A project to establish a European testing hub for hyperloop travel in Groningen has been fully funded, and is set to be open and operational in 2022.
The three-kilometre test track was announced in 2019 in the hopes that it would prove whether or not futuristic hyperloop could provide a more sustainable alternative for short-distance air travel. The site in Groningen is being developed by the Delft-based company Hardt Hyperloop, and will serve as the European test-centre for hyperloop travel.
The project has been fully-financed thanks to a subsidy worth 4,5 million euros from the Dutch government. Construction will cost approximately 30 million euros in total. Hardt Hyperloop hopes to have the European Hyperloop Centre fully operational in 2022, and the facility will allow for the testing of high-speed hyperloop technologies and infrastructure across Europe.
Perfected by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX in 2021, hyperloop is a transportation system where capsules travel through a vacuum tunnel, reaching speeds of up to 1.000 kilometres per hour. In an ideal world, hyperloop could become a viable alternative for transporting goods and people between countries.
Using this new technology, travelling between Amsterdam and Eindhoven would take 15 minutes, and travelling between Amsterdam and Frankfurt would take only 50 minutes - significantly less than the currently scheduled three hours.
In the future, Hardt Hyperloop hopes to construct a European hyperloop network that would connect cities across the continent. The company is also working with Schiphol Airport to further establish the airport as a multi-transport hub. A recent study conducted by Hardt and Schiphol showed that hyperloop travel could replace a share of short-haul flights out of Amsterdam by 2050.
Thumb: Hardt Hyperloop.