Ruminations: Alberta Hyperloop : Enthusiasts and Naysayers

"There are some very obvious better ways to do it [construct a time-efficient transportation link between Edmonton and Calgary]. I think we need to focus on what we know already works."                                                                           "There's a lot of evidence out there showing regular high-speed rail already works. In reality I think it is a distraction tactic that can allow them [provincial authorities] to put off connecting Edmonton and Calgary indefinitely." Ashley Salvador, Edmonton urban planner
"The Government of Alberta should not invest in a high-speed rail transit system in the Edmonton-Calgary corridor at this time because the population of the corridor is not sufficient to support the profitable operation of such a system."    Feasibility study, Alberta economic standing committee, 2014
"Most of the high speed rail around the world are not profitable. It's not to fill up the train -- which is important -- it's to fill up the infrastructure."    "That's the main difference compared to a conventional rail track."    "Best-case scenario ... we could have a line operational by 2030."    Sebastien Gendron, CEO, co-founder, TransPod, Toronto
"The MOU [memorandum of understanding between the transit builder and the province of Alberta] facilitates the process of attracting private investment to the province, in order to build a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project."    TransPod, hyperloop project startup, Toronto

Artist renderings of the hyperloop the pod and its interior. Photo by TransPod illustrations

A provincially commissioned 2014 study estimated that by the time 2031 rolls around 105 million trips between Edmonton and Calgary annually would materialize, requiring for optimum efficiency that some type of high-speed transit between the two cities be considered, and there is no time like the present to consult beyond theorization, to weigh options and to commit to the future in necessary transit options.

What the province brought into view under a magnifying glass of potentials is a super-transit, high-tech link, a futuristic vision of a pod that literally sucks passengers through a tube to reduce the current three-hour drive from one city to the other to a preferential half-hour commute. "Electrically-driven magnetic propulsion" would whisk a transit pod within a tube suspended on pillars from point A to point E in record time.

That would be accomplished at speeds of up to 1,000 km/hr, roughly a speed similar to that of a jetliner. Artwork meant to convey what such a system would look like shows a tansluscent tube adjacent the side of a highway and in the tube, whistling along at breakneck speed, is a pod hosting travellers, commuting from one city to the other. By no means a spanking-new vision, but one that has been under discussion for decades.

Artist renderings of hyperloop infrastructure Photo: TransPod illustrations

The combined population of the two cities, 300 kilometres distant from one another, is roughly 2.3 million at the present time. Back in 2014 the study undertaken by an economic standing committee, reached the conclusion that the hyperlink could be set aside, as not a good idea. Conveying passengers alone, given the relatively sparse population simply didn't justify the outsize investment in a hyperlink.

To which, at the present time, TransPod's CEO responds that to make the system ever more practical it could be used as well to haul freight. Solar panels placed along the line could realize an added source of revenue. As the future moves ever closer, TransPod and the Alberta government agreed there would be no financial commitment, but for the time being additional study would be undertaken on the feasibility of a project such as the 1,000 km/h hyperloop duorail link.

According to the company, the project would be responsible for creating 38,000 jobs in the province through the course of ten years; construction and operation. The current provincial premier, Jason Kenney and the mayor of Calgary are both enthusiastic about the potential for such a link. "I'm excited about it. I don't know if it's real, I don't know=if it's science fiction, but we'll never know unless we continue to do more testing with folks other than one entrepreneur who talks about stuff a lot in the U.S.", commented Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.