The Necessity and Responsibility of North American Hyperloop Infrastructure

The University of Toronto

The Necessity and Responsibility of North American Hyperloop Infrastructure

Rick Schutte rick.schutte@mail.utoronto.ca April 9, 2021

Abstract The Hyperloop concept is a system of high speed intercity transportation infrastructure that would be a fast, affordable, and sustainable alternative to short flights and long drives. This is possible because the proposed Hyperloop pod would carry passengers through a network of enclosed, near vacuum tubes and use an electric linear induction motor for levitation and propulsion; without ground friction or air resistance, high speeds are attainable at a low power cost. This paper will begin by describing the origins of high speed rail technology as well as the machines at the core of the Hyperloop concept, including the linear induction motor and the vacuum pump. Next, this paper will describe the environmental and financial necessity of a North American Hyperloop system in contrast to existing modes of transportation. Lastly, this paper will address the influence of a Hyperloop system on urban planning and the responsibility associated with designing this infrastructure. North America’s current transportation infrastructure is built upon outdated technology and no longer effectively supports the growing population. Fortunately, emerging Hyperloop systems such as Virgin Hyperloop, can permit high speed intercity travel that is environmentally sustainable and that has a profound impact on society.

INTRODUCTION A train with the speed of an aircraft; the Hyperloop concept proposes large capsule-like pods to magnetically levitate above a fixed track in a vacuum tube and travel beyond 1000 kilometers per hour (Figure 1). This means eight hour drives and freight deliveries to distant cities could shorten to less than 40 minutes and become significantly less expensive. The extreme reduction of friction and air resistance means that Hyperloop pods would be energy efficient and could rely solely upon electric power from solar panels built into its infrastructure.1 The opportunities within the city are limited by accessibility, transportation, and housing, but Hyperloop infrastructure has the potential to sustainably lift these boundaries. One company making major development in full-scale hyperloop technology is Virgin Hyperloop who are 1

Elon Musk, “Hyperloop Alpha,” Tesla, August 21, 2013, https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_images/hyperloop-alpha.pdf.

1

currently working on developing full-scale Hyperloop pod, station, and tube designs. They have taken significant steps in developing physical tests and have shown that this technology is possible. However they have not yet demonstrated a holistic argument for the necessity of this technology. This paper will introduce the machines at the core of Virgin Hyperloop's technology and their concrete progress will act as a foundation to then explore how to responsibly integrate Hyperloop infrastructure into North America's built and natural landscape. This paper will then explore the environmental and financial necessity of this infrastructure. Finally, this paper will conclude with a discussion of the problems associated with traditional infrastructure and urban planning, and will propose a holistic solution using a Hyperloop system. Moving forward, emerging Hyperloop systems, such as Virgin Hyperloop, can permit high speed intercity travel that is both environmentally sustainable and profoundly impactful on society.

Figure 1. The Virgin Hyperloop One XP-1 pod, the first of Virgin Hyperloop’s unmanned pods to successfully levitate and travel over 240mph within a closed vacuum tube. This image represents Virgin Hyperloop’s capabilities and concrete steps taken toward a commercial Hyperloop system.

(Image by Virgin Hyperloop, One XP-1 pod, https://virginhyperloop.com/).

BACKGROUND The invention of the steam locomotive had an enormous influence on the ability to transport people and goods between cities and across the natural landscape. However, this dynamic invention did not exist in an isolated vacuum, it relied on static infrastructure to create a physical environment that could support the locomotive. The track had to support the weight of

2

the vehicle and had to maintain a maximum curvature to allow the locomotive to propel itself forward at a great speed. This is also true for the Hyperloop’s propulsion machine: the linear induction motor. This machine is a linear array of electromagnets, where magnetic fields exert a force along the track to produce an efficient and frictionless thrust.2 In the case of the Hyperloop, a linear induction motor generates a force against a static track composed of a ferromagnetic material. Since the track is structurally fixed, the linear induction motor can propel itself forward or backward depending on the direction of the generated magnetic field. Similar to the static railways of steam locomotives, the Hyperloop track’s material and structure must support the machine necessary for propulsion.

