UAE hyperloop stalls, but ‘magnetic levitation’ hopes remain

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

• 1,200km/h transport system
• Plagued by commercial issues
• China already uses ‘maglev’

The UAE’s dream of transporting people and goods at high speeds using hyperloop technology may have stalled, but elements of the idea remain very much alive.

The hyperloop transport system, in which people and goods are intended to travel at more than 1,200km/h in magnetically levitated pods through giant low-pressure vacuum tubes, has been plagued by commercial setbacks and doubts about its feasibility.

There are companies still developing the idea, with projects under way in Italy, the Netherlands, India, Germany and China, all hopeful of launching full-scale operations in the coming years. 

The UAE had been one of the countries that was expected to see the first commercial operations, but none of the previously announced plans has reached fruition. 

Late last year, Hyperloop One, the high-speed transportation company backed by DP World, ground to a halt.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, a Los Angeles-based company with offices in the UAE, announced plans in 2018 to build a commercial system in Abu Dhabi, but its website shows Italy, France, the US and Germany as locations for its current project list. 

Infrastructure costs are the main issue for developing hyperloop. Most recent estimates place it at between $20 million and $40 million per kilometre.

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In recent years, a new wave of companies has started to extract key components of the technology – magnet levitation (maglev) and linear synchronous motor propulsion – and integrate them with existing rail lines, with the aim of achieving similar results. 

Maglev allows vehicles to float above a track using magnetic forces, which eliminates friction and enables high-speed travel.

It also helps to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs for both the vehicle and the infrastructure.

China has been using the technology since 2003 in Shanghai for a rail connection to the airport, and Japan introduced it in 2005 as a World Expo project. South Korea has been operating a maglev system since 2016 at Incheon International Airport. 

All three have been developed on purpose-built tracks. 

In the UAE, Etihad Rail signed an agreement with two startup companies, Nevomo and IronLev, to explore how their maglev-designed solutions, which use existing tracks, could be implemented. 

Nevomo

“Hyperloop required brand new infrastructure, which accounted for 65 percent of its cost,” Harj Dhaliwal, Nevomo’s chief business and capital programmes officer, tells ABGI. 

Nevomo, which is headquartered in Warsaw, will retrofit magnetic propulsion to freight wagons and linear motors onto the middle of the track, which allows the wagons to move autonomously and without locomotives, Dhaliwal says.

Its maglev system is fitted to the outside of the standard gauge.

The cost is about €3 million ($3.2 million) per kilometre on existing infrastructure, or less than a fifth of the cost of new hyperloop track.  

The focus for now, Dhaliwal says, is on industrial businesses and ports, because they have enclosed areas, before looking to push out into public passenger operations on open networks.

Nevomo signed an agreement with Etihad Rail in October at the Global Rail Transport Infrastructure Exhibition & Conference in Abu Dhabi. Dhaliwal believes it could be just 18 to 24 months before rolling out a pilot project.

The Italian tech company IronLev has gone one step further than its European counterparts and proven the ability to operate maglev transport on an existing railway track without the need for any retrofitting of infrastructure.

The company uses ferromagnetic materials fitted to wagons to enable maglev to work on existing tracks. 

IronLev

It performed a demonstration in March near Venice this year using a one-tonne prototype vehicle that travelled at 70km/h over a two-kilometre stretch.

Lorenzo Parrotta, co-founder at IronLev, says its agreement with Etihad Rail will “start evaluating the technology”. 

“They invited many companies because they would like to investigate different technologies to have a more efficient, more innovative line in the region,” he says. 

The next step is to have a full-scale wagon capable of carrying up to 20 tonnes on the standard rail, which is expected to take up to two years. 

Parotta says adding its technology to wagons will help lower infrastructure and maintenance costs, as well as provide a more efficient operation.