The city of Las Vegas, in the United States, has approved the expansion of a tunnel system called the Vegas Loop. The total length of the network will be 47 km, it will unite 51 landing stations. Electric cars, according to the idea, will move at ultra-fast speeds underground through a single-track tunnel. Hightech explains why we need underground tunnels for cars and what problems they can have with them.
Due to the problem of traffic jams, cars can move underground and move there at super-fast speeds. The project was launched in several cities in the United States.
What is this tunnel system?
In 2017, at that time, a subsidiary of The Boring Company began to create the first test trench on the territory of SpaceX, since it alone did not require any drilling permits. The company dug a 15 meter long tunnel. The trench was 4.6 meters deep and 9 meters wide.
The mechanics of moving vehicles through tunnels looks pretty simple. The car is placed in a parking space and is immersed in a tunnel via an elevator, after which it moves onto skates.
The speed of such skates is capable of developing up to 200 km / h. Thus, the travel time is significantly reduced. If the travel time in Los Angeles is 45 minutes, then the trip through the tunnel will cost you only 5 minutes.
How does the Loop system work?
The device of the new transport consists in the fact that pipes are immersed under the ground, like a subway: an almost vacuum is created in them for less air resistance. Further, the developers used the technology of magnetic levitation to lift objects using a magnetic field, we are talking about special capsules on which the transport will move. Also, there is no friction inside the tunnels, so the capsules will move at an ultra-high speed, carrying passengers.
They can work like subway cars, moving regularly on a schedule. To power the grid and start the track in motion, it is planned to use solar energy from the panels, they will be located directly on the pipe. They also plan to sell the surplus generated energy in order to continue to finance the project.
But later, the Boring Company decided to abandon the idea of an air cushion and, in order to reduce the cost of the project and the amount of energy consumed, decided to use an air cushion. It’s like how quickly and easily an air hockey puck moves across the table.
If we talk about Hyperloop, then this technology would be used to accelerate transport by means of electromagnetic pulses on solar energy. Later, the developers found possible risks of loss of control in such a system and returned to the idea of a magnetic cushion.
Will only cars drive in the tunnels?
Not really, in the future the company plans to abandon cars as a means of transportation and launch capsules of larger capacity – Hyperloop through the tunnels. This way of getting from station to station was described by Musk himself about ten years ago: the innovator hoped to arrange capsules that would move in an airtight space at great speed. But so far, such a project cannot be implemented due to technical limitations.
On the official Hyperloop page there is a distance comparison calculator, you can calculate how long the path will take between any two points. For example, between Moscow and St. Petersburg – 48 minutes.
Hyperloop as public transport. What problems does he have?
Before testing their designs on live passengers, the developers conducted more than 400 launches of the system in the Nevada desert. The first people aboard the latest transport were Virgin Hyperloop co-founder Josh Gigel and director of quality passenger service Sara Luchian. The experimental capsule traveled a distance of 500 m in 15 seconds, the Hyperloop speed was 160 km / h.
The first testing drew a lot of criticism from users of the social network, primarily with regard to the speed of the system. In response, the developers said that Hyperloop is the newest form of transport and cannot be compared with anything that has been invented before.
Among those dissatisfied with the new development are not only netizens, but also scientists. For example, Phil Mason, a former chemist at Cornell University, posted a video on YouTube, where he detailed that the Hyperloop, even in the event of a minor malfunction, will turn into a bullet that, flying out of a pistol, will move so quickly until it hits the nearest obstacle. This, according to Mason, will result in the guaranteed death of all passengers.
He noted that even a small destruction of an individual capsule can cause depressurization and breakdown of the system.
Where are you going to build a system of tunnels for cars?
The very first tunnel Boring Company began to build in California in 2017, and in the summer of 2018, a single-track 1.8 km autotunnel equipped with LED lighting received approval from local regulators and began operating in demo mode in the winter of the same year.
A year later, in the summer of 2019, a tunnel in California was modernized and an orientation system was added there for driving in unmanned mode, as well as a special coating: thanks to it, the car can safely reach speeds of over 100 km / h.
Also, a network of tunnels is being built in Las Vegas: the management of the city’s exhibition center in an experimental mode decided to try to transport visitors to exhibitions using Hyperloop. Therefore, the Boring Company had to build two tunnels with six stations by 2021.
The day before, at the end of October 2021, it became known that the Las Vegas authorities had issued permission to expand the project. This means that 5-10 more stations will appear. The Boring Company notes that within the framework of the contract, 15-20 new stations will be built in the city annually – until the system reaches the target level – 51 stations and a length of 42 km.
Boring Company continues to develop its newest transport network and has already signed contracts for its development, so skepticism towards this type of transport can be found relatively less often than before.
The company also emphasizes that all their work is financed from various private sources, but budget funds are not allocated for development, therefore, in case of failure, the experiment will not affect the transport system.