A common theme among Hyperloop technology is that its concept is not new but its supporting technology is on the cusp of full-scale feasibility. Perhaps surprisingly, Hyperloop was invented by Robert Goddard all the way back in 1945.3 In 1969, Professor Eric Laithwaite published the first patent for a linear induction motor to be used as the primary propulsion system, and created a 2 metre long ‘Hover-Pod’. This prototype reached speeds of 60km/h on a test track but failed to transition into full-scale due to material weakness, heating issues, and power limitations and was cancelled in February 1973.4 The Hyperloop pod's ability to reach high speeds is dependent on travelling in a near-vacuum environment to reduce air resistance as much as possible. Powerful vacuum pumps are therefore necessary to achieve and maintain the desired interior air pressure though there is currently no single vacuum pump that can efficiently pump between the range of 1 atm to the desired 0.001 atm.5 As one of the most recent developments in Hyperloop’s supporting technology, Virgin Hyperloop has integrated a multi-stage vacuum pump system with active leak sensors capable of both maintaining a low pressure, and pumping great volumes in case of

2

Christopher Timperio, “Linear Induction Motor (LIM) for Hyperloop Pod Prototypes” (Master thesis, ETH Zürich, 2018), 29. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000379531 3 Robert Goddard, US patent 2,511,979, filed May 21, 1945 and issued June 20, 1950.

4 E.R. Laithwaite, Propulsion without wheels (London: English Universities Press, 1970).

5 “The Fundamentals of Vacuum Science,” Vacuum Science World, accessed April 7 2021, https://www.vacuumscienceworld.com/vacuum-science?hsCtaTracking=691f0fa2-dc50-44c4-bdf 9-06ee05dff209%7C23ed9a7e-e249-4d30-90dc-d6dad2413c8e#vacuum_physics_-_basic_terms

3

necessary repressurization in emergencies.6 These machines are now highly developed, efficient, and reliable. In 2018, thanks in part to this new technology, Virgin Hyperloop created a working Hyperloop passenger pod (Figure 2) that levitated and propelled two passengers 387kph along its 500m test vacuum tube: DevLoop. 7

Figure 2. Josh Giegel and Sara Luchian inside Virgin Hyperloop One’s pod, Pegasus, the first passengers to travel within a Hyperloop pod at record speeds. Unlike the XP-1 pod, this manned pod design had to take into account safety and life support systems, and demonstrates Virgin Hyperloop’s confidence in applying their advanced mechanisms in a real-world scenario and transporting living passengers. (Image by Virgin Hyperloop, The world’s first passengers on hyperloop, November 8, 2020, https://virginhyperloop.com/project/devloop).

Though further technological development is still required for a full-scale system, including tests of track-switching technology, pod traffic system control, and other emergency systems8, the latest developments by Virgin Hyperloop underline the feasibility at the heart of the Hyperloop concept.

6

Peter Lambertz. “Hyperloop: mass transit within a vacuum,” Vacuum Science (blog), Vacuum Science World, December 14, 2018, https://www.vacuumscienceworld.com/blog/hyperloop-mass-transit-within-a-vacuum.

7 “DevLoop,” Projects, Virgin Hyperloop, accessed April 7, 2021, https://virginhyperloop.com/project/devloop.

8 Aecom, Preliminary Feasibility of Hyperloop Technology Report No. RFP-T8080-180829 (Toronto: Aecom Canada, 2020), 38.

4

ENVIRONMENTAL AND FINANCIAL NECESSITY OF HYPERLOOP INFRASTRUCTURE The automobile was one of the greatest influences on modern urban planning. However, the adverse effects of urban sprawl made possible due to the automobile, are incalculable. The greatest consequence of an automobile-centric society is the collective emission of greenhouse gases produced by those automobiles. In fact, 23% of the world's anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions were created by passenger and freight vehicles, and 'developed' countries emit a higher amount of greenhouse gas emissions than 'developing' countries.9 This underlines a responsibility for 'developed' countries to invest in sustainable transportation infrastructure to offset their current

emissions. Beyond the

macroscopic consequences of current transportation

infrastructure, there are significant consequences that are only seen at microscopic scales. The construction of roads, railways, and canals contributes to significant destruction of habitats, increased erosion, local pollution, and the interruption of natural processes including the filtering of regional water sources (Figure 3).10 This does not mean that the construction of all infrastructure projects will inherently destroy ecosystems, a study exploring the effects of highway construction on wetlands states that: "The extent of damage or enhancement that results from highway construction is, in the final analysis, determined not so much by the nature of wetlands or by the construction process itself but by the perceptions and objectives of those responsible for location and design decisions.”11 Essentially, large scale infrastructure projects must be organized by designers who consider the environmental impacts of each of their location and design decisions.

9

Michael N. Taptich, Arpad Horvath, and Mikhail V. Chester, “Worldwide Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potentials in Transportation by 2050,” Journal of Industrial Ecology 20, no. 2 (2015): 329–340, https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12391.

10 Niko Balkenhol, and Lisette P. Waits, “Molecular road ecology: exploring the potential of genetics for investigating transportation impacts on wildlife,” Molecular Ecology 18, no. 20 (2009): 4151–4164, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04322.x.

11 Paul W. Shuldiner, and Dale Ferguson Cope, “Ecological effects of highway fills on wetlands: Examples from the field.” Transportation Research Board 736, (1979): 29-37.

