Comparison of conventional high speed railway, maglev and hyperloop transportation systems

Abstract

Increasing the speed of transportation has been a subject that human beings have been working on for many years. Because of insufficient traffic corridors, the interest of more passenger in limited time and the advancement of railway technology, the high-speed ground transportation systems have developed. Nowadays, these time-saving transportation systems are becoming important increasingly and systems that will ensure these are implemented and new ones are being researched. High speed ground transportation systems can be divided into three categories: Conventional high-speed railway, Maglev and Hyperloop transportation system. Within the scope of this study, it is aimed to investigate the advantages and disadvantages aspects of high speed transportation systems by comparing in terms of speed, capacity, energy consumption, cost and environmental effects. Conventional high-speed railways can provide high capacity, comfort and safety and reliability thanks to enormous operational experience as regards other systems. The Maglev technology can offer more remarkable travel times, energy efficient and better operational performance. However, high investment cost and incompatibility with other modes are seen the disadvantage features of this technology. The Hyperloop technology is a considerable innovative transportation system which is popularized with publishing design document by Elon Musk in 2013. Projected high-speed and appealing travel times can be evaluated as the advantages of the Hyperloop transportation system. However, there are safety, reliability, comfort and engineering design challenges to overcome in this technology. Taking everything into consideration, the Hyperloop transportation system has potential to be an alternative mode to other systems.