Hyperloop - A Nearing Reality

Hyperloop, propagated as the fifth mode of transportation, is the brainchild of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors. Convincing the original idea from Robert Goddard's Vactrain, a Hyperloop essentially consists of a tube or a system of tubes, through which a transported object (essentially a pod) will travel by achieving high speeds due to reduced friction and air pressure generating speeds of over 500 miles per hour. This entire conceptualization was put forward by Elon Musk into the form of a paper in the year 2012. After this, Musk formulated a team of ace level engineers from Tesla and Space X to build his idea into reality. Following his ideologies, he open-sourced the entire program, encouraging inputs from great minds across the globe. The design consists of reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules will ride on air bearings driven by linear induction motors. Air compressors will also be used alongside to add more functionality and smoother usage. A glimpse into the greatness of this project can evidenced from the fact that the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco, will be covered by Hyperloop One in just 34 minutes- a distance that is 385 miles apart.

History

The initial Hyperloop would have the following characteristics :

• It would be immune to adverse weather, notably earthquakes because it travels in tubes which are above the ground. The reason behind this is the fact that the entire setup of the transportation is elevated shielding itself from any fatality of nature. 
• It will be collision-free: The pods travel in one direction in a system of tubes. Because of this mono mode of travel, chances of collision are almost negligible.
• It will have twice the speed of an aircraft : Because of the reduced air pressure and almost zero friction, it is estimated that the Hyperloop can achieve speeds of 700 miles per hour or even more. Recent tests have concluded that the Hyperloop is reaching a speed of 200 miles per hour slowly and steadily edging past that benchmark. 
• It will consume far less power as it functions on solar energy and reusable energy. Having said that, the entire body of the pod will be plastered with Solar panels to regenerate energy. Wind and geothermal energy can be sourced along the propagation of the pod, both in the exterior and also within the chambers of the pod as well. Regenerative energy sourced from the electric impulsion and the breaking systems will be an add on to the energy production. 

Pros of Hyperloop over Bullet Trains

1. The Hyperloop is much faster achieving speeds of more than 500 miles per hour. 
2. Hyperloop will be much cheaper, costing the customer for a one way trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco to be 30 dollars, and a round trip of 60 dollars; where as according to the XpressWest Website, the round trip cost between these two cities is 89 dollars. 
3. According to research put forward the Hyperloop will arrive every 30 seconds, giving it a very short window of time; thereby making it possible for more number of individuals to board the pod.
4. The Hyperloop will be cheaper to build and the Hyperloop is going to be the future.

Open Source Competition

To make things more interesting and challenging for everyone Space X has announced a Pod making competition for Universities to take part in. This will make the entire concept of the Hyperloop surreal and transparent for the public at large. Delft University emerged as winners in the pod making competition over the likes of MIT and WARR.

How will Hyperloop revolutionize the transport system?

Public transportation in today's era is lagging and is not at all cost efficient. The only reason for their sustainability is the subsidies that are being provided by the government. Having said that, there are few on the track trains in Germany that are profit rendering, but over all the public transportation system is a fallacy and is incurring huge losses due to the high setting up and operational costs. It is for this reason that we haven't seen any innovations in the lines of railways although their speeds, efficiency and cleanliness may have increased. Here comes in the ideology of Hyperloop, whose cost of setting up is cheap, the fares are reduced in nature, it uses reusable energy and the makers also guarantee that it will render profits which will stimulate the process of reinvestment. Also, the icing on the cake is the speed provided by Hyperloop, which will reduce the time consumed to travel between two places.

Conclusion

Getting a detailed view and insight onto the Hyperloop, one can be rest assured that this is the transportation of the future. With the number of advancements exponentially increasing in the building of Hyperloop, chances are that the first Hyperloop track test will be up and running by the year 2020. Having said that, there have been recent abroad advancements made by the company as well, suggesting a move towards the Asian market, India being one of the many countries that will see the introduction to Hyperloop. Highlighting the pros of Hyperloop, I feel it will be uncertain for anyone to reject this mode of transportation ever in the future.