5

Figure 3. The physical causes and consequences of roadway construction on the local environment. Hyperloop infrastructure travelling underground or elevated off the ground would not contribute to these consequences. (Figure from Balkenhol and. Waits, “Molecular road ecology).

The Hyperloop is not only environmentally necessary, but financially necessary as well.

As of 2010, the United States had 2,718,364 miles of paved road and 4,083,768 miles of public road, meaning the public roads in the United States alone could wrap around the earth over 164 times. In 2010, they spent $100,180,000,000 for highway construction and improvement, and another 105,133,000,000 for maintenance and traffic services (Figure 4).12 Each year the number of roads in the United States increases by 0.4%, and 20% of those roads are in poor or mediocre condition and in need of repair. A new four lane highway costs between $4-10 million USD per

12

Vincent W. Childress, “Highway Construction in the U.S.: Costs, Benefits, Dependence,” Technology and Engineering Teacher 72, no. 4 (2013): 24-29.

6

mile depending on the area of construction, and the United States spends far more maintaining and repairing existing roads and bridges than on new construction.13

Figure 4. The 2014 US Federal highway spending on building, improving, and maintaining highway infrastructure. It is clear that maintenance, preservation, and improvements use a significant portion of the total budget, and that roadways are extremely expensive to maintain.

(Figure from American Road & Transportation Builders Association, “Frequently Asked Questions.”)

The cost of two-tube (one each direction) Hyperloop infrastructure was originally proposed at around $19 million USD per mile but after years of analysis and development, it is suspected to be closer to $56.4 million USD per mile.14 The frictionless nature of the Hyperloop system along with the proposed construction materials of aluminum, steel, and concrete suggest that the annual repair and maintenance costs of Hyperloop infrastructure will be drastically less expensive than automobile infrastructure, pointing to Hyperloop being a superior long-term investment. Apart from Hyperloop’s electric, self-sustaining nature, the infrastructure will also have a significantly smaller physical footprint on the environment, whether the tubes are 13

“Frequently Asked Questions,” American Road and Transportation Builders Association, accessed April 5, 2021, https://www.artba.org/about/faq/#:~:text=Construct%20a%20new%206%2Dlane,about%20%24 4%20million%20per%20mile.

14 Aecom, “Preliminary Feasibility,” 11.

7

supported off the ground by columns or tunneled underground leaving the surface environment untouched. The impact of automobiles on the environment at the global and regional scales is difficult or impossible to fully understand, but it is clear that a new solution is necessary and that Hyperloop infrastructure could answer this call.

INFLUENCE OF HYPERLOOP INFRASTRUCTURE ON URBAN DESIGN The construction of new transportation infrastructure has an enormous impact on urban planning that reaches far beyond its own region. Infrastructure projects have the power to displace populations, divide cities, and financially benefit or harm families. For example, the connection points or stations of each transportation corridor imbue value into their regions; those who can afford the access to transportation hold the power of circulation. Accessible high-speed intercity transportation can therefore provide significant value to a significant amount of people in the region as the value of properties near a new high-speed transportation access point are bound to increase. Additionally, the areas surrounding these access points become at risk of gentrification by medium and high-income residents moving into neighborhoods of low and medium-income households (Figure 5).15 This risk of gentrification is an important factor to consider while planning the most practical location for the access points to a high-speed rail system. Physical infrastructure corridors such as railways and highways that physically divide cities have been found to produce divided neighborhoods of distinct property value. Historically, the arrangement of railways has been exploited to be used as boundaries for racial segregation and to increase rates of metropolitan black poverty while decreasing rates of white poverty.16 Unlike traditional infrastructure, the hyperloop would not act as a physical barrier between regions as its compact tubes could be built underground or as a low-footprint elevated tube structure. Hyperloop’s core values of accessibility and sustainability present an opportunity for its designers to successfully understand and act on those values. When trying to fully understand 15

Annelise Grube-Cavers and Zachary Patterson, Urban Rapid Rail Transit and Gentrification in Canadian Urban Centres - A Survival Analysis Approach (Montreal: Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation, 2013), 5.

16 Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat, “The Wrong Side(s) of the Tracks: The Causal Effects of Racial Segregation on Urban Poverty and Inequality,” American Economic Journal 3, no. 2 (2011): 34-66, http://doi.org/10.1257/app.3.2.34.

8

the needs of a place, one must understand the needs of its people. This includes local residents, community leaders, and the members of marginalized communities, especially those who have historically been adversely affected by infrastructure projects.

Figure 5. Toronto’s history of gentrification in relation to its transportation infrastructure. Note that in some cases, it is the physical barrier of built roadways that divides neighborhoods of different incomes, and in others, the proximity to subway stations influences this disparity.

