Hyperloop Rail

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – The Railways is in the news for its plans on hyperloop trains

Concept –

Hyperloop trains are hydrogen fuel-cell trains and lighter aluminium coaches — the most futuristic being hyperloop.
Hyperloop trains, like Maglev, use linear motors, with magnetised coils placed along the track with repelling magnetism induced in the train’s undercarriage so the train hovers on guide-ways in a magnetic field, powerful enough to lift, suspend and propel the train at speeds much faster than conventional trains, exploiting the absence of friction between rail and wheel.
Since air drag, which increases parabolically as speeds go up, limits the speed, hyperloop trains work in sealed vacuumed tubes. Aircraftlike speed becomes theoretically feasible.
Hyperloop was mooted by Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, envisaging passenger-carrying pods travelling through vacuum tubes at 1,000 km/h or more. It was touted as power-autonomous with solar energy; after consuming tremendous energy to accelerate, the input reduces with momentum moving it at high speeds in the airless tube.
Hyperloop is not operational anywhere in the world as yet but various companies have announced projects for routes in the US, Canada, West Asia, Ukraine, South Korea, etc.
- The only recorded proof of concept has been by Virgin Hyperloop, when, after many unmanned tests, it ran a prototype pod in a manned trial in November 2020.