to China and Japan. Technically possible but insane. Since in command of Virgin Hyperloop Jay Walder has arrived, the land transport of tomorrow has set foot in today. And he also did it through an important Italian contribution.
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«Speed of course, but also safety and low ecological impact: we have shown that Hyperloop is not a movie or a novel“. The CEO chosen by Richard Branson, another visionary entrepreneur, to take on the challenge of the future of freight and people transport is a veteran. Jay Walder over the years he has directed city public transport companies from New York to Hong Kong via London. Last November, a stone’s throw from Las Vegas, he kicked off the first test of a Hyperloop capsule with passengers on board: 500 meters traveled at “only” 400 km / h (due to the shortness of the journey). “We demonstrated not only that it is possible but that it is also safe, central theme when you talk about mass transport ». Walder explains to the Courier service what will happen now: «We will continue testing with passengers in a new dedicated area in West Virginia. It will be an intense job, of years, and will provide us with the feedback to be operational on American territory by the end of the decade».
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Suspended wagons, but the feet are on the ground. Some routes are ready, at least on paper. From Chicago to Pittsburgh, for example: 742 kilometers in 30 minutes against two hours by plane. The optimism is then reinforced by last summer’s Department of Transportation document that includes the Hyperloop project among the transportation technologies on which the America of tomorrow will move. The US is not the only medium-term prospect. The project has raised hundreds of millions of euros all over the world: Hyperloop sections are being designed in India, in the United Arab Emirates engineers are working to connect Abu Dhabi to Dubai in 12 minutes. “I also see important developments in Europe, we are working closely with the heads of transport of the European Commission”, explains the 58-year-old manager. «The EU plan to reduce polluting emissions by 2030 must pass from radical changes in the transport system».
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-kIiF-U3240973582182CHI-140x180@Corriere-Web-Sezioni.JPG?w=900&ssl=1 "Paolo Barletta")
Who is sure of the European future of the new technology is Paolo Barletta, an Italian investor (that of the uFirst skip-code app and of the Chiara Ferragni brand) who Alchemy he is the only partner in the Continent of Virgin Hyperloop. “The project is so complex that it needs the best technological partners,” explains the 34-year-old Roman businessman. Between these even large Italian groups. “Leonardo is working on the engineering of the capsules, and we want to build the first sections in Italy together with Ferrovie”. Excellent skills are needed, but also a lot of money: it has been calculated that to build a kilometer of Hyperloop infrastructure it takes around 60 million euros. But it will arrive in Italy, and ours will be among the first countries in the world. «Here we will start, and I’m talking about 2030 or so, with short routes: Milan-Malpensa and Rome-Fiumicino to be covered in less than 2 minutes. Then the project is to build a large metro in the North, a system of pipes that goes from Turin to Venice with intermediate stops ». Finally, the Italian link par excellence, Milan-Rome. We are certainly not talking about tomorrow, but the suggestion is strong. “When fully operational it will take less than 30 minutes», Concludes Barletta. “With costs for the passenger in the middle between 70 euros for the train and 140 euros for the plane.”
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February 10, 2021 (change February 10, 2021 | 22:57)
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