COULD AIR COMPRESSORS DRIVE FUTURE HIGH-SPEED RAIL?

Air compressors could have a crucial role to play in the future of high-speed ‘rail’ transport, although there would be no physical rails as such. Elon Musk’s Hyperloop concept is not entirely new; it has been around since July 2012, and as of January 2015 construction is reportedly beginning on a test track. It relies on capsules levitating in a near-vacuum, and in Musk’s case the proposal is to use a cushion of air to achieve this levitation. The very low friction this results in should allow for very high speeds of transport – so where do the air compressors come in? When a pod travels at very high speed, even in a near-vacuum, it ‘collects’ air in front of it, leading to high pressures; the air compressors built into the pods would pump this air to the rear of the capsule to equalise the pressure. And a similar proposal, using magnetic levitation, was among the submissions to the Great North Plan compiled recently by IPPR North. Simon Horton and colleagues proposed that a vacuum train could even link Manchester directly with New York City, with journey times of around four hours. “Our train is contained within a pipeline under the Atlantic Ocean, running between Manchester and New York City. This pipe will form a perfect vacuum,” they suggested. “This reduces nearly all causes of friction and drag, enabling both huge speeds, and a completely smooth and silent journey.”

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