For nearly a decade, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always relied on its vast oil reserves to develop its economy.
However, in recent years, oil prices have continuously dropped sharply, Saudi Arabia is looking for ways to diversify its economy and rely less on its oil reserves.
The royal family has created a new plan called “Vision 2030,” which includes plans to modernize cities across the kingdom. As part of the plan, the country hopes to build a giant Hyperloop transit system to move quickly between cities in Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, Virgin Hyperloop One (a Los Angeles-based company developing Hyperloop technology) and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bini Salmnan unveiled a prototype for the Hyperloop system, which is expected to be… installed in the future.
If implemented, the system will significantly cut travel time between Saudi and United Arab Emirates cities. According to Virgin Hyperloop One, travel time that normally lasts hours will be reduced to just a few minutes.
Saudi Arabia’s Hyperloop system will connect multiple cities in the Middle East, including Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi.
Hyperloop One announced in late 2016 that it had signed an agreement with the Dubai government to evaluate the use of Hyperloop between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Here is a sketch of the Hyperloop station from above:
According to Virgin Hyperloop One, the system will travel 2 to 3 times faster than a super-fast train:
The company also claims that the system will travel at around 313 km/h, allowing passengers to get from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes. If driving, this distance usually takes about 2 hours.
A trip from Riyadh to Jeddah, which normally takes about 10 hours, will now take only 76 minutes. Going from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi, which usually takes more than 8.5 hours, will only take about 48 minutes.
The image below is a render of the checkpoint, where the Hyperloop system manager will be.
Using a special type of motor, the Hyperloop system moves by an electric motor, through a low-pressure tube.
The company also built a prototype of a passenger compartment for the project:
Customers will pick up the passenger compartments with an app. This app will indicate when the compartments will arrive at the station at certain gates (like an airport).
Virgin Hyperloop One says it will have about 120 passenger compartment gates, allowing it to serve 8,500 customers per hour.
Virgin Hyperloop One is testing their system in Nevada, north of Las Vegas:
In December 2017, their team successfully tested a complete system. The speed achieved in the test was 386 km/h.
However, a Hyperloop system in the city is still a distant ambition.
Although cities have systems in place to move small parcels at high speeds, transporting people presents many questions for engineers and a cost challenge.
For example, to transport the cavity inside the system’s tube, a super-fast air compression system will be required, which will generate a lot of heat. In-line air conditioning can solve this problem, but doing so will require larger, more expensive pipes.
Virgin Hyperloop One and the Saudi government believe that the Hyperloop transportation system will help stimulate economic growth, diversify industries in the country, develop manufacturing and technology, and create more jobs. work in the area.
