Hyperloop-type trains made popular by Elon Musk are under development in a number of countries. However, none have come to market yet, despite carbon pollution from current transportation contributing 27% to America’s burden. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the transport sector is the fastest growing contributor. But a Canadian company is forging ahead with plans to counter this with a vacuum tube transport system.
Plane-Train Hybrid for Fast Vacuum Tube Transport
CNN Travel advises the first service will be between Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta Province, Canada, when plans reach fruition. This would travel at more than 600 miles per hour, and cut the 3-hour, 285-mile train trip to 15 minutes. It would also be faster than a jet plane journey, while largely eliminating fossil fuel emissions.
The company Transpod says its FlexJet vacuum vehicle will use ‘groundbreaking technology based on a new field of physics called veillance flux’. Now veillance flux allows a vehicle to travel in a ‘protected guideway’ according to Electronics 360.
The FlexJet transpods will levitate inside the vacuum tube. This will enable them to travel friction-free through it, propelled by magnetism. This will radically reduce friction that saps energy in traditional vehicles, achieving carbon savings.
A New Approach to Vacuum Tube Transportation
Transpod claims to be redesigning its vacuum tube transport system ‘from the ground up’. It says it is ‘developing every aspect … from design to systems engineering … all in-house and with our partners’. The proof was in the pudding, so to speak when it unveiled a scaled-down one-ton version of its ‘plane-train hybrid’. And showcased a live demonstration of its capabilities to media representatives.
Sebastien Gendron is co-founder and CEO of Transpod. He told CNN Travel the system could be transporting its first public passengers before 2035. He describes the subjective experience as ‘accelerating smoothly on a jet runway, and then coasting at full speed inside the tube guideway’.
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Preview Image: Artist’s Impression of Fluxjet
