A Reality Check on Maglev Technology for the Hyperloop Transportation System: Status Update After a Decade of Development

Ten years ago, the concept of the hyperloop vacuum train promised to revolutionize transportation by offering a fast, inexpensive, and eco-friendly alternative to traditional modes of travel. The key components of the hyperloop are a vacuum tube, magnetic levitation, and linear electric propulsion technology, which are envisaged to achieve surface velocities approaching the speed of sound. This paper presents the functionalities of an ideal hyperloop transportation system (HTS) with a low-cost track and lightweight hyperloop capsule. It is shown that this ideal system is indeed difficult to achieve in reality. Despite the potential benefits, hyperloop technology lacks experimental evidence at subsonic speeds to reach a higher level of technological readiness. Taking one step back, the hyperloop has lessons to learn from the maglev research and experiments in the 1970s. In fact, there are many unresolved challenges associated with maglev technologies, even at moderate speeds, that need to be recognized before reaching the whole way into the subsonic speed domain. This paper provides a status update after ten years of hyperloop research and development.