It currently takes 3 hours and 15 minutes to get from Paris to Amsterdam. Soon, it will only take 90 minutes! Less than 2 hours, that’s the bet launched by the Dutch startup Hardt with its Hyperloop, an ultra-fast train running at 1000 km/h.
A High Speed Super Train.
It all starts in 2013, when Elon Musk unveils his project called « Hyperloop ». The famous president of Tesla and SpaceX wants to develop a new means of transport faster than the train, safer than a car and with less impact on the environment than the plane.
Its concept of very high-speed rail transport would allow capsules in low-pressure tubes to be propelled at 1,000 km/h in order to transport goods or passengers. Incredible, when you consider that its rivals continue to wage a merciless war to send tourists into space. While trains were thought to be a good means of transportation for scrap, Elon Musk has been dusting off his has-been image.
Twice as much time.
Several companies have since worked on the development of this type of project. For example, Hardt, a Dutch startup company, started working on its own Hyperloop
model.
Still based on the principle of the magnetic train imagined by Elon Musk, Hardt proposes a Super High Speed Train (STGV) which, thanks to a speed of up to 1,000 km/h, would connect major European cities by halving journey times while reducing the carbon footprint. Thus the startup announces a Brussels-Amsterdam in 30 minutes instead of the current 1h45, or an Amsterdam-Paris in 1h30 instead of 3h15 today.
Could the train replace the plane ?
In the frantic race in which the multinationals are participating, it was always thought that the airplane would always be the fastest means of transport. But the Hyperloop is shaking up our certainties. Time is precious and Hyperloop could be, as a bonus, a more ecological way to travel professionally.
Although not everyone is convinced by the project, the province of North Holland, of which Amsterdam is a part, is enthusiastic about it. The deputy in charge of mobility and accessibility, Jeroen Olthof said: « The province of Amsterdam is very excited about the project. » We know that people are willing to travel up to an hour to get to work, door to door. With the speed of the Hyperloop, it suddenly becomes possible to travel much longer distances ». Hardt says that Hyperloop could begin carrying passengers in 2028. So we still have to wait a little longer before we can save time !.