Hyperloop designers must be aware of the potential for gentrification, and increase accessibility to its infrastructure as much as possible. (Figure from Corey J. Horowitz, From Gentrification to Re-urbanization: The Expanding Terrain of Socio-Spatial Inequality [Toronto: Ryerson University, 2011]).

Hyperloop infrastructure has the opportunity to act as an example for future infrastructure projects by truly understanding the history of the land and culture upon which Hyperloop infrastructure is proposed, and starting a dialogue with local Indigenous communities about their thoughts on the future of travel and the land it may be constructed upon. Hyperloop’s impact on urban planning would be significant and would change not only how current cities operate but how future cities are built. Cities would no longer be physically divided by railways or by highways, less land would be stripped of its wildlife to be turned into roads, workers could commute from much farther away thus alleviating the need to constantly expand developments

9

in suburbs within driving distance to the city. The investment into high-speed rail infrastructure presents an opportunity for new cities to be built at the human scale so they are completely walkable and maintain the conservation of their local environment.

CONCLUSION Hyperloop transportation infrastructure is more than an infrastructure project but an opportunity to re-evaluate current urban and environmental conditions. Using reliable and highly developed machines such as the linear induction motor and the vacuum pump, new transportation systems can be feasibly developed to respond to the faults in the current outdated systems. The adverse environmental and financial effects of today’s transportation infrastructure are so vast they are difficult to fathom, but they present an opportunity to integrate new infrastructure that considers the current and future needs of our world. Additionally, there is a responsibility that comes with this integration to learn from the mistakes of past urban planning and its associated exploitation to create new infrastructure that addresses social, cultural, and environmental justice issues. Virgin Hyperloop has taken great steps in developing Hyperloop technology, but they cannot forget their responsibility in creating ethical infrastructure.

Hyperloop represents technological accessibility, opportunity, and responsibility; it is much more than just a train with the speed of an aircraft.

10

Bibliography Aecom. Preliminary Feasibility of Hyperloop Technology Report No. RFP-T8080-180829.

Toronto: Aecom Canada, 2020.

American Road and Transportation Builders Association. “Frequently Asked Questions.”

Accessed April 5, 2021. https://www.artba.org/about/faq/#:~:text=Construct%20a%20new%206%2Dlane,about% 20%244%20million%20per%20mile Balkenhol, Niko, and Lisette P. Waits.“Molecular road ecology: exploring the potential of genetics for investigating transportation impacts on wildlife.” Molecular Ecology 18, no.

20 (2009): 4151–4164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04322.x.

Childress, Vincent W. “Highway Construction in the U.S.: Costs, Benefits, Dependence,” Technology and Engineering Teacher 72, no. 4 (2013): 24-29.

Goddard, Robert. Vacuum Tube Transportation System. US patent 2,511,979 filed May 21, 1945, and issued June 20, 1950.

Grube-Cavers, Annelise, and Zachery Patterson. Urban Rapid Rail Transit and Gentrification in Canadian Urban Centres - A Survival Analysis Approach. Montreal: Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation, 2013.

Laithwaite, E.R. Propulsion without wheels, 2nd ed.. London: English Universities Press, 1970.

Lambertz, Peter. “Hyperloop: mass transit within a vacuum,” Vacuum Science (blog). Vacuum Science World, December 14, 2019. https://www.vacuumscienceworld.com/blog/hyperloop-mass-transit-within-a-vacuum.

Musk, Elon. “Hyperloop Alpha.” Tesla, August 21, 2013. https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_images/hyperloop-alpha.pdf.

Oltmans Ananat, Elizabeth. “The Wrong Side(s) of the Tracks: The Causal Effects of Racial Segregation on Urban Poverty and Inequality,” American Economic Journal 3, no. 2 (2011): 34-66, http://doi.org/10.1257/app.3.2.34.

11

Shuldiner, Paul W., and Dale Ferguson Cope. “Ecological effects of highway fills on wetlands: Examples from the field.” Transportation Research Board 736, (1979): 29-37.

Taptich, Michael N., Arpad Horvath, and Mikhail V. Chester “Worldwide Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potentials in Transportation by 2050.” Journal of Industrial Ecology 20, no. 2 (2015): 329–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12391.

Timperio, Christopher. “Linear Induction Motor (LIM) for Hyperloop Pod Prototypes.” Master Thesis ETH Zürich, 2018. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000379531 Vacuum Science World. “Fundamentals of Vacuum Science.” Accessed April 7 2021. https://www.vacuumscienceworld.com/vacuum-science?hsCtaTracking=691f0fa2-dc50-4 4c4-bdf9-06ee05dff209%7C23ed9a7e-e249-4d30-90dc-d6dad2413c8e#vacuum_physics _-_basic_terms Virgin Hyperloop. “DevLoop.” Projects. Accessed April 7, 2021, https://virginhyperloop.com/project/devloop.

12