Hyperloop in Toulouse, the story of a fiasco that is coming to an end

Municipal services repainting the Hyperloop TT logo in white displayed in large size on a water tower at the Toulouse-Francazal site. The scene, reported by France 3 Occitanie, is the last symptomatic episode of the fiasco of what was to be the mode of transport of the future.

Hyperloop is that “train” of the future “rolling” up to 1,200 km/h imagined by Elon Musk and using “capsules” or “pods” that evolve in levitation thanks to magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes hung from pylons.

The wayward billionaire has never been directly involved in what has long been portrayed as the future of high-speed transportation, content to encourage start-ups to realize and exploit this concept.

This is the case of the American Hyperloop TT (Transportation Technologies) that has multiplied the projects, including the installation of a large research and testing center in Toulouse. In this sense, in 2017 an agreement was signed to establish this center in the former Toulouse-Francazal military base, with the support of public subsidies.

Quick abandonment of the project.

With big ambitions: assemble tubes 4 meters inside diameter and 40 meters long (for 65 tons) for testing over 320 meters before pushing the experiment over a kilometer with a capsule that evolves into a tube placed on pylons 5.8 meters high. In 2018, several of these tubes arrive well on the site.

Unfortunately, the difficulties accumulate. First, the concept itself struggles to convince. Very quickly, Hyperloop TT decided to drop the idea of ​​a one kilometer track.

“Hyperloop? There aren’t many people left… This matter has almost been forgotten,” lamented Albert Sánchez, mayor (several to the left) of Cugnaux, the town where the test center is located, in 2020.

At the end of 2021, faced with a frozen situation, the Toulouse Metropolis City Council terminated the lease of the start-up.

A bill of 5.5 million for the metropolis

Except the company didn’t vacate the facility properly, its gigantic tubes are still around. Now it is summoned by the Metropolis to leave the site before next September, indicates France 3 Occitanie. The fact of deleting its logo contributes to this desire to turn the page for public administrations.

The chosen ones are somewhat irritated. If Hyperloop TT does not get out of debt, the American company has received public aid and has benefited from a discount on its rent to be settled. Nor did it pay for the decontamination of the site and the promised renovation of certain buildings. Result, an invoice of 5.5 million euros for the metropolis.

a false good idea

This game is the latest episode of a good misconception put forward by Elon Musk. On paper, Hyperloop has something to seduce with its phenomenal speed. In practice, it is inapplicable.

First, due to a matter of massive costs, since Hyperloop requires the creation of a dedicated infrastructure. Over long distances this is simply not economically feasible. Thus, a connection of this type planned between Calgary and Edmonton, in Canada, is valued at… 18,000 million dollars for 300 kilometers (hypothetically completed in 45 minutes).

It will also be remembered that before Elon Musk, another inventor had had a similar idea: the Frenchman Jean Bertin had imagined at the end of the 1970s the Aérotrain, a high-speed train powered by a turbine that evolved on a cushion of air over a single lane placed over a viaduct.

The project benefited for a time from the support of public authorities, even a test track was built near Orleans. The prototypes were tested until 1974, then the project was abandoned when the SNCF presented its TGV project. Which will end up being imposed on the State. The Aérotrain is considered too expensive and complex to implement.

Back in 2023, Hyperloop is also penalized by a user experience considered finicky: traveling at high speed in the dark at low pressure can be physically difficult. The impact of subsonic speed on bodies is also noted. Not to mention the issues of safety, regulation, environment…

So many factors that hinder the various projects that have emerged around the world in recent years. In addition to Hyperloop TT, which announced many projects without finalizing any, Virgin Hyperloop decided last year to abandon the idea of ​​passenger transport to focus on cargo. And he fired half of his staff. Other projects are also stalled around the world.

Use maglev on existing network

Now, the public authorities of many countries refuse to finance part of these projects. Interviewed by AFP, Sébastien Gendron, who runs TransPod (the Canadian company that wants to connect Calgary with Edmonton), summarizes the situation:

Today, the future of high-speed rail is more intermediate. It is about being able to use magnetic levitation on the existing network by adapting the tracks and trains. Forget about low pressure and tubes. The bill is therefore much lower even though the commercial speed of the trains is lower: 400 to 600 km/h.

China and Japan they are actively working on the issue. In France, the SNCF signed an agreement last March cooperation with Poland nevome. This will involve evaluating the relevance and benefits of Maglev technology in the public company’s network for both passenger and cargo transportation.

“We are pleased to sign this Memorandum of Understanding, which will cover three areas: increasing the performance of current freight trains for higher load limits and more capacity on our freight lines, increasing capacity on passenger lines in congested urban areas and to evaluate MagRail as an alternative propulsion for rural lines in combination with light vehicles”, explains Luc Laroche, director of innovation at SNCF, in a press release.

Large-scale tests on small lines without catenaries would also be on the agenda. And the SNCF promises an operating speed of 550 km/h, all autonomously (without a dedicated driver).